Branding is culture. Marketing is the engine.
Cheese Cake Cartel is led by a founder who has produced campaigns, events, and content across Southern Africa's entertainment and advertising world, and a COO who has planned multi-million-rand media budgets for global brands. Taste tells you what's worth building; style is how you make sure people notice. As campaigns scale, so does our team — we bring in the specialists a project needs, led by senior hands from day one.
Our founder, Zwelakhe Lephoma, was a featured keynote speaker at the Nedbank IMC Conference 2025 — Africa's biggest marketing conference — and profiled in its official white paper.
Strategy, creative, and media — under one roof.
No handoffs between five different vendors. Our founder and COO lead brand strategy, media, and production directly, and scale in a vetted specialist network as campaigns grow.
Brand & Marketing Strategy
Positioning, company profiles, capability brochures, and investment or partnership proposals that make a business easier to say yes to.
Learn more →Media Planning & Buying
Led by our COO's 12 years planning multi-million-rand budgets across digital and traditional media for blue-chip brands.
Learn more →Content & Production
Video, voice-over, radio and TV production, and live event activations — produced end-to-end, not outsourced.
Learn more →A sample of what we've built.
Maluti Shuttle & Maluti HSE Solutions
Ongoing social media content and digital strategy, plus company profile development, for two Lesotho-based SMME clients.
Lesotho Microfinance Institution
Full BPO proposal suite including SLA, escalation matrix, and commercial strategy for a call-centre engagement.
Cuddlesome (PEP)
Integrated campaign strategy developed as part of a specialist team commissioned by PEP for its Cuddlesome brand.
"Working alongside Zwelakhe was an absolute pleasure. His quick thinking, attention to detail, and extensive connections were invaluable assets. I wholeheartedly endorse Zwelakhe to anyone seeking a dedicated collaborator capable of transforming ideas into reality."
We treat your business like our own.
Marketing isn't the tail end of a business — it's the spine. Every recommendation we make is built to inform product decisions, shape perception, and move revenue, not just impressions.
Meet the Team →Let's build something that lasts.
Tell us about your goals and we'll follow up within one business day with next steps — no obligation, no hard sell.
Strategy, creative, and media buying — under one roof.
A founder and COO lead every engagement personally, scaling the team up with vetted specialists as campaigns grow. No junior bait-and-switch, no handoffs between five different vendors.
The story behind the business.
We build the strategic and written foundation a business needs to be taken seriously — company profiles, capability brochures, and investment or partnership proposals that hold up in a boardroom.
- Brand & company profile development
- Capability brochures
- Investment & partnership proposals
- Strategic investment plans
2–6 weeks
Depending on scope — from a single company profile to a full multi-year investment plan.
Mofolo Ramaili, COO
12 years planning and buying media for global brands before co-founding Cheese Cake Cartel.
Budgets managed like they're our own.
Our COO has spent 12 years managing multi-million-rand digital and traditional media budgets, negotiating vendor contracts, and reporting on share of voice and share of market for blue-chip clients.
- Digital & traditional media planning
- Budget & spend commitment tracking
- Vendor & contract negotiation
- Competitive & audience analysis
Produced, not outsourced.
From video direction to voice-over to live event activations, our founder has spent 10+ years producing content across entertainment, advertising, radio, and TV.
- Video production & direction
- Voice-over (radio, TV, film — 40+ projects delivered)
- Live event production & activations
- Permit & regulatory management
Varies by project
A single voice-over turns around in days; a live activation runs on a full production schedule.
Ongoing, monthly
Content calendars are planned monthly and adjusted based on performance.
Consistent, not chaotic.
Ongoing social media content and digital strategy for SMME clients — the same discipline we've applied for Maluti Shuttle and Maluti HSE Solutions.
- Social media content strategy
- Content calendars
- Community management
- Digital campaign strategy
A process built to avoid surprises.
Discover
We dig into your business, customers, and competitors before recommending anything.
Strategize
You get a clear plan with timelines, deliverables, and the metrics we're accountable to.
Execute
Our founder and COO lead every engagement personally, bringing in additional specialists as campaigns scale — never generic outsourced subcontractors.
Optimize
Regular reporting and strategy reviews keep everything pointed at growth.
Pick the level of support that fits.
Every package can be customized — this is a starting point for the conversation, not a rigid menu.
Starter
For businesses testing a single service before scaling up.
- One core service
- Monthly reporting
- Direct founder contact
Growth
For businesses running multiple services that need to work together.
- Two to three services
- Bi-weekly strategy calls
- Priority creative turnaround
Partner
For businesses that want a full outsourced marketing function.
- All services, fully integrated
- Weekly strategy calls
- Direct access to founder & COO
Let's map it out together.
Book a free 30-minute strategy call — no pitch deck, just an honest read on where to start.
Real clients. Real deliverables.
A selection of the brand strategy, company profiles, investment proposals, and campaign strategy we've delivered since 2025 — mostly for SMME and growth-stage clients across South Africa and Lesotho.
Maluti HSE Solutions
Client: A Lesotho-based health, safety & environmental services provider.
Authored a comprehensive company profile presenting its service portfolio — health & safety consulting, waste management, PPE supply, and specialised cleaning & sanitation — with refined brand positioning and corporate messaging.
Client-ready company profile document, 2025 – present.
Maluti Executive Airport Shuttles
Client: A Maseru-based airport transfer & chauffeur service.
Produced a hotel partnership profile detailing the fleet and service offering, a partnership and revenue-sharing model, and service-level commitments to prospective hotel partners.
Client-ready partnership proposal document, 2025 – present.
Lesotho Microfinance Institution
Client: A microfinance provider formalizing a call-centre BPO engagement.
Developed a full BPO proposal suite, including SLA documentation, an escalation matrix, and commercial strategy.
End-to-end commercial strategy delivered.
Tripharm (Pty) Ltd
Client: A vertically integrated pharmaceutical-skincare company.
Developed a Strategic Investment Plan (2026–2028) and a R5,000,000 BUSA Township Fund application, including financial modelling, allocation reconciliation, and a market expansion roadmap — plus brand identity guidelines for Tripharm's in-store "Sensory Station" retail concept.
Funding application & brand guideline package delivered, 2025 – present.
Tripple N Precast Services
Client: A Durban-based concrete systems security solutions provider.
Developed a company profile and capability brochure detailing precast concrete barrier manufacturing and rental for road safety, contraflow, rockfall protection, construction containment, and rail applications.
Company profile & brand brochure delivered, 2025 – present.
Cuddlesome (PEP)
Client: PEP's Cuddlesome baby-care range (live client brief, specialist team).
Helped build a "calming companion" positioning and translated it into a channel plan spanning TV, Meta, in-store, website, influencer content, and video platforms — covering phasing, timing, stacking, and budgeting.
Designed the media & budget allocation strategy across 9 channels, supported by attention-economics analysis and a full KPI framework.
One founder. A team built to deliver.
Cheese Cake Cartel was founded in 2015 by Zwelakhe Lephoma, who has spent over a decade producing campaigns, events, and content across Southern Africa's entertainment and advertising world. In 2025, Mofolo Ramaili joined as COO, bringing 12 years of media planning and buying experience to run the business side under one roof for SMME and growth-stage clients.
Marketing isn't the tail end of a business. It's the spine.
That line — from Zwelakhe's feature in the Nedbank IMC 2025 white paper — is the closest thing we have to a mission statement. It informs product decisions, shapes perception, and moves revenue. We don't treat it as a department bolted onto the end of a business plan; we build it into the plan itself.
We staff every engagement with a founder, not a junior account handler, and we measure ourselves by whether a client's business is genuinely stronger after working with us — not by how polished the deck looked.
Three rules we don't break.
Revenue over vanity
Every recommendation gets tied back to commercial outcome — funding secured, proposals landed, budgets spent efficiently — not impressions for their own sake.
Leadership, always
The people who scope your project stay involved through delivery. We scale the team up with specialists as campaigns grow, but a founder or COO leads every engagement — no junior bait-and-switch.
Operators, not just marketers
Between running a media desk for global brands and turning around a production company, we've sat on the client side of the table too.
The people you'll actually talk to.
Zwelakhe Lephoma
A multi-disciplinary producer and project lead with 10+ years across events coordination, print advertising, television & radio production, and voice-over (40+ projects delivered). Former CEO of Braykthru Media, where he led a turnaround delivering 40% revenue growth. Holds a BA in Film & Television Production (City Varsity) and an Advanced Diploma in Digital Marketing in Advertising & Communications (Red & Yellow Creative School of Business).
In 2025, he was a featured keynote speaker at the Nedbank IMC Conference and profiled in its official white paper. Off the clock, he performs and records as Z-Digi.
Mofolo Ramaili
12 years managing multi-million-rand digital and traditional media budgets across Universal McCann, Starcom, Mediacom, and Dentsu (Vizeum) — planning and buying for brands including ABInBev, VW, Shell, GSK, Telkom, MasterCard, and Universal Pictures. Holds a BA in Integrated Marketing Communication from the University of the Free State.
Since 2019, he's also run BBR H Chickens, a poultry and cattle operation in the Free State — the same operational discipline, different pasture.
Tell us where you want to go.
Fill out the form and we'll follow up within one business day to schedule a free 30-minute strategy call — no obligation, no hard sell.
Start a Project
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- Emailinfo@cheesecakecartel.co.za
- Based inJohannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa
- Joburg Office41 Juta St, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
- ReachSouth Africa & Lesotho