Keeping a business afloat through two rounds of north-south civil war is no easy task. Imagine then the challenges of building out a marketing department in the same environment. Yet at the Elnefeidi Group, one of Sudan’s most prominent family-owned conglomerates, marketing has been a staple for more than 80 years.

“The group has seven main divisions. Each one has its own bespoke marketing department and advertising strategy,” says third-generation Wafa Elnefeidi, who graduated in business and cross-cultural communications from the University of Arizona and spent two years working in marketing at the Bank of Khartoum. “When I joined the family business five years ago, the elder generation had just formed a new marketing department to oversee and bring cohesion to the company’s various marketing teams. I work as a manager within that department.”

The family’s decision to professionalise the marketing department, one that Elnefeidi says gave her the opportunity to prove her worth, came at a difficult time, just one year after South Sudan gained independence to become the youngest country in the world. “South Sudan’s independence left Sudan with a 40% smaller market. It’s a difficult situation but I’ve always tried to live by the rule of ‘If life gives you lemons, make lemonade’ and that has helped me see the new business landscape as an opportunity to help expand Elnefeidi Group’s presence as a trusted and respected brand.”

Yet operating in male-dominated Sudan means that Elnefeidi has struggled to develop the project. The elder generation, while supportive of their children, plan to handover control in due time, which is sometimes a source of frustration for the third-gen. But to understand how she has arrived at this point, she says it is important to understand the history of the business.