Diamond Google Product Expert · Four continents

Kagiso Manzana
Portfolio

CMO / Marketing Director

Ten years, 1,000+ campaigns, four continents — regulated finance to ecommerce. I own the whole funnel: paid media, SEO, the site it lands on, and the number at the bottom.

Global footprint 6 markets
Johannesburg
South Africa · HQ
2016 →
Cape Town
South Africa · Events
2026
London
United Kingdom · Clients
2025 →
Middle East
Regulated finance
2024 →
New York
United States · Paid media
2018–24
Beijing
China · Brand
2016–18
Hover a market to trace its route. Campaigns delivered across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the UK and the US.
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Trive Financial Services
Nickelodeon
Vantage Markets
Winkworth UK
Orizen Group
Jasper Consultants
The Orbit
Aircon Premier
Revico
Sarva Dharma
Baselight
Nelson Mandela Foundation
Signature results

Efficiency is the
only real edge.

Anyone can buy reach. The work is buying it cheaper than the market, converting it harder than the competition, and proving it in the account. These are the numbers I put my name on.

0
Funded accounts
Delivered for Trive Africa on a R36,500/month budget — roughly R36M in deposits, under FSCA-regulated conditions.
ROAS on $2M/year
Sustained across the Jasper Consultants book — R1M average monthly sales, 35% year-on-year client growth.
0
Sites in Google top 100
100 pages into top-10 positions inside six months, off a 1,000-page structured content bank.
0
Tickets sold online
Nickelodeon Live Tour, China. 26 cities, 150 sold-out shows, partner brand sales up 35%.
Selected accounts

Campaigns with
a P&L attached.

Every line below is a live account I ran, not a case study I was briefed on. Revenue figures come from the client's own store reporting and Google Ads.

A/01
Ecommerce · Google Ads

Nail Art

Full Shopping and Search build with feed optimisation and structured bidding. Average order value held at R1,143.70 while volume scaled; revenue per customer reached R2,515.09.

R12.67MStore revenue
A/02
Ecommerce · Google Ads

Gas On The Run

Rebuilt account structure around high-intent demand and delivery radius. Gross sales up 49% year on year, total sales R1,075,660.90 against near-zero returns.

+49% YoYGross sales growth
A/03
Regulated finance · Full funnel

Trive Africa

Built the go-to-market for expansion out of South Africa into the rest of Africa. Education-led acquisition converting awareness into verified FTDs, with 2,900+ new client sign-ups from the expansion alone.

R36MDeposits generated
A/04
Portfolio · MCC management

Full MCC Performance

Portfolio-wide optimisation across the agency book: 640K clicks, 69,644 conversions, 25.4M impressions in a single year — every metric up on prior year while average CPC dropped to R1.78.

R13.7MEcommerce revenue
A/05
Entertainment · Brand & media

Nickelodeon Live Tour

Brand marketing across 26 Chinese cities with a 30-person cross-regional team spanning China, Nigeria and Malaysia. 150 sold-out shows and a 35% lift in partner brand sales.

150Sold-out shows
Full stack

Strategy, media,
and the build.

Most marketing leaders hand the site to a developer and the creative to an agency, then wait. I ship the landing page, wire the conversion tracking, write the ad, and read the data myself. That shortens every feedback loop that matters.

Paid media

Search, Shopping, PMax, Meta, LinkedIn and programmatic. Budget allocation, bid strategy, feed and creative testing at portfolio scale.

  • Google Ads
  • Meta
  • PMax
  • Attribution

SEO & content

Technical audits, topical architecture and content banks that hold rankings. 250+ client sites ranked, 3–6 month turnaround to top-10 positions.

  • Technical SEO
  • Content strategy
  • Topical maps

Web & CRO

I build the pages I advertise to. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, WordPress, Shopify — plus conversion tracking, GA4 and server-side event wiring.

  • Shopify
  • WordPress
  • GA4
  • Conversion tracking

Regulated finance

Multi-jurisdictional campaigns under FSCA, FCA and CySEC. Compliance-safe creative, education-led acquisition, verified FTD growth.

  • FSCA
  • FCA
  • CySEC
  • Fintech GTM

Leadership

Teams of 3 to 30 across continents. Board-level reporting to CEO, COO and CMO. Full P&L ownership and OKR-driven execution.

  • P&L
  • Team building
  • Board reporting

Creative direction

Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, Framer. Video direction, storyboarding and copywriting — creative built to the data, not to a mood board.

  • Figma
  • Premiere
  • Copywriting
  • UGC
Track record

Ten years,
four continents.

Agency versatility and in-house leadership. Finance, fintech, media, entertainment, ecommerce and property — the constant is the P&L.

2024 — Present · Africa & Middle East
Trive Financial ServicesHead of Marketing

Own a multi-million rand paid media budget across regulated markets. Presented strategy directly to Group CEO, COO and CMO. Built the Africa go-to-market from a South Africa-only operation — 2,900+ new client sign-ups, 2,359 funded accounts and roughly R36M in deposits on a R36,500 monthly spend.

2018 — 2024 · South Africa & New York
Jasper Consultants / Cyber Adverts / KenesisHead of Paid Media

Managed a $2M annual media budget and a team of eight campaign managers. Held 3.5× ROAS and R1M average monthly sales through Google Ads, with 35% year-on-year client growth across the book.

2016 — 2018 · Beijing, China
NickelodeonBrand Manager

Led a 30-member cross-regional marketing team across China, Nigeria and Malaysia. Built the expansion strategy that produced sold-out shows across 113 cities and 63M online ticket sales.

2018 · Gauteng
The OrbitHead of Marketing

Rebuilt the content strategy and lifted conversion 18% and site traffic 15%. Ran media outreach for launches including the Nelson Mandela Foundation documentary.

Education
CredentialsQualified & certified

BCom in Management, UNISA. Master in Marketing (International Marketing), NEXT MBA. Harvard Strategy Execution. Diamond Google Product Expert — Google Ads Professional, Meta Blueprint, LinkedIn Marketing Insider.

Available for CMO / Marketing Director & fractional engagements

Bring me the budget. I'll bring the number.

Tell me the target, the constraint, and what's been tried. You'll get a straight read on whether I can move it — and what it would take.

Client performance data shown on this site is private and provided for the purpose of assessing my work. For formal reference or vetting, please request separately.