Key Insights

On the future of branded content and why ecosystem thinking wins:

"The brands that win in content aren't the ones with the biggest budget or the most polished production. They're the ones who understand that their audience is not a demographic. They're a human being with a Tuesday morning problem and a Sunday evening scroll. The guy Googling a flooring solution at his desk is the same guy on his couch that weekend. He doesn't think in platforms, so we shouldn't either.At MIAG, we've always focused on building content ecosystems rather than chasing platform-specific wins. Our audience does not engage in vanity metrics, but we are acute drivers of actual specificationa nd therefore sales. That means print, digital, event, social, and search working together so that wherever our audience shows up, your brand is already there, relevant, and credible. Branded content that wins either educates, inspires, or entertains.

Branded content that lives in silos will always underperform. Integration is no longer a nice-to-haveit's what makes the strategy work."

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On purpose-led media and why it matters today:

"Mostly, the world today is not a market that responds well to content that talks at people. It responds to content that is genuinely invested in the growth of its industry and its communities.When I built MIAG's titles, I wasn't just building publishing products. I was building communities that our audience needed in order to be edified, connect, and grow. The content has to serve the audience first. Commercial sustainability follows from that, not the other way around.That's what purpose-led media means to me in practice: every editorial decision is made by asking whether it makes the industry stronger.Not whether it makes the advertiser happy, not whether it performs on one metric.Does it really add value? Or is it very vanilla? That question has guided every product we've launched, and it's the reason clients trust us with their brands."On women in media leadership:"

The conversation about women in leadership has matured enormously, but there is still one thing the industry gets quietly wrong: it celebrates women who lead despite their complexity, despite being mothers, despite being emotional, despite having had seasons of doubt or failure.

I think we need to start celebrating women who lead because of all of that. The empathy, the resilience, the ability to hold multiple truths at once. These are not soft skills. They are the skills that build businesses that last.

There tends to be a big spotlight on certain media stars, but I believe we should give airtime and light a spotlight on those women who aren't "stars" just yet.My own journey from PA of the company to CEO and owner taught me that. I didn't arrive. I built.

And every difficult season, every business that didn't make it, every moment of exhaustion and self-doubt became part of the infrastructure of the leader I am today.

That's a story worth telling, and it's a story the industry needs to normalise."

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Signature Work Achievements

Marlene van Rooyen's career is not a story of inherited advantageit's one of deliberate, ground-up construction. She joined her media company as a Personal Assistant and built her way to CEO and owner, accumulating nearly 30 years of hard-won experience across media, marketing, and business leadership in the process.

As CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Media in Africa Group (MIAG), Marlene oversees a portfolio of authoritative B2B publications including FLOORS in Africa and WALLS & ROOFS in Africa titles that have become the definitive voices of the built environment sector on the continent.

But her most significant achievement has been transforming MIAG itself: between 2020 and 2025, she grew the business fivefold, taking it from a company fighting for survival during a global pandemic to one of the most resilient independent media brands in its category.

The engine of that growth was not luck or timing - it was the deliberate and strategic decisions to streamline operations and diversify risk by developing distinct, market-driven products rather than relying on a single revenue stream.

Among those products are expansion into events and conference series with DAS, DAS INC, and the FLOORS in Africa Expo (the first expo of its kind on the African continent) all 3 of which Marlene conceptualised and built and develops anew every year. These platforms have become genuine industry infrastructure: places where the built environment sector convenes, learns, and does business.Her branded content work spans global and local clients with equal ambition. From Saint-Gobain and Akzo Nobel to Belgotex and emerging niche players, Marlene and her team have consistently delivered content strategies built around one principle: meet the audience where they are, not where you'd like them to be.

This ecosystem thinking prioritising integrated, multi-platform presence over channel-specific campaigns has delivered measurable growth for clients across the spectrum.

Her achievements have been recognised extensively across the industry:PICA Awards — FinalistTABPI Tabbies Awards — Winner, B2B CategoryETA Awards — WinnerSANEA Energy Awards for Journalism — Winner (twice)SAPOA Property Journalism Award — WinnerCeramics of Italy Journalism Award — Winner (twice)Alongside her media leadership, Marlene founded Liminal Coaching & Consulting, where she works with entrepreneurs and business leaders navigating change and challenges, drawing on her qualifications as a Master NLP Practitioner, Certified Master Life Coach, and Timeline Therapy Practitioner. It is coaching and consulting that is deeply informed by her own experience of building businesses through real adversity, not theory.

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Career Lessons

There is no singular route to success. Very much like sailing the open ocean, you don't sail in a straight line. But if striving for ethical excellence and really helping people is your North Star, the journey would be so much more satisfying, even if you don't hit your destination.Don't discount your battles. It builds the internal infrastructure you need to be successful, resilient, and have some fun along the way.