Public relations has always been about connection, but never has that mandate felt more urgent than it does in 2025. Across Africa and the world, societies are fracturing along political, cultural, and economic fault lines sharpened by algorithmic echo chambers and mistrust in institutions.
The black-owned, female-led PR Powerhouse team with founder and MD, Lebo Madiba (centre) (Image supplied)
The theme of this year’s World PR Day, Building Bridges & Navigating Polarisation, calls our industry to its highest purpose of turning communication into common ground.
A practice rooted in relevance
PR Powerhouse is a black‑owned, female‑led consultancy that operates at the intersection of reputation, risk and social impact.
From mining and energy to healthcare, telecoms, and consumer goods, we help organisations translate complex issues, such as ESG commitments, policy debates, and technological shifts, into narratives that ordinary people understand and trust.
Our client roster spans multinationals such as OPPO and MSD, alongside African champions like Thungela and Pepkor, among others.
Working across these sectors has taught us that the same forces driving business strategy, climate risk, digital acceleration, and demographic change also shape public sentiment.
Effective PR makes those forces visible and navigable.
Bridget von Holdt 21 Jul 2025 Why the work matters
Being in PR means accepting a dual responsibility to tell the truth with clarity and to equip leaders to act on that truth.
We love the intellectual rigour of distilling dense information into human insight, but even more, we value the quiet influence our counsel exerts on better decisions.
In Africa, where narratives about the continent often oscillate between despair and utopia, strategic communication offers a more nuanced lens, one that celebrates innovation while confronting structural challenges.
Building bridges in practice
Building bridges is most visible in our post-environmental incident work on our mining client Thungela’s Kromdraai Fish Breeding Facility.
The hatchery anchors river rehabilitation efforts while bringing regulators, scientists, farmers, and nearby communities into a single conversation.
We built the communications scaffolding, including an illustrated booklet that translates restoration data into plain language, speaker briefings, and thought-leadership pieces that keep the story alive as well as a platform at industry forums, such as Mining Indaba.
Through ensuring that every stakeholder hears and can repeat the same narrative of renewal, corporate communications has turned former fault lines into a collaborative ecosystem for lasting stewardship.
Navigating polarisation
Polarisation thrives on binary framing, but PR contributes to its antidote by introducing nuance, including multiple data points, lived experiences, and credible third-party voices.
Whether explaining international reference pricing in healthcare or the geopolitical stakes of AI infrastructure, our job is to move audiences from reflex to reflection.
That requires fact‑based storytelling, but also empathy, acknowledging that people fear being left behind in rapid transitions.
When we frame policy or technology through the lens of human impact, we expand the space for constructive dialogue and engagement.
The value of platforms like Bizcommunity
None of this bridge‑building is possible without trusted media partners.
Bizcommunity has long served as a meeting point for business, brands, media, agencies, and the general public in SA and on the continent.
Its commitment to amplifying diverse PR voices strengthens the feedback loop between industry practice and public accountability.
For our clients, appearing on Bizcommunity signifies that their ideas are fit for rigorous, region-wide scrutiny, an essential test of credibility.
Looking ahead
PR Powerhouse’s proudest achievement is not a single campaign but a cumulative outcome of boardrooms that now view reputation as infrastructure, something designed, maintained and measured with the same discipline as physical assets.
As we celebrate World PR Day, I am reminded that bridges are only as strong as their foundations.
For communicators, those foundations are truth, transparency and a willingness to listen.
Keep those intact, and PR will remain one of Africa’s most powerful tools for inclusive growth and democratic resilience.
