Whisky brand Chivas Regal is taking today’s unusual circumstances to heart with the launch of a digitally lead campaign entitled, ‘Business Unusual’. The campaign will take the form of a series of live Instagram interviews designed to inspire and support small businesses desperately trying to make it through unpredictable and unprecedented times. Hosted by seasoned entrepreneur and registered Chartered Accountant, Andile Khumalo, the series will run over the next five weeks with the first episode to be aired on Wednesday 22 April at 16:30 with the last airing on 20 May 2020.

Chivas Regal will be supporting small businesses and struggling entrepreneurs by giving away R35k in funding every week to help their businesses with a much-needed cash injection. All they have to do is DM Chivas on their Instagram channel (@chivasregalsa) and provide a short description of their business and how the money would help their operation in the short or long term. Khumalo has over 20 years of finance and business experience.

He is the founder and CEO of specialist investment firm, KhumaloCo, which invests in companies operating in the tech, media, telecoms and financial services sector. The ‘Business Unusual’ InstaTV series will see Khumalo interview various industry thought leaders as they share their origin stories, business adventures and insights into how to survive as a business during the current COVID-19 context.

For the first episode, Khumalo will be chatting to self-taught chef and YouTube personality Luyanda Mafanya of @cookingwithluyanda. Luyanda is a 25-year-old entrepreneur from the Eastern Cape. Her cooking channel has an audience of over 200k followers across her social platforms.

She has collaborated with various brands including MTN, FNB, Sea Harvest, Hirschs, and more. Senior Brand Manager at Chivas Regal, Blue Masoka says, “Just as Chivas Regal blends together whiskies to create award-winning scotch, we want this series to blend new business challenges with expert advice.” Chivas Regal is acutely aware of the toll that current lockdown regulations can take on businesses with the advent of the alcohol ban in South Africa.

“Small businesses have it even worse and the least we can do is help them out in this time of need,” says Masoka. “There are countless businesses struggling to keep afloat with entrepreneurs worried about how they are going to come back from this.” The idea behind Business Unusual is to inspire them with stories from industry leaders who have been through this and brought their business back from the brink of failure. These stories will be told from the homes of these industry leaders in true lockdown fashion.

Watch Business Unusual with host Andile Khumalo on the Chivas Regal South Africa Instagram channel (@chivasregalsa) and catch the first episode with master chef and YouTube maestro Luyanda Mafanya on 22 April at 16:30.