My brilliant marketing team asked me to share a 100-day reflection on my time as CEO of BASA. I know this is “standard,” and everyone expects it – the reflective post, followed by my face attached to countless beautifully designed snippets celebrating the past few months.
But that’s never quite been my style
And in the spirit of inclusive innovation – the principle that has shaped my life, my work, and my leadership – I want to flip the script.
Instead of reflecting on my 100 days, I want to reflect on the sector I love; on this country that cradles me with all her dysfunction, warmth, chaos, brilliance and beauty; and on the arts themselves – the force that helps us understand our place in the world, navigate complexity, and bring a deeply human lens to innovation and business in a tech-driven age.
This is what should be celebrated.
Because what I see is that the world is catching up to something we have always known – that creativity is a strategic asset. It shapes identity, builds global influence, and fuels the innovation ecosystems of the future. And in South Africa, where our stories hold the power to disrupt narratives and shift global consciousness, the arts are not just expressive tools – they are nation-building instruments and economic engines. This is the real story of the last 100 days – a sector on the rise, a country rich in creative capital, and a continent ready to lead.
BASA exists to facilitate, catalyse and yes, to serve the extraordinary creativity that inspires a nation. Our work is to elevate and fund it, to showcase its investability, to normalise access for creative practitioners, and to advocate for its mainstreaming – not only in business, but across all sectors. Because creativity is our greatest export, and our clearest marker of our shared humanity. Serving that is the privilege we get every day.
Anyone who knows this sector will tell you – collaboration is our hallmark.My first few months in this role have been held up by the generosity of colleagues who steward this sacred space from every angle; by an incredibly talented and focused BASA team; and by a Board that fully understands that what we do matters.
Oh yes – and we also got a few things done.
In the last few months, we have:
• Developed a bold new strategy that positions BASA firmly at the intersection of business and the arts, where creativity and commerce meet to drive shared value.
• Repositioned BASA’s membership model, including new benefit tiers and, for the first time, a free tier for artists, ensuring that every creative in South Africa can belong to BASA. (Watch for the official launch in the coming months!)
• Activated value-driven partnerships – we began brokering high-impact collaborations between business and the arts, designed to deliver measurable ROI for companies and meaningful creative outcomes for society. (Watch for some exciting announcements in 2026!)
• Mobilised investment and built pathways to scale – we initiated work on new investment vehicles, expanded our pipeline of catalytic partnerships, and strengthened support structures to position creatives and creative businesses as bankable, investable, and scalable. (Again, watch for some exciting announcements in 2026!)
• Creative Futures Africa platform – we elevated our role in producing actionable research, sector intelligence, and evidence-based advocacy to strengthen the value proposition of the creative economy nationally by anchoring the Creative Futures Africa summit (Next edition in June 2026! See the link to the report from the G20 edition here)
• Strengthened BASA’s institutional backbone – we advanced a future-fit organisational model to improve systems, governance, revenue generation, and long-term sustainability to ensure we are ready for the next decade of impact.
If the first 100 days were about grounding, listening, and repositioning – the next 100 will be about activation, scale, and bold collaboration.
Because when creativity thrives, South Africa thrives.
