Sibu Mabena
@sibumabena • 92,918 subscribers
Duma Collective’s first employee.
Shorts
Videos
Y’all had ice cream, ice cold water and really good music! I love you GALXBOY® 🇿🇦❤️🇫🇷
Sibu Mabena90,146 views • 2 months ago
In 2023 - Jessica Nkosi said Out of This World 🌍 In 2024 - Jessica Nkosi said Ride the Wave 🌊 In 2025 - Jessica Nkosi said Marvels of Mzansi 🌷 In 2026 - Jessica Nkosi said Country Allure 🐎 Jessica Nkosi x It’s been fun Hollywoodbets Durban July 🌟 #DurbanJuly2026 #HWBDbnJuly
Sibu Mabena78,192 views • 2 months ago
Today, our MD nervously hit publish on her very first Substack. After 24 years in advertising, working at some of the biggest agencies on the continent, she’d never been to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In fact, she’d never been to Europe. So this year, the Duma Collective team quietly saved up and surprised her with her very first trip to Europe, culminating in Cannes Lions. Sometimes the best investment you can make is in the people who’ve spent years investing in everyone else. ❤️🥹🌟 Please read about her experience of Cannes Lions here:
Sibu Mabena49,797 views • 1 month ago
On May 1, 2025 Charles Delapalme became the new global CEO and president of Hennessy, the iconic cognac house owned by the LVMH group. On October 20, 2025 Kabza De Small hosted him at his Piano Hub in South Africa 🇿🇦 Hennything can happen when excellence prevails 🤌🏾 🥃 #Hennessy
Sibu Mabena209,814 views • 10 months ago
28 years ago, Bontle MaAfrika Moloi and I met at Johannesburg Girls Primary School. Years later, we’d both find our way into the hip hop dance scene of the late 2000s and spend a lot of time in the same rooms of Strictly Hip Hop and Masters of Rhythm, working on shows like the MAMAS and SAFTAS together, and just finding ourselves around the same kind of madness that shaped so many of us. Over the years, we’ve worked together on campaigns, made some money and, most importantly, remained true to a sisterhood that has now lasted nearly three decades. Over the past few months, GTAA has had the privilege of working alongside STAY LOW as part of Bontle’s management handover and, in that time, we’ve already had the joy of building some beautiful work around her across adidas, Maybelline, Vanish and more. Now it’s official. 🤍 I’m so proud to welcome Bontle Moloi to the GTAA family. She’s always moved culture. Now, we move together ✨
Sibu Mabena37,752 views • 1 month ago
“Thina’s phum’emzansi” SuperSport 🏆 thank you for this live BTS 🏆 #BafanaBafana
Sibu Mabena47,861 views • 2 months ago
In 2019 Extreme backed SHIMZA and PH as they broke the world record for a 72 straight back to back set! It’s 2026 and Extreme is doing it again and this time, it’s uMaka Mah 👵🏽 playing for 24 hours straight… ALONE! I cried in 2019 and I know I’m gonna cry even more in 2026! Good luck sissy uMaka Mah 👵🏽 🌟
Sibu Mabena67,550 views • 5 months ago
I was called to contribute to a show as a creative director. Vision boarding, then story boarding, then consulting on a wish list of songs and artists, then scripting the visuals and lighting, dancers, pyro cues, then writing the MC script and ultimately show calling is what went into this “job to be done”. Then… on one of our ideation sessions, I say it would so amazing to honor Mam’Letta and Bab’Caiphus and Bab’ Bongani Tembe says “but ya that could be possible… let me call them”. Then their granddaughter Nthabiseng being a sister in industry bringing me albums of them for me to digitise the pictures for the on screen visuals. Then… okay… rehearsals happen all week and I’m stressing the conductors, the orchestra, the artists etc with all sorts of extraordinary requests and shame… they oblige me. Then SHOW DAY comes and God takes over. In the encore piece…where the cast all sings together and does a curtain call…Bab’Caiphus singing on stage was NEVER the plan… but naye something took over him and he decided to get onto the mic! Like… what!! That’s why you hear Amanda Black say “ooohhhhhh”. She was shocked! Like very surprised! We all were! God made this show happen exceedingly abundantly above my asks and my thoughts 😭😩🥹❤️😮💨🌟 a show featuring Amanda Black, Mnqobi Yazo, Vusi Nova, BlackByrd, Karen Devroop, Heinrich Sutton, Zandile Mzazi, Reddam House College Choir and conducted by Chad Hendricks and Chevonne Plaatjies with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra… with Legends Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya!!!! What do you even mean 😩😭🔥❤️🌟 I truly and genuinely have the most amazing clients emhlabeni who believe in me more than I believe in myself sometimes. What a way to be reminded i am every woman I think I am and I get to do what I love and contribute meaningfully to my country’s economy because of the women who knew the were every woman on that 9th day of August in 1956 ❤️🌟
Sibu Mabena11,890 views • 28 days ago
My mom subscribed to the idea of an African renaissance because of her experience of being exiled from South Africa in 1976 and taking refuge in Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and only returning home in 1991. What is discussed here is the ideology of an African Renaissance being obliterated by the inability of our politicians to bring it to life considering the economic realities our various nations face at the mercy of our elected leaders (where applicable). I’m of the view that South Africa is pouring from an empty cup and we just need a pause to 1. Elect new leaders who will actually serve the nation, 2. Fill our cup atleast halfway and then 3. Get to a place where we are able to welcome our brothers and sisters into the country to who seek aide in self actualisation. I’m probably building a castle in the sky with my middle class view but any information you can offer and add to this conversation, please do so with the view to expose my mind to a different POV and not to criticize 🙏 Watch more here if you’d like:
Sibu Mabena32,642 views • 4 months ago
2025 - a year that broke my heart and built my spirit in equal measure. I lost my mother to illness, learned more about grief than I ever wanted to, and somehow still found the strength to build, create and serve through Duma Collective and Golden Thread African Agency. This is a reflection on a year that changed me forever. I hope this thread inspires someone out there that things can be absolutely horrible and absolutely beautiful all at the same damn time… and through it all… God remains God! ❤️ 🧵 January: - Hosted the Gauteng Dep of Education Matric Results Announcement - Celebrated our friendship as The Real Housemates (est 22 Jan 2022) - Put Gunna onto the first Heineken House experience in SA - Hosted a 21 Day Fast with Until All Are Found in our second office building (the empty building next to the building Duma Collective occupies) - yes… we have two office buildings 🙏❤️
Sibu Mabena46,233 views • 8 months ago
Take yourself or people who love good music on a date to the Joburg theatre this Saturday / Sunday to enjoy an incredible show honoring Hugh Masekela. Performed by members of his band, people he collaborated with and people he inspired, this show was so GOOD!! Like really really good! Tickets at Webtickets.
Sibu Mabena28,973 views • 4 months ago
A little while ago, Duma Collective was invited to a pitch for a big corporate’s annual hackathon by a former client who had left where we serviced her account and recently joined this new corporate. Okay sharp, walk into the venue and I see 2/5 agencies there are people I know and have been agencies partners with on jobs on various jobs. One of those two agencies is Beanstalk. At the end of the briefing, Alain and I just looked at each other and said dude, let’s just do this together. “You lead and I’ll support” is what I said to him and he graciously agreed. I’ve learnt so much from working on a tech event of this nature, coordinating multiple sponsors and individuals in the client team whilst Alain and the team focused on the event build and experience and together, we executed what the clients have been calling the best code fest they’ve ever experienced. 48 consecutive hours of coding by 30 teams of 4-5 people each and we can close the week saying… WE DID IT!!! What a dope thing it is to know that where we could’ve competed and one of us would’ve “failed”, we chose to collaborate and succeed TOGETHER instead! This week was a good week at work ❤️🌟🙏
Sibu Mabena20,582 views • 3 months ago
Bonang 🇿🇦 💛 spending her birthday doing a speaking engagement in Cannes 🇫🇷 💛 🔥🤏🏽
Sibu Mabena14,967 views • 2 months ago
All White at #SunCityTakeover and CIZA performs #Isaka and then 25K THE PLUG™ 🔌 raps over the Isaka beat in his performance and Ciza is there watching this and loving it… I call that a “golden thread” “The term "golden thread" is a metaphor for a central idea or feature that runs through and connects all parts of something, providing internal coherence and purpose.”
Sibu Mabena39,372 views • 10 months ago
An interesting take on leadership 👌 My experience of what is being said here: I once asked a really incredible and very experienced brand strategist to head up one of my companies. He did it for a year before tendering his resignation citing his deep desire to NOT have to manage people. Today, he’s one of our brand strategy consultants working on his own time and not managing people but still providing and extracting great value. Not every great performer wants to be a leader. Some people just want to do a great job and get paid for it. This is such a great conversation:
Sibu Mabena30,967 views • 7 months ago