Khensani Nobanda

Khensani Nobanda is one of South Africa’s most decorated and influential marketing leaders. As Chief Marketing Officer at Nedbank Group, she drives cohesive alignment between brand positioning, marketing strategy, and business objectives across the group, while contributing strategic input to Nedbank’s executive structures, committees, and partnerships.

She was named the Marketing Achievement Awards’ Marketer of the Year in 2025, recognised for her ability to integrate data-driven thinking with purpose-led brand building at scale. This award sits alongside a body of recognition that spans more than a decade: the Scopen Marketer of the Decade (2016 to 2026), AdFocus Marketing Industry Leader of the Year (2021 and 2024), MarkLives Most Admired Marketer (2024), and the Loeries Marketing Leadership and Innovation award (2021).

Beyond Nedbank, Khensani holds several senior roles in the industry. She serves as Chairperson of the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA), sits on the Global Board of Directors of the International Advertising Association (IAA), and is a member of the UN Global Compact CMO Forum. She also serves on the IRG Marketing2030 Challenger Board and has served as Jury President for the Bookmarks Awards.

Her career spans more than 20 years across leading South African and multinational organisations. She began at Unilever, rising to head the Skin Category across Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey, before taking on executive roles at Diageo, South African Breweries, and Vodacom, and later joining Nedbank in 2017.

Khensani holds a BCom from the University of the Witwatersrand, an MBA from GIBS, and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.