Tiger Brands CPO and the 2024 CHRO of the Year S’ne Magagula shares the company’s bold transformation journey, focusing on people strategy, leadership and agility to drive business performance, employee engagement and a culture of innovation.
Bringing back the Tiger’s roar is a mantra that S’ne Magagula brings to work for both herself and her staff daily. It sets the tone for a transformation that is redefining Africa’s largest consumer packaged goods company’s strategic outlook and reshaping its people agenda from the ground up.
“For us, as Tigers, it means harnessing our proud heritage of iconic brands, our collective passion and excellence to reignite our culture of consumer obsession, focused execution, agility and innovation, which enables us to consistently win in a very challenging and volatile market,” she shares.
S'ne recounts how the leadership change acted as a catalyst for transformation.
“Our journey was accelerated when we had a change in leadership in November 2023. When Tjaart Kruger joined us as CEO, our people team and I partnered with him and the leadership team not only to enable his quick onboarding and integration, but also to leverage the people’s strategy and agenda to enable a fundamental shift in the focus and pace of execution across Tiger Brands.”
In an environment where rapid decision-making and agility are paramount, S’ne said the organisation swiftly reconfigured its operating model.
Within three months, she explained, the company established six distinct business units, each helmed by a managing director as part of the executive leadership team.
Unwavering commitment
“The operating model and structure were specifically designed to decentralise and fast-track decision-making and accelerate execution at the frontline, ultimately driving more competitive business performance,” S’ne explains.
“This decisive move not only streamlined the company’s operational approach, but also reinforced the organisation’s commitment to consumer-centricity,” she adds, a theme that reverberates through every layer of the organisation’s transformation.
At the heart of the bringing back the Tiger’s roar initiative lies an unwavering commitment to the people agenda, explained S’ne, adding that for her the transformation is not merely an operational or strategic shift – it is fundamentally a people-driven journey.
“The people agenda is a central enabler to the delivery of our business strategy and the business transformation that Tiger is currently undergoing. In preparing for the transformation, the people team played a pivotal role. We partnered with the exco team and leaders across Tiger in reviewing the operating model, restructuring roles and managing the workforce transition inherent in a major overhaul.”
S'ne emphasises that the past six years have been spent deliberately focusing the organisation on leveraging the diversity of the businesses, categories and brands to build diverse talent and leading-edge skills from within.
Not without challenges
This foresight, she adds, has allowed for a smoother internal transition as most roles were filled from within the company’s own succession pipeline.
“Our focus now has turned to bedding down the operating model, aligning ways of working and igniting our winning culture. Improving business performance is a result of outstanding consumer experience and, of course, outstanding consumer experience is a result of outstanding people experience. By tying the people agenda directly to business performance, we have ensured that our transformative strategy is sustainable, with every team member playing an integral part in the journey.”
S’ne explains that no major transformation comes without its challenges, and is candid about the hurdles faced during this period of change.
“Of course, change does not come without its challenges. Leaders have to play their role and take ownership of leading from the front, literally becoming the change that they want to see,” she says.
She highlights the importance of active engagement and continuous coaching. The strategy, she says, required a great deal of engagement, effort and energy in partnering with all leaders, right from first-line leaders to the top of the organisation. “With the CEO as a committed role model, who really gets it, who role models and lives his role as an owner of the heartbeat and culture of the organisation – the leadership team has been instrumental in propagating the necessary cultural shift.”
The process of tailoring solutions to meet diverse team needs was not always straightforward. “Some have required more engagement, coaching than others,” S'ne explains, but the overall commitment from both leaders and teams has been a source of optimism.
“What is clear is that the majority of our people and leaders are on board and have bought into the end game,” she says.
Three pillars
S'ne says Tiger Brands’ people strategy is anchored on three key pillars: great place to work (culture); leadership and talent; supported by a solid foundation of execution excellence.
These pillars centre on creating an environment where every employee is inspired, engaged and empowered. “For us, it is all about our focus on inspiring possibility in our teams, nurturing our winning culture to bring back the tiger’s roar. Initiatives such as the Heart of Tiger Dialogues, the Game Changer Leadership Development Programme, and Our Leadership Pawprint have been crucial in aligning and empowering leaders to drive change from the front.”
The leadership pillar is about nurturing people-centric, agile, and change-fit leaders who can navigate both internal transformation and external market disruptions. S'ne believes in “growing people-centric, human, agile and change-fit leaders to inspire execution excellence” by balancing commercial acumen with self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
“The talent pillar focuses the whole organisation on building a diverse talent pipeline, core and future capabilities to enable accelerated business strategy execution, whilst strengthening our succession pipelines.” This, she adds, involves moving talent across different areas of the business to broaden their experiences and preparing them for more complex roles in the future. It’s about recognising that talent as the bedrock of sustainable success.
“At the foundation lies execution excellence – leveraging technology, digital solutions, and AI to enhance operational efficiency and agility,” says S’ne, regarding the foundation of the strategy.
“The strategy has not only reshaped the organisational structure, but has also had a palpable effect on employee engagement and morale.”
S'ne shares that recent employee feedback reflected a unified and purposeful workforce. “Our recent outcomes of our Voice of Tiger survey point to an organisation that is starting to dance to one drumbeat and is aligned by a shared sense of purpose and values.”
One of the remarkable outcomes of the transformation is the bolstering of the company’s employer brand. S'ne explains that the company’s transformation journey has enhanced its appeal, especially in the fiercely competitive fast-moving consumer goods market.
“Our employer brand is quite strong in the market, particularly in FMCG, so the visibility of our transformation journey has further enhanced an already strong presence and given it legs,” she adds.
A dedicated talent acquisition and employer branding hub, established in 2022, has been key to this effort. This initiative not only attracts top-tier talent but also nurtures internal growth.
S'ne proudly shares that the company has seen a decrease in attrition over the past three years and a significant rise in high-calibre talent returning to Tiger Brands – from 13 in 2023 to 54 in 2024 – with numbers continuing to grow into 2025.
“Such improvements are testament to the success of targeted strategies like growing our own timber, where internal mobility is prioritised and talent is rotated across diverse business segments. This approach has led to five out of six managing directors on the executive exco being promoted from within – a milestone that underscores the effectiveness of internal talent development.”
Data, dialogue and digital transformation
For S'ne, the success of the people initiatives is measured through both hard data and qualitative feedback.
“Our employee experience and engagement survey clearly gives us an indicator of how engaged our people are and how they experience our culture, leadership and Tiger as a place to work,” she adds.
“Beyond survey results, we employ a suite of metrics that include business performance, brand health, innovation rates, attrition rates, internal appointment rates into key leadership roles, a clear indicator of the effectiveness of our succession plans and overall employee wellbeing. Additional insights are gleaned from various engagement platforms, focus group discussions, and market feedback, ensuring a holistic, integrated and fit-for-purpose listening strategy.”
Digitalisation is a key focus moving forward, confirms S'ne, adding that she foresees a future where digital solutions and AI are integral to accelerating the execution of the people agenda. “I see digitalisation and AI as critical in accelerating the execution of a robust people agenda that enables business performance whilst galvanising growth and creating an environment where Tigers can continue to grow, thrive and innovate,” she explains.
“Every strategic move, every initiative, and every piece of feedback has contributed to a stronger, more resilient organisation. The focus on decentralisation, agile decision-making, and the promotion of internal talent is reshaping the company’s future and setting new benchmarks in the industry. This is about creating a legacy of leadership that is both visionary and grounded in the realities of a rapidly evolving market.”
