It struck me that only three of the Top 50 CMO's recognised by the influential Global Telecoms Business magazine work for African operators. Is this a fair representation of the industry? There are some notable African absentees from the list including marketers from MTN, Vodacom and Telkom SA; and where would Afrinolly, Mocality, M-Farm or Mimba Bora be without their marketing teams? So Africa is alive with market makers innovating and creating value. But because Africa still struggles with the lowest global internet penetration rates (26% against a world average of 42%) and still has less than 10% of the worlds internet users (source - Internet World Stats) I think that on balance GTB got it about right.

What is clear from this list is that the role of the CMO and other marketing professionals is changing. For several years the frustration has been to define what exactly the marketing directors role is. Ask CxO's or agencies and they'll share the same concerns that old school marketing folks don't appreciate the power of the new world marketing tools at their disposal. The upside of this is that we now see a mix of brand, commercial, marketing and communications people, all striving to do the same thing; to make products that people need and to add value. I'm delighted to be included in the list.