By Yolisa Koza, Head Brand Experience, Standard Bank Group
In today’s rapidly shifting world, the question of legacy has taken on new urgency. For leaders, especially those in Africa, legacy is no longer just about financial success or institutional longevity. It’s about meaning. It’s about what we choose to preserve, uplift, and pass on. And increasingly, it’s about culture.
Africa’s histories have long been fragmented, erased, or rewritten, in this context, legacy must go beyond the transfer of wealth, it must include the transmission of values, identity, and imagination. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through investment in the arts.
At Standard Bank, we believe that cultural investment is not a side project, it’s a strategic imperative. For over four decades, we’ve supported the visual and performing arts through exhibitions, education, awards, festivals, and commissions. Our latest initiative, the Standard Bank Art Lab, is a bold continuation of this commitment. It’s a space for experimentation, research, and public engagement, grounded in the belief that art and innovation are not opposing forces, but deeply interconnected.
Art collecting, when guided by intention, becomes a vehicle for engaging with the most pressing issues of our time: inclusion, identity, innovation, and memory. It’s an act of vision, a deliberate choice about which stories to preserve, which voices to amplify, and which futures to seed. In this way, collecting becomes a form of leadership.
Too often, art collecting is misunderstood as either the domain of the ultra-wealthy or a matter of personal taste. But in a post-colonial African context, collecting is a deeply political and generative act. It’s a way of asserting value in cultural expressions that have historically been marginalised or dismissed. It’s a tool for preserving collective memory and exercising soft power with substance.
For business leaders, this reframing is critical. Cultural patronage is not just a luxury, it’s a signal. It communicates a company’s values, its vision, and its place in society. It invites new forms of engagement with employees, clients, communities, and future generations. Art has the unique ability to make the intangible visible, to give form to ideas, emotions, and aspirations that might otherwise go unspoken.
At the corporate level, collecting can embody the ethical commitments of a brand, the intellectual curiosity of its leadership, and the social contexts in which it operates. It offers returns that are both measurable and meaningful. A thoughtfully curated collection can shape the cultural narrative surrounding an institution, positioning it as a convener of ideas and a platform that champions historically ignored voices.
In a global environment where stakeholders increasingly demand authenticity, and responsibility, cultural investment demonstrates a long-term stance. Internally, it can foster a sense of connection and pride among colleagues, sparking conversations around identity, diversity, and shared purpose. Externally, it contributes to public life, supporting access to the arts as a right, not a privilege. And at a broader societal level, it helps ensure that Africa’s cultural output is preserved, studied, and celebrated.
This is not a hypothetical vision, it’s already happening. Across the continent, a new generation of collectors, curators, artists, and cultural workers are building a more inclusive and dynamic arts ecosystem. Supporting this movement by acquiring works that speak to our political, environmental, and personal realities; by commissioning new works; and by funding platforms that prioritise access and education.
Doing so with a long-term view shows an understanding that the value of cultural investment lies not in immediate financial gain, but in the gradual shaping of a more equitable cultural landscape. It’s about building institutions, cultivating relationships, and anchoring meaning in a world that often moves too fast.
Unlike individuals, who may collect privately, institutions can offer sustained, public-facing support. Corporates can serve as custodians of cultural heritage, stewards of knowledge, and conveners of dialogue. At Standard Bank, we see this role as central to our purpose. Through partnerships with museums, universities, and independent artists, we are working to build an environment where creativity is not only celebrated but sustained.
The Standard Bank Art Lab is a manifestation of this belief. Designed to break down the silos that often separate disciplines, industries, and publics, it facilitates reciprocity, shared vision, and mutual respect. It bridges partnerships between public and private sectors, and between tradition and innovation. For African institutions, this work is urgent and long overdue. Our histories have been interrupted by colonialism, extraction, and exclusion. Archives are dispersed, and local narratives have often been told by others. To collect with purpose is to engage in cultural repair. It is to say: We will not wait to be recognised. We will define ourselves.
We’ve seen this in action. The African Art Collection at Standard Bank, built over decades, is a public resource for education, research, and engagement. Earlier this year, we showcased African works from our collection at the World Economic Forum in Davos, reinforcing the importance of art as a vehicle for cultural exchange and social progress. All of this points to a broader reconceptualisation of leadership. The most effective leaders in the 21st century will not be those who accumulate the most, but those who invest with discernment — those who understand that capital, when mobilised thoughtfully, can leave a mark that transcends generations.
This is not a call for every executive to become an art connoisseur. It is an invitation to consider how cultural engagement can form part of a holistic approach to leadership. To invest in art is to invest in humanity’s capacity to see, to feel, to question, and to dream. It is a commitment to longevity, to substance, and to shared memory.
For those of us in positions of leadership, the question is not whether we can afford to invest in culture. The question is whether we can afford not to.
