Insights-led integrated marketing agency, Matte BLK, scooped the widely coveted and prestigious 2025 Standard Bank Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) Award’s Growth Award on Friday, 12 December. The award is a category within the bank’s broader ESD initiatives, which recognise and support small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) demonstrating exceptional business expansion, revenue growth, job creation, and sustainable scaling in South Africa.
These awards are part of the bank's ESD programme, aimed at fostering inclusive economic development by providing mentorship, funding, market access, and tools to high-potential SMMEs. With this distinguished prize, it is worth examining why the agency earned this recognition.
Author: Fredine Swigelaar, client service director at Matte BLK
Building a strong case with consistency and above-average delivery
Throughout the year, the 100% Black woman-led agency built a compelling case for itself through exceptional integrated marketing work for heavyweight brands, including Hyundai, SAB AbInBev and B20 South Africa, while also taking on CSI projects to support small businesses from townships and community improvement initiatives. The team combined top-tier strategy and execution with cutting-edge technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and market insights, as key enablers.
Cultural authenticity is unbeatable. Matte BLK proved, with hard data, that marketing rooted in genuine cultural insight consistently outperforms generic campaigns. The output of the work speaks the real language of township communities, delivering higher engagement, stronger conversions, and results that generic approaches simply can’t match.
Impact-led core beliefs and ethos
At Matte BLK, growth has never been a numbers-only story. It is about expanding impact by giving a louder voice, a stronger platform, and measurable economic value to communities and brands that once existed worlds apart.
The agency scaled without selling its soul. It nearly doubled revenue over the past year while staying fiercely committed to its roots: hiring, developing, and empowering talent directly from the communities it serves.
Awards haul and an impressive trophy cabinet
Among its peers in the marketing space, the agency has been incredibly successful, racking up coveted awards locally and internationally over the last 12 months. The business performance has complemented the strong front-end image the market sees, through sustainable growth over the past three years and continuing into the fourth. This speaks to the acumen, strategy, vision, and grit from the agency’s management and executive team.
In the last 12 months alone, the agency has secured an impressive haul of national and international awards and nominations. These include the recent Global Women in Marketing double accolades: 'One to Watch' (Highly Commended) for the agency’s Digital Strategy Lead, and MANCO member, Sthando Msweli, as well as the 'Company of the Year 2025' (Commended) for the agency overall.
In 2025, Matte BLK enjoyed a strong awards season, earning finalist status in three categories at the Marketing Achievement Awards: Excellence in Integrated Marketing, Excellence in Purpose-Led Marketing, and Excellence in South African Resonance Marketing. Additional recognition included a Silver award for Societal Impact at the Pitcher Awards, as well as two Silver honours at the MarkLives Awards for Medium Agency of the Year and Agency Leader of the Year for managing director, Buyi Mafoko.
Overcoming adversity with vision, aptitude, consistency, and grit
From overcoming the major threat of closing its doors during the Covid-19 lockdowns to maintaining a strong growth trajectory a few years later, the marketing firm’s story is one of exemplary resilience combined with strategic business acumen. The lingering question is: how did this 100% Black women-owned agency achieve this feat? The growth spike over the last three years, overall, offers illuminating insight as a case study.
The agency became the bridge big brands were missing. Major corporates now see emerging markets not as charity or obligation, but as high-growth engines. Matte BLK opened doors they couldn’t crack alone, unlocking serious wallet share in once 'difficult' territories – meaning real value, measurable impact and Return-on Investment (ROI).
The power of collaboration to scale
The secret sauce lies in the company’s approach to through-the-line (TTL) marketing and strategic projects, but also its willingness to collaborate for the benefit of clients and for growth. One such collaboration this year was with Breaking The Mould (BTM) to manage and deliver sponsorship rights for a portfolio of 31 sponsors at the recent B20 South Africa Summit, under the watchful eye of the international business community. This project symbolises Matte BLK’s evolution as a marketing agency and its solidification in the advanced strategy-led sponsorship management space.
The role involved managing and liaising with all sponsors and partners to ensure delivery of their sponsorship rights before and during the summit. Delivering this complex project in a short timeframe, with multiple moving parts and constant troubleshooting, tested the management team’s aptitude, dexterity, and ability to work under pressure. The scope ran from May to November 2025, culminating in the successful management and delivery of sponsorship rights for the 31 sponsors -including Standard Bank, Anglo American, Visa, Mastercard, Sanlam, and Nestlé, to name a few, for the benefit of the country and Africa.
Reflections of a year worth an ode
The multi-award-winning status is gratifying, but the real motivation is the impact created. Every rand of revenue growth reflects deeper access to communities long excluded from mainstream economic participation. By championing township-focused enterprises, Matte BLK proves that supplier development in these areas delivers strong, measurable returns – not just for the business, but for the entire ecosystem. When businesses rooted in underserved markets are empowered, they evolve from mere suppliers into market makers that open entirely new revenue channels.
Matte BLK’s trajectory mirrors South Africa’s broader growth potential and has redefined 'hard-to-reach' markets as 'first-to-engage' opportunities, turning perceived obstacles into competitive strengths and unlocking spending power that others overlooked. These awards not only affirm the business’s growth strategy but and celebrates its success – it also validates a new archetype in African marketing: one where closeness to community translates directly into closeness to profit, cultural fluency fuels commercial results, and the majority market finally receives the marketing excellence it has always deserved.
