Q & A TAKE NOTE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
Reputation by design, not by default
Founder Dionne Collett gives us the inside scoop on how she built Take Note Reputation Management and why reputation is a strategic asset, not a crisis response.
DIONNE COLLETT
Is reputation built by design, or by default?
When reputation is managed with intent, it becomes a strategic asset rather than a risk to be contained. In an environment where perception travels faster than fact and trust is increasingly fragile, reputation has become one of the most valuable assets a business can hold. For Take Note Reputation Management, reputation is not something to be addressed reactively, when a crisis arises. It is a strategic discipline that underpins how organisations communicate, market, lead and behave every day. Working with medium-to-large businesses operating in Africa, Take Note focuses on building corporate reputation through strategy-led marketing, communications, and consultation, always with long-term credibility in mind.
What sparked the decision to start TAKE NOTE, and why reputation management?
It happened almost by accident, although in hindsight it feels inevitable. At the time, I had spent 14 years in the hospitality industry and was working as a marketing manager for a group of 45 hotels when I resigned to step back, as my husband and I were expecting our son. In my role, I had been searching for a marketing and communications partner who truly understood the complexity and versatility of tourism businesses – something we simply could not find.
The Group MD at the time suggested that we open a business and take on the work ourselves as a first project. This was completely unexpected, but opportunity doesn’ t always arrive neatly packaged, and this one was too aligned to ignore.
From the outset, we knew we didn’ t want to be a traditional PR agency. We wanted to work with businesses needing support
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