Zimbabwean Association joins WFA

With less than two months to go before the Global Marketer Week 2015, which will take place in Africa for the first time, WFA welcomes the Zimbabwean association into its network as it looks to further expand its regional footprint in Africa.

Established in 2009 with the view to bringing Zimbabwean marketers together so that they can speak with one voice at a time where marketing as a profession was not given the recognition it deserved in the country, the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe joins WFA's network of now 55 national associations in sixty countries.

MAZ's mission is to promote marketing excellence and provides marketing consultancy and research services, a HR database to their corporate membership, total quality management programs, internship programs for students, excellence through marketing awards, as well as business-related and marketing-centric publications.

"I am thrilled to welcome the Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (MAZ) to the WFA family. MAZ becomes the fifth African country to join our network, after Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. I am very happy to be working together with MAZ and their sister associations in this exciting part of the world for brand owners," said Stephan Loerke, WFA Managing Director.

"We have made great strides in promoting the marketing profession across the country and we are grateful for the support we got from the corporate world over the years. This has enabled us to further expand across the region and to advocate for the implementation of marketing across all sectors. It is our hope that our WFA membership will add more value to our members as we exchange skills, know-how and industry trends, thus becoming a formidable force both at professional and national level," said Gillian Rusike, Founder & Executive Secretary of MAZ.

Gillian Rusike holds a Bachelor in Business Administration with the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM), as well as a graduate diploma in Marketing Management and he is undertaking his Master in Business Leadership with the Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE). Under Gillian Rusike's direction, MAZ has grown in size and stature, with a current membership of over 200 corporates and over 400 individual members.

Gillian is also Secretary General of the African Marketing Confederation (AMC) since 2012, a platform of marketing associations with six founding members from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, which are well-established marketing institutions in their own right.

In 2013, Gillian was nominated "Outstanding Young Person" in Zimbabwe by Junior Chamber International (JCI). Megafast also honored Gillian Rusike by awarding him the accolade of Visionary of The Year at the Megafest National Business Awards in 2014. He was appointed Chairman of Maranatha Junior School and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (UNWTO) Marketing Committee Chairman in 2013.

You can contact Gillian Rusike at rusikeg@mazim.co.zw.