Ambani – the reputation management firm – is ending 2022 on a high note.
Having overcome setbacks related to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ambani can proudly announce that it has increased its client base and hired more skilled staff.
“We doubled our team to be able to properly serve our growing number of clients that see the value in reputation management services,” said Ambani Reputation Management CEO Shoni Makhari, in an exclusive interview with The Bulrushes.
“To add value, we make sure we hire well-qualified staff that can properly understand our client’s business.
“We also constantly scan the environment… politics, the economy… so we can anticipate problems before they occur, which allows us to prepare adequate responses.”
The CEO said this level of efficiency requires hiring suitably qualified staff that can have an impact.
Makhari, who has an MBA, said most of our senior staff members at Ambani have master’s degrees.
“At Ambani, we place more emphasis on outcomes and impact than on the number of activities,” said Makhari.
“We do not tick boxes; we work with our clients to ensure we achieve results that help build their brands and, most importantly, achieve their organisational goals.
“Our interventions are therefore strictly aligned with our clients organisational goals.
“Our methods are based on profound theoretical as well as practical processes to achieve the desired outcomes.”
Having worked at many reputable PR companies and JSE-listed firms as well as a top business publication, Makhari, said he realises that in today’s complex reputation management space, it is no longer good enough to act after the fact.
“At Ambani, we understand that reputation is our client’s most valuable asset,” Makhari said.
“Many agencies wait for a brief, which is tantamount to being a glorified messenger, we anticipate issues and manage them accordingly.”
Ambanis philosophy is that building a good reputation is essentially about observing international best practices in good governance.
“Corporate governance is the sum total of all the rules, policies, organisational cultural norms, and many other written and unwritten rules that direct how an organisation is managed,” Makhari said.
Ambani is a full-service reputation management agency that offers strategic, creative reputation management ideas on both digital and traditional platforms.
Ambani is a Tshivenda word for speak.
This is because Ambani gives clients a significant share of voice in the market to connect with their stakeholders, internally and externally.
“At Ambani, we don’t do spin, we don’t sugarcoat issues… we bring substantive arguments,” Makhari said.
Ambani is a 100 percent black-owned and managed enterprise and a level 1 BBBEE-rated company.
Revealing some of the secrets of Ambani’s success, Makhari said he insists on being proactive.
“To be proactive one has to embed themselves with the client to understand the things that affect the client’s vulnerability”.
Makhari, who is also the founder of Ambani Reputation Management, said the difference his company brings to clients is our approach that includes “strategic foresight”.
The Ambani CEO said this approach had “enabled us to be at the grown-ups’ table” and manage the reputation of big clients that include JSE, Tiger Brands Foundation, Airports Company of SA, SAMRO, iTOO Special Risks, Munsoft, and iiSA.
Based in Johannesburg, Ambani has strategic reputation management partners in Europe, Asia, and North America that enable it to assist companies that have a global reach.
“We are able to learn global best practice from our international partners as well as being able to service clients with a global footprint,” said Makhari.
“We take this opportunity to wish our clients, stakeholders, staff, and everyone out there a happy and safe festive season.”
