A Cape Town agency just got an invite to a TikTok summit in New York, and the story behind it is more interesting than the headline suggests.
Ace Labs, co-founded by Nadia Jaftha and Reece Meyer, is a creator intelligence agency and TikTok Global Partner based in Cape Town. The agency was recently invited to an exclusive TikTok Partner Summit in New York, off the back of work it’s done with Capitec, PayJustNow, and Huawei.
How Ace Labs got the invite
Capitec played a role here too.
The bank has been a long-term client and strategic partner, and that relationship apparently goes deeper than the usual brand-and-agency setup.
Reece Meyer, co-founder of Ace Labs, described the moment as significant for the business. “This is a full-circle moment for Ace Labs.”
“We built this agency brick by brick from Cape Town with the belief that South African thinking could compete anywhere in the world. Being invited into a room with TikTok and global industry leaders is not just validation for us, but validation for the conversion model we have built, one that proves that creativity, culture, and data can move together.”
The timing isn’t random either. TikTok and the International Chamber of Commerce recently launched Digital Commerce Labs, an initiative meant to help small businesses turn online attention into actual revenue.
Ace Labs has been doing exactly that for South African brands for four years now.
What Ace Labs actually does
The agency built something it calls a “Connectioneering” framework, which is essentially a system for turning cultural relevance and creator partnerships into measurable business results rather than just vibes and follower counts.
Jaftha explained the gap the agency was trying to close when it started. “When we founded Ace Labs, it was through the fact that we felt, lived, and survived this disconnect,” explains Nadia Jaftha, Co-Founder.
“Brands were hungry for cultural relevance in our nuanced country, but struggled to navigate creator culture with authenticity. Not too dissimilar, we watched incredible talent possess the influence but lack the strategic infrastructure to convert that creativity into a legacy and revenue.”
She also pushed back on the idea that South African creators need to tone down their identity to compete internationally. “For too long, there was a narrative that you had to ‘sanitize’ your identity or mimic international archetypes to succeed on a global stage,” Jaftha adds. “But the global market responds to authenticity. We are ensuring the next generation doesn’t have to question the validity of this career path, they’ll be too busy leading it.”
The team behind it
Jaftha and Meyer run the agency together, and they’re also engaged, which makes the whole “built this brick by brick” line land a bit differently.
Internally, the team describes the agency as fast moving and tightly run. Brand strategist Kayla put it simply: “Reece and Nadia have built a team culture that is dynamic, fast-moving, and locked in. They make any large goal seem possible, remain calm, determine the steps, and assign resources accordingly.”
Another team member, Resh, said the New York invite landed as proof that the work matters beyond Cape Town. The recognition, in her words, created “a real sense of, ‘We’re really being seen now.'”
Why this matters
South Africa’s digital creative economy is currently valued at R6.9 billion, and Ace Labs is positioning itself as one of the businesses actively shaping where that number goes next.
Whether one New York invite changes the trajectory of South Africa’s creator economy is a bigger question than this story can answer.
But it’s a decent data point for an industry that doesn’t always get taken seriously at home.
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