Inside the walls of the Marriott Hotel in Melrose Arch, South Africa’s top HR leaders came together for 2025 CHRO Day on 28 May, diving into conversations centred on defining a new playbook in an era shaped by workplace change, digital transformation and a war in the fight for talent.
Between panel discussions, breakaway and networking sessions at 2025 CHRO Day, there was a collective recognition that the future of HR probably needs to be built on collaboration, courage and adaptation.
The day kicked off with a keynote address by Akhona Qengqe, general manager at KFC Africa. Starting off her career in HR, she spoke about the need for elevating its strategic importance within the business.
“I discovered that HR was more than creating policies. HR was the biggest enabler of business and relevance. So, if people are an organisation’s greatest asset, then the role of HR is asset management,” she said. “To maximise the value of the assets, the value of the people means we place people where they are best deployed to deliver value for the organisation. A great culture and great results are not mutually exclusive. We need to recognise people not just for what they achieve, but for how they achieve it.”
During a panel discussion, S'ne Magagula, CPO of Tiger Brands, highlighted how her company has redefined succession planning by focusing on long-term talent growth, or, as she calls it, “growing your own timber”.
“When we recruit graduates, we’re looking for very specific potential – people that have the potential to not only grow in different functions and businesses within our organisation, but also people that can grow into leaders.”
Londiwe Mncube, CHRO at the Competition Commission, noted how purpose-driven work enables talent retention.
“As the Commission, we manage our talent holistically. We’re able to retain employees because our mandate fulfils their sense of purpose, and we see tangible results and impact. As HR, we’ve built various pathways with depth in knowledge, and we’ve empowered an entire level,” Londiwe said.
Adding to the conversation was Bess Skosana, MTN’s group HRD: regional talent leader. Bess took on the challenges in the technology industry regarding accessibility and availability of talent, the breadth and depth of diversity, and the need for intentional efforts in creating diverse leadership.
After an interactive live survey of the current sentiment and strategic focus areas of South Africa’s top HR leaders, HR leaders split into thematic breakaway sessions for more intimate discussions.
Breakaway 1 focused on the AI-powered leader, with Navasha Chetty, HR executive at JSE, Gcobisa Ntshona, group CPO at African Bank, and Kiv Moodley, the country MD at Workday. In this session they explored how AI is reshaping HR leadership competencies and practical ways workplaces can start adapting to the constant changes.
Breakaway 2 looked at powering public-private partnerships, with Luyanda Finini, executive director of HR at the Eastern Cape health department, Lindiwe Miyambu, CPO at the Auditor-General South Africa, and Selo Govender, executive head for talent, learning and leadership development at Discovery Limited, who stated, “In order for partnerships to be successful, we must be deliberate, intentional and consistent.”
Breakaway 3, reflected on HR for good, with Dr Sane Ngidi, HR lead for Africa at The Gates Foundation, Dr Simi Ramgoolam, executive head of people and organisation at Kumba Iron Ore, Anglo American, and Sally Acton, CEO at LRMG. It was a purpose-driven session focusing on how HR can be a force for societal good.
Noting the importance of implementing it, Dr Ramgoolam said, “We must tackle small, medium and big issues at the same time. If we want to reach the masses, we must work with the government.”
After the breakaway sessions, a powerful fireside chat between the MD at Remchannel Lindiwe Sebesho, and the group COO at Regenesys Corporate Education Indherani Reddy, turned the spotlight to reframing failure not as a weakness, but as a necessary part of growth and innovation.
“When we talk about failing fast and learning faster, do we create environments that foster experimentation and fast reiterations? What are we doing to execute on the philosophy of failing fast without making people feel like they are failures? If we do that, we take away their innovation. We take away their courage and then we don’t understand why they are not growing to their full potential,” said Indherani.
Lindiwe echoed her sentiments. “Because the relationship between employer and employees is about productivity, it is about making sure that we deliver. So when we manage performance, we have to not only celebrate the successes, but actually also acknowledge the things that didn’t go well and learn from them,” she added.
A reflective full session roundup close to the day saw conclusions from Caroline van der Merwe, CEO and co-founder at Jem, Kyle Chetty, the chief of people at Planet42, and Portia Mogale, the managing executive for human capital at Sanlam Corporate.
They summarised conversations from their brainstorm sessions on whether HR’s traditional playbook is still relevant – a conversation that was at the heart of the day’s discussions.
Their wrap-up affirmed that HR’s future will not be defined by rigid playbooks, but by leaders who will be able to question, be courageous enough to experiment, and be committed enough to lead with a refined playbook with heart.
The CHRO Day was made possible by principal partners Old Mutual South Africa and Regenesys Corporate Education, executive partners Discovery Limited, Jem, LRMG, Sanlam, and Workday, and associate partners Ayanda Mbanga Communications, FranklinCovey, GIBS Business School (Gordon Institute of Business Science), and Oracle.
