South African hospitality and gaming giant Sun International has announced the appointment of Nthabi Motsoeneng as its new Chief Marketing Officer.
Motsoeneng, a highly decorated brand strategist with over 20 years of experience leading international consumer initiatives, will oversee the group’s multi-channel brand positioning across its entire portfolio of urban casinos, luxury resorts, hotels, and online sports betting platforms.
A Proven Track Record Across Global Consumer Brands
Motsoeneng joins Sun International from international premium spirits group Pernod Ricard, where she served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Africa and the Middle East. Her work there delivered exceptional commercial growth and earned top global honors, including recognition at Cannes Lions and the WARC Awards, where she has also served as both a jury member and jury president.
Her extensive career includes senior marketing leadership roles at Tetra Pak as Marketing Director for Southern Africa, alongside executive brand-building tenures at blue-chip consumer giants including Kimberly-Clark, Tiger Brands, The Coca-Cola Company, GlaxoSmithKline, and SABMiller.
Taking the helm officially on June 1, 2026, Motsoeneng will focus on leveraging consumer data to deepen customer engagement across the group’s premium properties, including Sun City, The Table Bay Hotel, and GrandWest Casino, while expanding the brand equity of its fast-growing digital betting vertical, SunBet.
Accelerating the Omni-Channel Transition
The appointment arrives at a critical juncture as Sun International accelerates its evolution into a digitally led, omni-channel gaming and hospitality enterprise.
Ulrik Bengtsson, Chief Executive of Sun International, detailed how her background aligns with the group’s long-term commercial strategy:
“Nthabi brings extremely relevant experience from lifestyle brands to Sun International and our portfolio of experience-centric resorts and casinos. Her understanding of how to translate deep consumer insights into actionable marketing initiatives will be critically important as we continue our journey to build a digitally led, market-leading, omnichannel gaming company of scale.”
Nthabi Motsoeneng shared her vision for elevating the iconic brand’s customer connections:
“Sun International is a truly iconic African business with a rich heritage and tremendous potential. I am thrilled to join the organisation and contribute to shaping the next chapter of growth by building stronger customer connections, elevating our brands, and creating experiences that people will remember and return to.”
Motsoeneng holds an academic degree in Marketing Communication and Industrial Psychology, and is fully accredited in Lean Six Sigma and Agile Scrum product management methodologies.
