Africa in Motion: Brad Ross
Updated: Oct 7
Brad Ross, Managing Director - Global Partnerships & Social Media Marketing at Bank of America, shares his insights on the power of sport, partnerships, cultural relevance and what it will take for Africa to capture more of the value its culture creates.
Interview by Lesibane Mohale
Brad Ross is a South African-born global marketing leader whose career has taken him from Africa to some of the biggest stages in sport, culture and partnerships.
I first met Brad in Lagos, Nigeria, when he was leading the marketing output for The Coca-Cola Company across 33 diverse markets on the continent including West Africa, Mid Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. That chapter of my career gave me a rare opportunity to work closely with someone who would go on to become a friend, mentor and one of the most passionate marketers I know. In my role as Group Creative Director at Ogilvy Africa, we collaborated on some exciting projects including taking the 2018 FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour across Africa, launching Coca-Cola’s one-litre pack in Nigeria and creating the first-ever Coke Fest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Despite Brad’s illustrious career working with some of the world’s biggest brands including Google, Brad has never lost his connection to where he comes from. His experience growing up in South Africa and later working in Nigeria has shaped how he thinks about leadership, culture and the responsibility global brands have when entering African markets. As Brad puts it in our conversation, Africa is not one homogeneous market. Understanding its people, history, nuance and pride requires spending time in the places where you operate.
Today, as Managing Director - Global Partnerships & Social Media Marketing at Bank of America, Brad brings that perspective to one of the world’s largest financial institutions. He leads a global portfolio spanning sport, entertainment and culture, using partnerships to build the brand, deepen client relationships, drive business growth and create meaningful impact.
Through Sports with Us, Bank of America is using sport to give young people access to skills in leadership, teamwork, wellbeing and financial education. In Africa, for example, Bank of America's partnership with the Great Ethiopian Run looks beyond the race itself, widening participation, creating opportunities for young people and contributing to the communities and local economy around it.
In this insightful conversation with Brad, we talk about African creativity, the role sport can play in opening up opportunity, what cultural relevance really means for global brands, and why Africa needs to capture more of the economic value created by the culture it exports to the world.
LM: In your own words, what is African creativity and what do you think makes it so distinctive?
Brad: The Africa I know, love and belong to is colourful, vibrant and full of possibility. I see that same energy in its creativity, rooted in identity, optimistic in outlook and proud of the extraordinary tapestry of humanity that defines the continent. What makes it distinctive is the authenticity of its expression through music, dance, food, art and fashion. I am not an expert in any one of these fields, but wherever I am in the world, I know African creativity when I encounter it. It is unmistakable and it is magic.
LM: What did growing up in South Africa and living in Nigeria give you that has become an advantage in the way you work with global brands and audiences around the world?
Brad: Being born and raised in South Africa has been a competitive advantage on the global stage. I was privileged in my upbringing and owe so much of who I am to those formative years. I lived through the end of apartheid, the beginning of democracy, the release of Nelson Mandela and the birth of the rainbow nation. As a child, I did not fully understand the magnitude of what was happening around me. Looking back, I remain in awe of how the country navigated such a difficult chapter in its history. It taught me the power of unity, ubuntu and diplomacy, lessons I have carried throughout my career.
Living in Nigeria was equally transformative. The can-do attitude, warmth of hospitality and genuine will to succeed were palpable. There is a confidence and swagger I came to admire. The hustle culture is real, but not in the stereotypical way it is often portrayed. I experienced a country defined by work ethic, pride, optimism and creativity.
Together, those experiences taught me that diversity of thought and lived experience can be a game changer. Perceptions and stereotypes are often incomplete, and the danger of a single story is real. For global brands, that means taking the time to understand the culture and context of each market. Research and focus groups can only take you so far; you have to spend time in the places where you operate. Africa is not one homogeneous market, and a one-size-fits-all model will not work. The opportunity is immense, but brands will earn it only by understanding the continent’s people, history, nuance and pride.
LM: You once wrote that the 2010 World Cup allowed South Africa to become 'the story rather than the stereotype'. More than a decade later, do you think brands are still too often telling stories about Africa rather than creating space for Africa to tell its own stories?
Brad: Yes, without a doubt, although there has been progress. Too much of the global narrative about Africa is still shaped by generations of bias and inherited perception. Many brands recognise the opportunity the continent presents, but far fewer embrace its complexity. As a result, stories are too often built around an idea of Africa rather than its lived reality.
'Chasing the Sun', the documentary series following the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories in Japan and France, is a powerful example of a story about Africans, produced by Africans and told by Africans. The global rise of Afrobeats has placed Nigerian music at the forefront of culture, while Amapiano has brought a distinctly South African rhythm to the world. These are not stories being interpreted for Africa; they are African stories travelling on their own terms.
Brands should embrace the platform Africa presents not only as a commercial opportunity, but by investing in African talent, partnering with local creators and giving those voices the reach to tell their own stories. A brand’s role should be to enable and amplify African voices, not reinterpret Africa from the outside.
LM: You’ve worked at the intersection of sports, music, partnerships and talent.
What do these worlds have in common when it comes to building genuine cultural relevance for brands?
Brad: Culture is created with or without brands and, more often than not, without them. Sport, music, entertainment and talent matter because they are the places where people invest their identity, attention and emotion. That makes them powerful entry points into culture, but only when a brand contributes something real rather than trying to manufacture relevance.
We are also living in a time of convergence. These passion points are no longer consumed in isolation: sport intersects with music, talent with fashion, and entertainment with social media. Brands that understand those connections can create something bigger than the sum of its parts. When the contribution is authentic, 1 + 1 = 3. When it is forced, culture rejects it.
LM: Beyond the commercial and marketing opportunity, what role do you think sport can play in creating access, opportunity and development in emerging markets?
Brad: Sport is a universal language, but its real power goes beyond bringing people together. With the right access, structures and long-term investment, it can become social infrastructure, building confidence, wellbeing and life skills while creating pathways into education and employment. That matters in emerging markets, where talent is abundant but access to facilities, coaching, funding and opportunity is often uneven.
At Bank of America, we are beginning to show what that can look like in practice. Through Sports with Us, we have launched a global sport-and-skills initiative that aims to reach more than 10,000 young people across 14 countries by the end of 2028, combining sport with leadership, teamwork, communication, wellbeing, nutrition and financial education. In the U.S., Soccer at Schools aims to make the game accessible in every school by 2030, while Golf with Us reached nearly 100,000 young participants in its first year.
The Great Ethiopian Run is another important proof point. Our ambition is to use the partnership not simply to support a major sporting event, but to broaden participation, create opportunities for young people and contribute to the communities and local economy around it. We aim to grow participation to 60,000 runners, provide 3,000 free entries for graduating students, pilot a schools programme and expand participation in the Children’s Race. We also intend to establish an economic-impact baseline so the partnership is measured not only by visibility, but by the value it creates.
That is the opportunity: to move from sponsoring sporting moments to building platforms that leave something behind. In emerging markets, success should be measured by who gained access, what skills were built, what economic value was created and whether the community is stronger because the partnership existed.
LM: African music, fashion, sport and creativity are increasingly influencing global culture. Do you think the continent is capturing enough of the economic and commercial value created by the culture it exports, and, if not, how can that be changed?
Brad: Not yet. Africa is creating enormous cultural value, but it is still not capturing enough of the economic value that follows. The talent is clear, the global influence is undeniable and demand is growing. The issue is not creativity; it is the infrastructure around it. Too often, African creativity enters global markets while significant parts of the value chain from capital and intellectual property to distribution and commercial infrastructure sit elsewhere.
Changing that requires more than celebrating individual success stories. It means building the full ecosystem: stronger protection and ownership of intellectual property, better access to patient capital, world-class production and live-event infrastructure, reliable data and payment systems, local management and technical capability and distribution platforms that can scale across borders. It also requires brands and investors to back African businesses and creators for the long term, not simply borrow from the culture once it becomes globally relevant.
I believe we are only scratching the surface. If Africa can move from exporting cultural influence to owning more of the value chain, from creation and production to distribution and rights, these industries can become significant engines of jobs, enterprise and economic growth. The opportunity is not simply to participate in the global creative economy. It is to help shape it and ensure more of the value created by African culture remains on the continent.
LM: When you look at Africa through the lens of Bank of America, what opportunities do you see today that perhaps weren’t as visible to you when you were working in the FMCG or tech space?
Brad: What I see more clearly now is the scale of the opportunity and the role financial infrastructure plays in unlocking it. Bank of America has served clients across Africa for decades, building deep relationships across the continent. We support corporations, financial institutions, governments and investors through corporate and investment banking, global markets, research, payments and risk management. Our model is not that of a consumer bank; our role is to connect clients and opportunities in Africa with the capabilities and reach of our global platform.
In FMCG and technology, I often viewed the opportunity through consumers, brands and adoption. At Bank of America, I can see the wider system: how capital moves, how companies expand across borders, how infrastructure is financed and how local businesses connect to global markets. Africa’s demographics, entrepreneurial energy, digital adoption and natural resources create enormous potential, but realising it will require deeper pools of capital, stronger payment and market infrastructure, disciplined risk management and long-term partnerships.
Our focus is to bring the strength of the full global platform to those opportunities responsibly: helping clients access capital, manage risk, invest, trade and operate more efficiently across borders; supporting sustainable development and job creation; and strengthening the communities in which we operate. Our ambition for the Great Ethiopian Run is a visible expression of that approach beyond traditional banking, using sport to expand access, strengthen event infrastructure, support local enterprise and elevate African stories on a global stage.
For me, the opportunity is not to treat Africa as the next frontier or as one homogeneous market. It is to build market by market, in partnership with local leaders, and connect African ambition to global capital, capability and opportunity. That is where Bank of America can make a distinctive contribution.
LM: Looking back across your career, what is the one moment, partnership or piece of work you are most proud of and why?
Brad: I have been incredibly fortunate in my career. I have worked across countries, travelled the world and learned from some of the most respected companies anywhere; Google, Coca-Cola and Bank of America. Yet the work I remain most proud of is also the work that helped set the course of my career: leading the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour by Coca-Cola across South Africa in 2010.
Taking the FIFA World Cup Trophy across my home country and into places I had never visited before was magical. It was far more than moving one of sport’s most iconic symbols from city to city. It was about watching people see it up close, often for the first time, and feeling the pride, hope and possibility it represented. In those moments, the trophy did not belong to FIFA, Coca-Cola or any one team. It belonged to every South African who had dreamed of welcoming the world to our country.
That experience changed me. It showed me that the most powerful partnerships are not defined by visibility alone, but by what people feel and what a moment leaves behind. It connected my love of sport, my belief in the power of brands and my pride in where I come from. I have worked on many extraordinary projects since, but few have touched me as deeply or reminded me so clearly why this work matters.
LM: With your experience working in multiple markets, what advice would you give to global brands that want to enter and succeed in Africa?
Brad: Africa presents an extraordinary opportunity for global brands: a fast-growing population, the youngest demographic profile in the world and consumers who are increasingly shaping global culture. But opportunity alone does not guarantee success. Brands must enter with humility, patience and a willingness to invest, not simply an ambition to sell. My advice is straightforward.
Play the long game: Do not arrive, extract value and move on. Commit to the market, invest in local capability and stay long enough to build trust, relevance and shared value.
Listen before you lead: Spend time in the market, listen to consumers and learn from local partners. A global playbook can provide discipline, but it cannot replace cultural understanding.
Reject the one-size-fits-all model: Africa is not one market. Each country has its own history, culture, consumer realities and national pride. The brands that succeed will combine global scale with local relevance.
Ultimately, success in Africa is earned. Brands that show up with respect, create value with communities rather than simply taking value from them, and demonstrate a genuine commitment to the continent will be the ones that endure.
LM If there’s one misconception the world still has about Africa that you could change, what would it be?
Brad: The misconception I would change is that Africa should be viewed primarily through the lens of its challenges rather than the strength of its talent. Too often, the global narrative begins with what the continent lacks. I would start with what it has in abundance: intelligence, ambition, creativity and an extraordinary ability to build, adapt and succeed in conditions that are rarely straightforward.
Africa has a remarkable talent pipeline. Entrepreneurship, resilience and comfort with ambiguity are not abstract leadership qualities; they are capabilities many Africans develop through lived experience. In a world being reshaped by uncertainty and constant change, those qualities are highly valuable and increasingly relevant on the global stage. I have seen this personally throughout my career.
When Africans and members of the African diaspora are given access, investment and opportunity, they do not simply participate, they lead, innovate and fly the flag with pride in every part of the world. The issue has never been a shortage of potential. It has been whether the systems around that potential are strong enough to recognise, develop and scale it.
I would replace the narrative of African deficit with one of African talent. Africa is not waiting to be saved; it is waiting to be seen clearly, invested in seriously and given the platforms its people deserve. When that happens, the continent will not simply contribute to the future, it will help define it.
Africa in Motion is a TIA Creative Studio interview series profiling the people shaping African creativity and culture on the global stage.
From Lagos to London, Accra to Atlanta and Jozi to Boston, the series brings together leading voices across advertising, marketing and the creative industries, from agency leaders and strategists to creatives, entrepreneurs and brand marketers. Each conversation explores the ideas, cultural shifts and emerging trends influencing how Africa is seen, experienced and valued around the world.
If you are a brand, agency or freelancer looking to collaborate, connect with Lesibane Mohale at les@tiastudio.co.uk
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