MD Joel Roerig says the newly launched brand and parent company of CIO South Africa positions the organisation for excellence and growth.
Executive Communities was launched in 2025 as the parent company for a family of business leadership networks in South Africa and East Africa. This new umbrella brand encapsulates the mission and values of the executive communities CFO South Africa, CHRO South Africa, CIO South Africa, CFO East Africa and CITO East Africa.
What started in 2011 spearheaded as a visionary project by the late entrepreneur Alex van Groningen, has matured into an organisation with a steadfast purpose of building communities that add value to finance, HR and IT leaders across Africa, says Joël Roerig, the Managing Director of Executive Communities. “The launch of Executive Communities is a confirmation of our purpose and our dogged belief in the incredible power of C-Suite communities – as a crucial in-person counterbalance to today’s dominant forces of AI, algorithms and anxiety.”
The three South African communities continue to engage hundreds of executives, hosting upwards of 20 exclusive events annually, and publishing daily news, weekly newsletters and biannual magazines – keeping the spirit of community and the power of networking alive at every touchpoint. In 2023, an East African business was founded, bringing the same approach and insights to CFOs in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, and in 2025, the CITO East Africa community was launched and a CHRO East Africa community will follow next year.
Launching the umbrella brand
With all this growth underway, and with the bedding down of community-building principles across so many executive networks and countries, the management of the business realised that the individual communities needed a common identity – and Executive Communities was born.
“As our executive communities have gone from strength to strength, and our presence in Africa has expanded, we want all our different executives and partners, and our team members who serve them, to see the bigger picture – that they are connected to a single organisation delivering world-class engagement to business leaders around Africa,” says Joël. “The name Executive Communities just made sense – as it encapsulates, very simply, exactly what we do.”
For the individual communities, nothing changes. They will continue to operate under their individual identities, as these function as a clear articulation of the type of executive they serve, and the region they operate in. These established brands are a home for their executive members and are well-known and appreciated by the community’s partners.
Under new management
For the South African operation to keep pace with the growing demands of the business, a new management team has been introduced, made up of:
- Sungula Nkabinde, head of communities
- Ronda Naidu, head of content
- Nick Smith, head of sales
- Toni Rothbart, head of operations
- Georgina Guedes, head of growth & governance
“Each management team member brings their expertise and experience to the new structure, driving the business forward and positioning us for continued excellence and future growth,” says Joël. “They are all stalwart team members of the business and their valuable leadership is already shaping Executive Communities for the future.”
The East African business, currently still in startup mode, is a much leaner operation, and while the team is growing in expertise and number, is being supported and given direction by the South African business. KC Rottok Chesaina is the East African co-founder, delivering dynamic insights and entrepreneurial spirit to executives in the region.
You can meet the full team behind Executive Communities here.
According to Joël, the launch of Executive Communities is also a new beginning. “We believe that our purpose has no limits or boundaries – and we love having conversations to explore the need for executive communities in other parts of Africa and beyond. Building communities is serious work and once we commit to starting a new executive community (in 2025 we’re launching CITO East Africa!), we do so with the promise of building a sustainable organisation that will add value for many decades to come.”
