Under the Executive Communities banner, the 2025 Executive Day brought together South Africa’s leading CHROs, CIOs and CFOs for an event focused on rethinking the social contracts that hold our society and workplaces together.
Renewing Our Social Contracts, this year’s theme, encouraged leaders to explore the evolving responsibilities of individuals and institutions, addressing pressing issues such as inequality, environmental sustainability and changing societal norms.
Executive Day kicked off with a glimpse into the next decade with Mzansi 2035 – a fast-forward into the next decade, where C-suite leaders co-created practical visions for the future of education, relationships, government and healthcare, and what it means for business strategy today.
The morning momentum carried into the CEO’s Corner, where Tiger Brands CEO, Tjaart Kruger, reflected on the signs of the times shaping leadership today.
“It is very important to empower people,” he said. “Leadership isn’t about constantly telling others what to do but about helping them think critically about what needs to be done and taking ownership of it. You can’t run an organisation that employs around 12,000 people directly and another 12,000 through service providers and want to do everything yourself. You need to create a culture where people feel trusted to execute and take responsibility.”
From there, the conversation deepened with a stirring call to action delivered by Professor Bonang Mohale, urging leaders to confront the evolving responsibilities of corporate stewardship.
The morning sessions flowed seamlessly into a networking lunch, a culinary experience as diverse as the conversations that were being held.
This was followed by an exco collaboration masterclass between Standard Bank group executives Sharon Taylor, chief people & culture officer, Jörg Fischer, Standard Bank group CIO, and Arno Daehnke, chief finance and value management officer, who revealed the secret sauce of executive alignment at one of South Africa’s largest banks.
“At Standard Bank, we often discuss that you can’t codify human behaviour,” said Sharon. “If you don’t attract people who inherently want to work together, that becomes one of your biggest challenges. If you deliberately create a culture and set of values that encourage collaboration, you grow them over time.”
The generational shift in the workforce was next during The Talent Reckoning breakaway session with Nolo Thobejane, chief people & transformation officer at KFC Africa, Natasha Gomes, CFO at Ctrack, and Yusuf Boadiat, head of finance and investment at African Risk Capacity. During this session, Nolo highlighted the nuances of multi-generational teams.
“We currently have four, if not five, different generations in the workforce: baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z,” she stated. “Each generation brings different values, skills, and expectations to the workplace. When we look at current mindsets and policies, many are based on a one-size-fits-all approach, which doesn’t address these differences. Each generation is looking for something different as they have distinct values, priorities, and skills, and organisations need to recognise that to stay relevant and effective.”
Line management, hybrid working models and productivity were explored in The Hybrid Equation breakaway with Norah Sehunoe, executive head of human capital at Santam, Kevin Wilson, general manager: IT services group IT at Stefanutti Stocks Corporate Services, and Anele Geza, CFO at BAIC.
Norah highlighted the importance of managers understanding daily productivity to determine if hybrid works best for overall performance. “What I’ve found in my role within Santam is that data is key, especially from a human capital perspective. As a line manager, you need a finger on the pulse. If you can demonstrate that office presence genuinely improves output, that’s when you can make informed decisions, not simply based on attendance numbers.”
The last breakaway session themed Lonely At The Top with Palesa Ntoagae, executive human capital and facilities management at Old Mutual Insure, Ajith Haripaul, global controlling transformation leader at EY, and Phila Ndarana, CTO at the Auditor General of South Africa, focused on the unique challenges of executive leadership. It was a reminder that even the most senior leaders need support networks.
The spotlight also turned to menopause, where non-executive director, Dr Claudelle von Eck, and gynaecologist and endoscopic surgeon, Dr Natalia Novikova, explored a topic often whispered about, but rarely addressed at the executive table.
“Menopause is real, and it’s a leadership matter,” said Dr Claudelle. “One in four women in leadership roles choose to leave their organisations due to a lack of support, and menopause often occurs right when we’re entering the peak of our careers.”
Technology then met imagination, where Flux Trends’ Tumelo Mojapelo revealed a generative AI summary of the futures designed earlier in the day, bringing to life the Mzansi 3035 visions for education, relationships, healthcare and governance in South Africa.
After a day of insightful slides and speeches, networking over drinks wrapped up the day, sparking new CHRO, CFO, and CIO connections.
The day was made possible by principal partners Cassava Technologies, Entelect, Huawei, iOCO, MakwaIT, Marsh, Old Mutual South Africa, and Regenesys Education, executive partners Anchor Capital, BDO South Africa, Coupa, Discovery Limited, Equinix, FranklinCovey, HCLTech, LRMG, STANLIB, and Workday, and associate partner GIBS.
