Professional History: Mimi Kalinda is an award-winning global communications and marketing consultant with more than 26 years of experience in developing, implementing and measuring strategies across Africa, Europe and the United States. She is also the Group CEO and Co-Founder of Africa Communications Media Group (ACG), which she started up in 2012. ACG is one of Africa’s leading pan-African public relations and communications agencies, and is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. It supports clients across Sub-Saharan Africa.

ACG clients include MTN Group, the Global Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), Roche Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics, Wikimedia Foundation, ONE Campaign, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the African Development Bank (AfDB), Ethiopian Airlines, Barloworld, IFC/the World Bank, the Mastercard Foundation, HID Global (China), the African Innovation Summit, Western Union, Lloyds (London), Dalberg Advisors, AFIG Funds, USAID, Nesta, the African Union and Mercedes. She also led the global communications team for Innovations for Poverty Action, the Bezos Earth Fund (energy portfolio), and the Global Development Incubator (GDI), headquartered in Washington, DC. Mimi was also part of the country branding efforts for Ethiopia and the Invest in Morocco campaigns.

Prior to her starting ACG, she was FleishmanHillard’s Africa Lead where she was part of the team that won PRISM Awards for the Barclays Africa “Prosper” campaign as well as the African Union’s campaign against Ebola, for which her team raised USD$51 million. She also worked for Weber Shandwick, where she managed social impact accounts, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Innovation Prize for Africa. As the Global Director of Communications for the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), she was an integral part of the historic launch of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF).

From 2003 to 2006, Mimi worked in New York City for 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks as well as for some of the biggest networks in the US, including HBO, Showtime, Lifetime and Oxygen. She was the recipient of the One World Media Award for Rien Que La Verite, a television program advocating the prevention of HIV/AIDS and an end to violence against women in the DRC.

Mimi frequently coaches and leads workshops on Storytelling and Leadership for the Obama Foundation Leaders: Africa program, LinkedIn, Absa Bank (one of Africa’s largest banks), as well as for the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She is also an Adjunct Professor at IE University in Madrid. In 2024, she launched her second book, "Echoes of Influence: Harnessing the Power of Storytelling as a Leadership Strategy". Her first e-book, "Talking to Africa: Considering Culture in Communications for a Complex Continent", was released in January 2017.

Mimi sits on the board of the AKO Caine Prize and Catalyst for Growth (C4G), a solution launched by JP Morgan and Dalberg to support entrepreneurs across Africa. She serves on the advisory board of Africa Works Ventures, a Hong Kong-based consultancy which facilitates investment from China for promising African companies. She also sits on the board of the The African Capacity Building Foundation (ABDF). Mimi is a member of the Africa Brand Counsel, and advises policymakers and private sector leaders on Africa’s reputation and how the continent’s brand equity can be leveraged for its economic development.

Some of the accolades she has obtained include being recognized as Africa Best PR Leader of 2022 by World Communications Forum Association (WCFA); a 2022 ASCOM (Association of Communicators in Africa) Grand Prix Excellence winner; Forbes Afrique 40 under 40 in 2018; and as a Rebranding Africa Champion for Africa 2.0, to name a few.

A fun fact is that Mimi was the first African woman to host a show on MTV Europe, based in Camden, London.

Academic and professional credentials: BA in Media Studies, New York University (cum laude)

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