Food manufacturer Tiger Brands on Wednesday announced the appointment of new managing directors (MD) to head up the company’s six newly organised business units as it bolsters its executive team in the face of persistent headwinds facing South Africa’s economy.
In December, Tiger Brands announced that the company would prioritise the implementation of a new operating model to enable sustainable growth, restore focus into the operations and enable agile decision-making.
This as it reported in the year to end September, it had raised revenues by 10% to R37.4 billion, although operating income was 9% at R3.1bn.
Tjaart Kruger, Tiger Brands CEO, who recently took the leadership reins from former CEO Noel Doyle, said: “Tiger Brands has a strong leadership and talent pipeline. This is evident in the appointment of the new managing directors who are internal to the company, with credible leadership experience and a track record of excellence in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.”
The company has simplified its organisational structure into six business units, all reporting to the CEO. They are Bakeries; Grains; Culinary; Snacks, Treats & Beverages; Home and Personal Care (HPC) & Baby; and Tiger Brands International.
Kruger said: “Our portfolio includes some of South Africa’s most loved and ionic brands and accounts for almost 30% of the South African grocery basket.
“With the leadership team in place and a simplified organisation to deliver on our priorities with focus, we will work with renewed intensity and urgency on ensuring that we refocus our portfolio, remove complexity and restore cost leadership while ensuring our brands remain relevant to our consumers.”
The newly appointed MDs are:
– Quinton Swart, the MD of Bakeries: Swart holds a BCom (Hons) in Statistics from the University of Pretoria. Swart has a track record in the performance turnaround of business units, and extensive experience and expertise in financial, strategic, manufacturing and marketing and sales environments.
His professional career spans 20 years, occupying senior management and executive leadership roles at JSE-listed companies with a global footprint, including Sasol and Nampak.
– Liezel Holmes, the MD of Grains: Holmes holds a BCom (Honours) degree in Marketing from the University of Pretoria. She has a solid foundation in marketing with a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics and consumer behaviour. She began her professional career at Tiger Brands 20 years ago as a young graduate. She has since held roles across multiple business units specialising in marketing, customer marketing and customer management.
– Dumo Mfini, the MD of Culinary: Mfini holds a Bachelor’s degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting from UCT and is a qualified chartered accountant. He returns to Culinary following an earlier stint in 2022 as acting managing director of the business cluster.
– Grant Pereira, the MD of Snacks, Treats and Beverages. Pereira holds a Bachelor of Business Science from UCT and is a qualified chartered accountant (South Africa).
He joined Tiger Brands as Category MD of Snacks & Treats in 2022. Prior to this, he had a successful 12-year career at The South African Breweries and Anheuser-Busch InBev Africa in leadership roles spanning marketing and finance.
– Ismail Nanabhay, the MD of HPC & Baby. Nanabhay holds a BCom degree in Marketing from the University of the Witwatersrand. His professional career spans 29 years working for multinationals, including Coca-Cola, BP and Castrol, across southern and central Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
– Polycarp Igathe, the MD of Tiger Brands International: Igathe holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Nairobi and a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Management from Strathmore University in Nairobi and the University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain. He is a seasoned business executive with 28 years of experience in commercial and operations management, strategy, and M&A integration
Tiger Brand’s share price has risen 29.37% over the past six months. By midday on Wednesday the share was trading 0.19% lower at R209.69.
BUSINESS REPORT