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Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa opens applications for its Ascend Leaders in Training Programme

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Johannesburg, South Africa – Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), a company in the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) group, is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 Ascend Leaders in Training Programme. This 18-month, Africa-wide programme offers graduates a structured pathway into leadership roles within one of Africa’s most influential companies. 

Successful participants will gain practical experience across multiple business areas, including production, commercial, logistics and quality control. Trainees will receive mentorship, participate in real projects aimed to drive business growth, and gain the skills and confidence needed to take on leadership responsibilities in a dynamic business environment. 

“Leadership programmes like Ascend help us develop the next generation of leaders. In today’s competitive job market, Ascend can play a vital role in preparing young graduates for meaningful careers. Beyond work experience, participants gain business skills, professional credibility, career guidance, and exposure to real business challenges. Graduates who complete the programme will have an opportunity to be considered for  permanent roles with higher responsibility and long-term career prospects”, said Rowena Lalla, CCBSA’s Country Lead for Talent Acquisition. 

The programme is open to graduates who completed their degrees in 2023 and 2024, as well as those who are completing their degrees in 2025, in fields such as engineering, commerce, and life sciences (including microbiology).  

Describing the type of candidates the company is looking for, Lalla added, “Successful candidates must be ambitious, adaptable, results-oriented, and eager to take ownership. They must be curious, solution-focused, and ready to learn and contribute to both the company and their own growth.  

The Ascend Leaders in Training Programme will include rotational assignments across key business functions, mentorship from experienced leaders, exposure to real business challenges, and opportunities in the future to work in different African markets within the CCBA group. 

Applications close on 30 November 2025. Eligible candidates interested in joining the Ascend Leaders in Training Programme are encouraged to apply early through the official recruitment website.  

Website: https://ccba.graduate.erecruit.co/candidateapp/Jobs/View/CCB251111-1  

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Steven Hayes

Key Accounts Director

Steven joins CCBSA with extensive experience in leadership roles having worked for Kimberly-Clark, Tiger Brands, PepsiCo and AVI Ltd, where he demonstrated strong commercial acumen, leadership and strategic planning. He has a proven track record of driving business growth, optimising financial performance, and developing high-performing teams. He is also actively involved in industry associations and has completed several executive development courses.

Steven holds a BCom Honours degree with distinction, having completed his studies at the old University of Port Elizabeth and the Vrije Universiteit in the Netherlands.

Craig Harris

Trade Marketing Director

With an impressive 30-year tenure in the business, Craig has held various positions including Account Manager, Channel Manager, Key Account Manager, and Head of Customer. In 2021, he was seconded to The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) as Customer Director for two and a half years. Prior to this appointment, he occupied the role of Regional General Manager in North Region.

Craig holds qualifications including a Diploma from IMM, Management Advancement Programme (MAP) from Wits University, and is currently pursuing an MBA at Wits.

His career highlights include spearheading successful change management initiatives in customer and commercial domains, receiving numerous customer recognition awards, and being honoured at the TCCC Global awards for best practice execution. In 2017 Craig was also recognised as a CCBSA Grand Master.

Edwin Fisher

IT Director

To enhance the alignment of IT capabilities with business needs, Edwin Fisher has been appointed IT Director for CCBSA, effective 1 January 2025. With 24 years of IT experience, including 12 years in senior leadership roles, Fisher has been with CCBA for 17 years, showcasing his deep understanding of the company’s IT landscape.

Under his leadership, CCBSA aims to drive its digitisation agenda, fostering agile, responsive, and integrated IT services that support employees and strategic objectives.

Basetsana-Bame Modimogale

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director

Effective 1 January 2025, Basetsana-Bame Modimogale has been appointed as Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability Director for CCBA South Africa. Modimogale’s appointment reflects CCBSA’s commitment to empowering its people and fostering leadership growth from within. 

Since joining the business in 2007 as a Trainee Account Manager, Modimogale has excelled in a series of leadership roles, including Sales Manager, Key Accounts Manager, Customer Manager TEG, General Manager Alternative Revenue Streams, and her most recent position as Country Lead: Customer Excellence National Accounts. In each role, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership, strong customer relationship management skills, and the ability to drive results through strategic partnerships.

Modimogale holds a BCom in Law, a BCom Honours in Strategic Management, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Her contributions to the business have been recognised through numerous internal and external awards, underscoring her impact and achievements.

Tony Smith

Human Resources Director

Tony brings a wealth of experience, with over 20 years in Human Resources, including 15 years at senior leadership and executive levels. He has a long-standing association with CCBSA. Over his 14 years with the company, he has gained a deep understanding of its business, culture, and people.

His extensive career spans unionised and corporate environments across industries such as Food and Beverages, Mining, Development Finance and Consumer Goods. He has held significant roles at leading organisations, including De Beers, Lonmin, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Amalgamated Beverage Industries, and Unilever. His expertise positions him to lead the People and Culture function with a focus on fostering a workplace that aligns with CCBSA’s strategic objectives.

Rakesh Rajbally

Managing Director: South Africa

Rakesh is C-Suite leader with 26 years of experience in General Management, Sales, Marketing, Logistics and Finance within the FMCG space. He currently leads the South African business for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. He has a strong growth mindset and has successfully led CCBSA’s Commercial business unit. He is a sought after thought leader in developing & implementing revenue growth and route to market strategies in both modern and emerging markets. Under his leadership CCBSA recently completed a R6bn/ $400m investment in an Affordability growth strategy. He has also led CCBSA’s strategic and operational Customer management and recently achieved the #1 ranking across FMCG in the Advantage survey for 2 consecutive years.

Rakesh leads the CCBSA executive team that has been instrumental in successfully leading a large organization across major transformation changes including the merger of six entities to form CCBSA, the Sugar Tax introduction, Talent diversity strategy and other major productivity initiatives. He is a trusted partner and builds trust-based relations with business partners, stakeholders, and authorities.

His purpose statement “We have 2 hands, one to help yourself, one to help others” reflects in the many young leaders he has successfully coached and mentored.

Desilan Pillay

Logistics Director

He joined the Coke system as a Unit Manager Designate at ABI Midrand in 2008. Desilan encompasses 20 years of management experience from companies including Afrox (Linde Group), the South African Breweries (ABI soft drinks and SABMiller – now ABInbev), and Unilever.  

He has a wealth of experience and a vast skillset within South Africa and across the African continent – all at executive levels. This includes, but is not limited to, project management, engineering, production (gases), packaging (FMCG), as well as operations management, financial management, sales and distribution, procurement, and planning (demand, supply, and production). Desilan has managed portfolios across end-to-end Supply Chain (Sourcing, Demand, and Supply Planning), Warehouse Management, Production, and Distribution, including Customer Care, After-sales and reverse logistics. He was also accountable for the delivery of service excellence in order fulfilment, cost of goods sold enhancement via strategic sourcing, and the overall cash optimisation (inventory) across the business. His most recent role before re-joining the CCBSA family is as the Chief Operations Officer at Anchor Holdings, one of the largest privately-owned warehousing companies in South Africa.

Desilan is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and has completed a Management Development Programme from UCT. His areas of expertise include building high performance teams and E2E supply chain and commercial acumen.

Desilan has been happily married for the past 16 years and has a 12-year-old daughter and 18-month-old twins – a boy and a girl. In his spare time, he enjoys seeing new sights locally and abroad. He is always planning his next trip to an exciting destination together with his family.

Nozicelo Ngcobo

Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability Director

Nozicelo started her corporate career in 1994 when she was recruited by Sasol into their Management Trainee Programme of the top 16 academic graduates in South Africa – class of 1993. In addition to Sasol, Nozicelo has since worked for listed companies such as Telkom SA, South African Breweries (SAB) as well as multi-national organisations such as Philip Morris International (PMI). In 2020, Nozicelo joined Coca Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) as Director for PACS.

Nozicelo has a demonstrable track record in successfully developing and managing corporate affairs and regulatory strategies for complex industries such as alcohol, tobacco and recently the beverages industry. Nozicelo has strong professional networks spanning more than 25 years in both public and private sectors. Her strategic insights, value creation, solutions orientation, strong business/political acumen, solid networks and ability to mobilise teams to successfully execute towards a common vision are just some of the many attributes she brings into any organisation.

Nozicelo is an advocate of human rights, animal rights and has a passion for youth/women empowerment.

Janett Forbes

Commercial Excellence Director

Janett is a seasoned financial, logistics, and commercial executive who joins us from Vector Logistics previously a division of RCL Foods where she held position of Finance Director.

Prior to this, Janett was part of the Coca-Cola family, having occupied various senior roles of Finance Manager, Category Manager, Revenue Growth Manager and Channel Development Manager within ABI in 2002 and 2016.

Janett is a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA(SA), has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University in Grahamstown and a higher diploma in Accounting from University of Natal in Durban.

Moses Lubisi

Manufacturing & Technical Director

Moses has over 20 years of extensive experience spanning various industries such as Sugar, Food and Beverages, and Mineral processing, including 15 years within the Coca-Cola system, Moses brings a wealth of knowledge to this role.

His journey within CCBSA has seen him excel in positions ranging from Plant Manager, Regional Manufacturing Manager (Coastal) in CCBSA to Executive Director for Appletiser (Pty) Ltd. Before returning to CCBA within Group Office, Moses served as an Operations Director at Illovo Sugar (Pty) Ltd. His expertise lies in strategy formulation, governance and execution, with a focus on end-to-end value chain orchestration across manufacturing, warehousing, logistics and supply chain management.

Moses has held senior and executive management roles for over six years, overseeing regional and enterprise-level strategies, assets and resource allocation.

Agatha Masemola

Strategy and Performance Director

Agatha joined CCBSA in April 2020 from Absa Corporate and Investment Bank Africa, where she held various roles in the past nine years, including as Managing Principal for Strategy & Business Transformation and Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive of Barclays Africa Corporate Bank. She was a key figure in the build-out and integration of the Corporate Bank across 13 African markets.

Prior to joining Absa, Agatha was a Senior Management Consultant in Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte Consulting, South Africa. At Deloitte, Agatha worked on several executive-sponsored strategy and innovation projects across various sectors, as well as driving new business development. Prior to Deloitte, she worked in Life Sciences R&D for over ten years, both as a full-time researcher with publications in peer reviewed journals, and as a Portfolio Manager & COO for a biotechnology fund management, focusing on investment in early-stage biotech ventures and commercialisation.

Agatha holds a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Cape Town and has completed post-Doctoral research in South Africa and the USA. She obtained her BSc (Biochemistry and Physiology) and MSc (Biochemistry) from the University of the North. She completed a Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School to help her transition from laboratory to business.

Agatha loves to travel and enjoys experiencing different cultures and sampling local cuisine.

Michael John Wilson

Finance Director

Michael started his working career at KPMG as a Manager and Trainee Accountant from 2002 until 2006. After completing his articles, his highest position held at KPMG was Audit Manager and Office Administration Manager. In 2006 to 2009, he worked at BASF South Africa (previously known as Engelhard South Africa), where he was appointed as Site Controller – Mobile Emissions Catalysts Division. He also served as a Team Leader for Finance when the company changed its ERP from JD Edwards to SAP. In 2009, Michael joined Coca-Cola Fortune (CCF) as Finance Manager – Business Support.

In 2015, he was assigned to the CCBA integration team as a Finance work stream member and later that year, Michael was appointed Finance Manager for Marketing, Sales and Distribution. Michael relocated to Windhoek, Namibia in January 2016 as Financial Director for Coca-Cola Beverages Namibia. In October 2017, Michael returned to Port Elizabeth as Group Financial Controller for CCBA, a position he currently holds. He serves on a number of boards and audit committees within the CCBA Group.

In 2000, Michael graduated with a B.Com (Accountancy) Degree from the University of Port Elizabeth and a year later, he completed his B. Com Honours (Accountancy) at the same university. He was admitted as a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2005. In 2010, he completed his Executive Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

Hannes Prinsloo

Country Sales Director

Hannes comes with a wealth of experience and strong commercial operations expertise stretching over 30 years within the Bottling system; truly an example of “home grown timber”.

In his most recent role, of General Manager Commercial, he managed the Revenue Growth, Route to Market, Category management, Channel Development and Knowledge and Insights. His previous experiences include that of General Manager Operations, District Manager and National Account Manager.

Among his career achievements, he counts being inducted as a Grand Master in 2021, which is a true testament to his passion for people, strong work ethic, and unwavering commitment to performance. The Masters are seasoned professionals in our core functions (Commercial, Logistics & Manufacturing) who have consistently delivered exceptional results in their 20-plus years of service in the organisation. CCBSA bestows its highest honour these professionals who have shown exemplary commitment, fortitude, passion, loyalty and most importantly, value-adding leadership.

In May 2023, at the annual Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) General Management Meeting (GMM) Awards, he was honoured to receive the CEO Award, which honours exceptional leadership that sets a clear example of consistently living our values. In his leisure time, Hannes follows a wide variety of debate platforms and sports.

Mkuseli Dlikilili

Human Resources Director

Mkuseli is a seasoned HR executive with more than 25 years in the FMCG sector. He has also held HR management roles in the chemical industry and state-owned enterprises. Prior to his appointment at CCBSA, Mkuseli was Group Executive, Human Resources, at Pioneer Foods. He also worked for leading South African organisations including Eskom, SAB, Dulux and Portnet.

At Pioneer Foods, he gained extensive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) experience and his career highlights include integrating SA Dried Fruits (Pty) Ltd and Ceres Fruit Juices (Pty) Ltd into Pioneer Foods Group, unbundling Craft Box Corrugated for sale to New Era Packaging (Pty) Ltd, integrating Moirs, Bowmans Ingredients and Savoury Foods into Bokomo Foods, the acquisition of the Sanitarium Cereals and Belso Cereals Limited to form Bokomo Foods UK, unbundling Todays Frozen Foods to merge with Heinz Foods SA, integrating Retail Brands InterAfrica (Pty) Ltd into The Ceres Beverages Company, unbundling Quantum Foods, and listing Pioneer Foods on the JSE.

His previous board experience includes serving on the Advisory Board of the University of Stellenbosch Business School, SA Dried Fruit (Pty) Ltd Board of Directors, and Ceres Fruit Juices (Pty) Ltd and its successor, The Ceres Beverages Company (Pty) Ltd, Board of Directors. Mkuseli has mentored many managers who have risen to be leaders in their respective fields and industries.

At CCBSA his accomplishments include merging and integrating six legacy entities to form CCBSA, achieving 50%+ Women in Leadership and maintaining it for four successive years, from 31% at CCBSA inception in July 2016; and crafting the CCBSA Diversity & Inclusion strategy and successfully delivering on its objectives. He was also instrumental in CCBSA achieving Level 1 B-BBEE recognition status and has received numerous Skills Development Awards from the FoodBev SETA.

Mkuseli is passionate about nurturing, developing and empowering people to realise their full potential. He is steadfast in his belief in human rights, accentuating human dignity, and socio- economic transformation. He describes himself as an authentic, courageous, resilient, humble, principled and values-based person, and a committed HR professional who believes in positive psychology.

He holds the following qualifications: MA Industrial and Organisational Psychology from University of Cape Town (UCT), B.Admin (Hons) Industrial Psychology from University of the Western Cape (UWC), Certified Director from the Institute of Directors SA (IoDSA), and
Practitioner Diploma in Executive Coaching from the Academy of Executive Coaching (AoEC).