Listen To Your Footsteps

Veli Ngubane grew up belonging to nowhere. In the mornings he was the township kid at a Model C school. In the evenings he was the "cheese boy" who came back speaking differently. Neither world accepted him. That rejection, navigated daily across two distinct economies, forced him inward — and built a centre so solid that nothing has moved it since.
Today Veli is the co-founding partner and Chief Growth Officer of Avatar Agency Group, ranked the number two creative agency in Africa and the Middle East at the Loeries 2025, and co-founder of M&N Brands, Africa's first 100% Black-owned marketing and communications holding group. He has judged at Cannes Lions, chaired the IAB South Africa Transformation Council, and spent more than 15 years building one of the most awarded and fiercely independent agencies on the continent.
In Episode 130 of Listen to Your Footsteps, host Kojo Baffoe and Veli cover the full terrain — a rural KwaZulu-Natal childhood with a single mother who was his anchor and his first believer; an accidental entry into advertising after running a nightclub and barely attending Red and Yellow; the founding of Avatar with spiritual brother and business partner Zibusiso Mkhwanazi; and the decision to say no when global agency groups arrived with blank cheques and promises of freedom. "Don't sell," Happy Ntshingila told them. They never did. They remain the only two shareholders. They make their own rules.
The conversation goes deeper than the business. Veli unpacks why most brands do not have an awareness problem — they have a feeling problem — and why ABSA's "Your Story Matters" worked not by shouting louder but by shifting the light from the brand to the consumer. He talks about Aromat and nostalgia, Dove and warmth, Nike and identity. He talks about transformation, real power versus surface representation, and why he would rather grow entrepreneurship than BEE deals. And he closes on fatherhood — raising his five-year-old son Aiko with honesty, intention, and the quiet admission that being a father is healing a wound he has carried for a long time.
This is a conversation about building something real in a country and an industry not built for you — and knowing exactly who you are while you do it.
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In this episode of Listen To Your Footsteps, Kojo Baffoe sits down with bestselling author, PR entrepreneur and TV co‑producer Angela Makholwa Moabelo to trace her journey from crime reporter to running Britespark Communications and writing some of South Africa’s most compelling noir fiction.
Growing up in Tembisa, Angela found refuge in books, hiding in closets with Reader’s Digest anthologies and discovering how stories could expand her world and deepen her compassion.
She talks about choosing a “life less ordinary” over a safe medical career, discovering journalism during the turbulent early 1990s, and following crime stories that led her into the orbit of a serial killer targeting Black women in Johannesburg.
Angela shares the extraordinary story behind Red Ink – how a planned non‑fiction project, prison visits and manipulative love letters turned into a groundbreaking crime novel and, later, a TV adaptation.
We explore how she built Britespark Communications from her apartment at 26, pitched major events like Miss Malaika while broke, and learned to “talk a big talk” long before the opportunities caught up.
She reflects on leading young teams across generations, running a business through recessions, juggling motherhood and multiple roles, and why she believes you must stay the constant while the world changes around you.
If you care about African storytelling, crime fiction, entrepreneurship, or what it really means to turn a life into narrative, this conversation is for you.
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Melanie “Hypress” Ramjee has been bringing the noise to South African culture for almost three decades – from running nightclub doors and bedroom record labels to steering sold-out festivals and global campaigns as a boutique PR founder. In this episode of Listen To Your Footsteps, Kojo Baffoe sits down with “The Empress of Hype” to trace a journey that includes Black August, the fax-era of press releases, MySpace and Twitter’s early days, and the gritty reality of building Tutone Communications from scratch.
They talk about how a mixed-masala childhood in Durban and Joburg shaped Melanie’s belief that “wealth is love and giving back”, why PR chose her long before she knew the job title, and what it really takes to keep a boutique agency alive when algorithms, platforms and audiences refuse to sit still. She opens up about heartbreak, losing everything on a hip-hop concert, choosing clients by energy rather than fees, and learning business lessons SARS-first.
Melanie also shares the quieter side of her work: blogging on Hyprïs Life, raising three kids while navigating ageism in youth culture, and finding deep purpose as a board member and deputy chair at Special Olympics South Africa, championing differently abled athletes who rarely get mainstream airtime. This is a conversation about hype, heart, hustling ethically, and growing older without losing your curiosity.
If you’re on your own creative or entrepreneurial path – in PR, media, music, sport or storytelling – this episode will give you both practical insight and a reminder that there is no single route to doing meaningful work.
Listen, share with someone who needs to hear this, and leave a review so more people can find these African stories.

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What does it take to turn grief, depression and a student project into a national sneaker-care empire? In this episode, Kojo Baffoe sits down with Lolo Ndlovu, founder and CEO of The Sneaker Shack, to unpack the story behind South Africa’s leading sneaker cleaning retail chain.
Lolo traces his journey from losing his mother at four and being raised by a present, devoted father, to chasing football dreams in Switzerland and the US, and hitting a deep depression that left him staring into “the void”. Out of that darkness came a simple idea: disrupt old-school laundry by building a sneaker cleaning service for a new, convenience-driven generation.
We talk about grief that never quite goes away, learning to “feel the feeling” instead of running from it, and how sport taught Lolo more about business, teamwork and leadership than any lecture hall. He breaks down the early days in a 10m² container in Maboneng, the moment a Springbok and a tired mother validated the concept, and why he believes The Sneaker Shack is really in the business of behaviour change and saving people time.
If you’re building something from scratch, juggling mental health, or just trying to make peace with your own story, this conversation offers practical insight and a lot of quiet courage.
Listen, subscribe and share this episode with a founder, sneaker lover or friend who needs to hear that you can start exactly where you are. Leave a review to help more listeners discover African stories like this.

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Soweto streets. QwaQwa cattle. Boarding‑school dorms that almost burned. Fashion runways from Johannesburg to Istanbul. In this episode of Listen To Your Footsteps, Ephraim Molingoana traces how South African history, township life and village memory shaped his journey from breakdancer and “silent actor” model to founder of menswear label Ephymol.
He shares vivid stories of growing up between hostels, trains and a grandmother’s homestead, dancing for Brenda Fassie, navigating 80s and 90s modelling cliques, and eventually stepping behind the scenes as a stylist and creative director before designing his own collections. You’ll hear how miners’ patched trousers, string‑cars, Pantsula culture and kasi classic cars became design references, and how he uses colour, lace and tailoring to expand ideas of Black masculinity on and off the runway.
Ephraim also reflects on the loss of community, the rise of individualism and the impact of AI and technology on fashion work – asking what it means to protect craft, jobs and humanity while still evolving with the times. This is a masterclass in South African cultural history, fashion storytelling and the courage it takes to keep reinventing yourself without losing your roots.
If this conversation resonates, follow the podcast, share the episode with another creative, and leave a review – it helps more listeners discover these African stories.
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