Stepping into the managing director role during a crucial transition period, this move has ensured seamless continuity and stability, allowing the agency to maintain momentum on key client deliverables and internal initiatives, while her appointment underscores the agency’s commitment to sustainable growth and operational resilience amid a dynamic market landscape.

“Nash’s swift elevation to managing director is a testament to her transformative leadership and commercial impact, delivering operational efficiencies, new business wins, and a unified high-performance culture since day one,” says Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, group CEO of Avatar.

“We have absolute confidence in her ability to propel Avatar to new heights of innovation, market dominance, and sustainable profitability in South Africa’s evolving marketing sector.”

Enterprise-wide leadership

In her new role as managing director, Koosialee’s mandate broadens significantly from practice-level oversight to enterprise-wide leadership.

Her mandate now includes setting and steering the overall strategic vision across all business units, strengthening governance, aligning leadership capabilities, and driving comprehensive growth initiatives, innovation priorities, and transformation programmes.

Externally, she will represent Avatar with key clients, strategic partners, industry bodies, and stakeholders, while ensuring unified execution that empowers teams to deliver on shared goals.

“This promotion is both an honour and a profound responsibility. It represents an opportunity to help shape the next chapter of our organisation — one grounded in purpose, innovation, and resilience,” says Koosialee.

“It shifts my focus from leading a single practice to guiding the organisation holistically, ensuring that every part of the business is positioned for sustainable impact and continued success.”

Scalable, long-term success

Leveraging her extensive industry expertise, Koosialee has implemented strong operational systems that streamlined scoping, forecasting, and financial processes, resulting in measurable gains in efficiency, profitability, and resource allocation across the organisation.

Her commercial sharpness excelled in new business development, where she led high-stakes negotiations and crafted strategies that secured lucrative opportunities and strengthened Avatar’s market position.

Koosialee’s leadership style is marked by collaboration, accountability, and an unrelenting work ethic. It has unified teams, elevated performance standards, and instilled a culture of high achievement. These efforts have not only optimised day-to-day operations but also positioned the agency for scalable, long-term success.

Avatar remains dedicated to delivering integrated solutions that drive client success in South Africa’s competitive marketing landscape.