PR Powerhouse

19/09/2026

A lot of work goes into a programme like Thungela’s Thuthukani programme. At the centre are entrepreneurs building businesses that can stay in operation and become sustainable.

Thungela received a Merit in Community Transformation at the 2026 MARK Awards.

Thuthukani supports entrepreneurs and small businesses in mining communities to strengthen their businesses, access opportunities and create economic value in the communities around them.

It’s work we’re proud to support, and recognition that means a great deal because it celebrates the impact behind the programme.

Read the entry showcase to learn more about the challenge Thuthukani is responding to, how the programme works, and the long-term economic opportunities it is working to create: https://bit.ly/4dja5n8

Congratulations to the Thungela team. 🥂

Thungela

18/09/2026

One of the best parts of growing an agency is watching the people in it grow too.

Three years into her journey at PR Powerhouse, Nthabiseng Mashashane has won Bronze in Rising Star - Agency at the 2026 MARK Awards. 🥉

In that time, Nthabiseng has taken on bigger briefs, more responsibility, and work across a range of sectors, becoming someone our team and our clients know they can rely on.

It has been great to watch that growth happen from within the agency, and even better to see it recognised.

Read the full entry for more on the client work, campaigns and experience behind Nthabiseng’s Rising Star recognition: https://bit.ly/4cJKbca

Congratulations, Nthabiseng. We’re very proud of you. 🥂

MarkLives

17/09/2026

Building an agency is one thing. Building one that keeps growing, evolving, and earning trust is another.

This weekend, PR Powerhouse Founder and Managing Director Lebo Madiba took home Bronze for Agency Leader of the Year at the 2026 MARK Awards. 🥉

Lebo started PR Powerhouse with a clear idea of the kind of agency she wanted to build: one grounded in strong counsel, clear thinking and work that helps clients communicate with credibility.

Along the way, that has also meant building a team, creating space for talent to grow and continuing to raise the standard of the work we put into the world.

We’re proud to see that journey recognised.

Read the full entry for more on the leadership, growth and work behind Lebo’s Agency Leader of the Year recognition: https://bit.ly/4h5hUOj

Congratulations, Lebo. 🥂

MarkLives

14/09/2026

So, we won! 🏆🥂

The PR Powerhouse team attended the Mark Awards 2026 in Cape Town this weekend and came home victorious.

🥉 Bronze - Agency Leader of the Year
Lebo Madiba

🥉 Bronze - Rising Star of the Year
Nthabiseng Mashashane

🏅 Merit - Community Transformation
Thungela’s Thuthukani programme

Three recognitions that mean a great deal to us for the leadership building PR Powerhouse, the talent growing within it, and the work we get to do alongside our clients.

A special thank you to our client Thungela for joining us in Franschhoek.

And thank you to Herman Manson and Prakash Patel for creating a platform that recognises the people, agencies and work shaping South Africa’s marketing and communications industry.

We are excited to have brought home the metal. 🥂

MarkLives

08/09/2026

Congratulations OPPO South Africa on six incredible years in South Africa! We’re proud to have been your preferred PR agency from the very beginning, and we're grateful to have shared in the journey, milestones, and growth along the way.

28/08/2026

What does influence really mean in communications?

In the latest Women in Media edition of The Media Magazine, PR Powerhouse Founder and Managing Director Lebo Madiba features in a piece exploring how influence shapes the way organisations are understood, how trust is built and how credibly they are able to engage with the world around them.

At PR Powerhouse, we approach influence as a craft. It begins with understanding the context around a brief, who holds power in the ecosystem, the histories shaping the conversation and the trade-offs that may matter most. From there, sound judgement helps determine what should be amplified, challenged or protected.

The feature also looks at the role of influence, intuition and reputation in our work, and how these come together through the people and perspectives that make up PR Powerhouse.

Get your copy of The Media Magazine today or read the full feature here: https://bit.ly/4gAyZPY

29/07/2026

Our client Huawei South Africa received more than 1,000 entries for the first Code4Mzansi competition. By the time the finalists were announced, one trend was hard to ignore. Four of the ten teams had chosen to build solutions for spaza shops.

Their ideas tackled challenges ranging from food safety and counterfeit products to financial services for informal businesses.

Four teams choosing to focus on spaza shops, without being asked to, shows where young developers see some of the country’s most important opportunities for tech.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4aPXMxu

Huawei

A trend among young developers emerged during Huawei South Africa's inaugural Code4Mzansi competition.

24/07/2026

Every year, Thungela’s miners go through gumboots built to survive the harshest conditions underground. Once those boots wear out, they’ve traditionally ended up as landfill waste, four tonnes of them so far.

Now our client Thungela is turning that waste into something families in its host communities actually need. Working with PVC recycling company Potch Plastics, used gumboots are broken down and remoulded into school shoes for learners in the communities surrounding its Mpumalanga operations. What started as a pilot at Zibulo Colliery has since expanded to Greenside and Goedehoop.

It turns a waste problem into something useful for learners.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4wxmbA8

Thungela

JSE-listed Thungela Resources has diverted 4 t of used mining gumboots from landfills and transformed them into durable school shoes for learners in communities surrounding its Mpumalanga operations. The gumboots programme is part of Thungela’s wider commitment to environmental stewardship across ...

20/07/2026

Kamogelo Selepe walked away with R1 million, the top prize in our client Mr Price Foundation’s Bindzu Youth Fund, an entrepreneurship programme that gives young business owners funding, mentorship and investment-readiness training to help them grow.

During the assessment period, she grew ArcaneEdge, an AI-powered marketing tool that allows brands to test campaigns before spending on them, by 486%. It was the highest revenue growth recorded by any participating business.

Khaya Burwana of Agrikey Farming took second place after automating irrigation on his hydroponic farm, while Makatu Tshivhula of The Light Candles placed third after using programme support to increase his candle production capacity.

The three winners were selected from 1,692 applicants. Of those, 1,125 were accepted into the programme, 27 received funding and ten progressed to the final pitch.

It’s a proud moment for a programme we’re honoured to support, one designed to help young entrepreneurs overcome barriers such as limited access to funding, mentorship and business support.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4vZQS10

Mr Price Foundation

Gauteng entrepreneur Kamogelo Selepe has won the R1m top prize in the Mr Price Foundation's Bindzu Youth Fund programme...

17/07/2026

Independent media is often discussed as though every newsroom is trying to solve the same problem. The latest funding round from our client, the Digital News Transformation Fund, shows how varied those needs actually are.

A partnership between Google and the Association of Independent Publishers, administered by Tshikululu Social Investments, the fund has awarded R15.8 million to 22 independent publishers across seven provinces, with three projects operating nationally.

The group includes publications working in Sepedi, Xitsonga and Setswana, alongside projects using WhatsApp distribution, mobile-first platforms and data-free browsing, shaped around how their readers access news.

The fund is also backing publishers reaching audiences overlooked elsewhere, including emerging commercial farmers and LGBTQIA+ South Africans.

There is more to these projects than simply moving reporting online. The publishers are building editorial products around the communities they know, using data journalism, specialist formats and AI tools to strengthen their reporting and the ways they reach their audiences.

Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/4fyrVE9

Digital News Transformation Fund

The Digital News Transformation Fund’s second funding round backs newsrooms across seven provinces…