Velaphi Ratshefola
Managing Director
Velaphi had the privileged of leading the integration of six different entities to build Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa. Until his appointment as CCBSA Managing Director in 2016, Bra V, as he is popularly known – was MD of ABI Bottling PTY (LTD). He was instrumental in establishing the business’ Route to Market plan which is globally renowned, leading to the creation of thousands of local jobs and double-digit sales growth in the traditional market class of trade. Velaphi has led the business to winning multiple global and supplier awards. He is committed to creating a conducive environment for women to thrive and ensure they realise their fullest potential and career aspirations. His vision and passion for gender balance and inclusion, has seen the company having a 37.5% of women in top management, 40.5% representation of women in senior management, 44% in the middle management, and 33.2% in junior management.
For his efforts in the empowerment of women, he won the Women in Leadership Award at the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa GMM and the Top Gender Empowered Male: Driving Gender Empowerment at the Standard Bank Top Women Awards in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, Velaphi established the Men of Honour, a call-to-action for men in our organization to engage more honestly around the issues that impact women and encourage them to contribute towards stopping GBV.
Bra V is an inspirational and engaging leader who inspires loyalty and commitment from those he leads.
Walter Leonhardt
Financial Director
As Finance Director at Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA), Walter is a seasoned finance professional in the FMCG beverage industry, having occupied senior financial and operational management roles in the alcoholic ready to drink (ARTD) and non-alcoholic ready to drink (NARDT) industries. With a strong background in finance and business support, as well an in-depth understanding of the industry, Walter has brought exceptional skills and insight to his role as Finance Director at CCBSA. This has proven especially valuable in the context of challenging trading conditions in the past few years where he has led several large finance projects to optimise productivity and provide business support and restoring the business’s profitable growth.
One of Walter’s significant achievements includes the integration of six South African operating entities into one, post the CCBSA merger in 2016 and the implementation of one ERP system across the newly formed R30bn organisation. Walter is a professional who pays meticulous attention to detail and engages colleagues constructively, he believes in leading with integrity and in coaching in mentorship to build talent and the next cohort of leaders. Walter is also passionate about environmental issues, both in CCBSA and in his personal capacity.
At the coveted 2016 CFO awards, Walter collected two awards – the Finance Transformation, as well as the Governance & Compliance awards. A task master, who demands only the best from his team an everyone who works closely with him, he is equally generous with his praise and provides support to those who need it.
Walter is a qualified Chartered Accountant, a Certified Director and holds and Advanced Diploma in Labour Law. His hobbies include cycling, both mountain biking and cycling long distances on the beach.
Agatha Masemola
Strategy and Performance Director
Agatha joined CCBSA in April 2020 from Absa Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) Africa, where she held various roles in the past nine years as a Strategy Consultant, Chief of Staff within the Corporate Banking business. She was a key figure in the build-out of the corporate banking business across Africa.
Prior to joining Absa, Agatha was a Senior Management Consultant in Strategy and Innovation at Deloitte Consulting, South Africa. At Deloitte, Agatha worked on a number of 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 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.
Henry Peek
Manufacturing & Technical Director
Henry joined the Coke system in 2009, having started his career at Unilever in 1997. After gaining experience in six diverse positions at Unilever, he moved on to SABMiller plc in the Group Technical function in 2005. Joining them as Group Manufacturing Development Consultant, he led the operational excellence development and alignment across SABMiller, as well as the operational integration of new acquisitions.
Henry was also responsible for the compilation and roll-out of SABMiller’s Manufacturing
Way across the SABMiller business as well as the development and implementation of the GEM (Global Evaluation of Manufacturing) process for operational excellence assessment and implementation. Additionally, he led operational on-boarding of new acquisitions in Colombia, Peru and Central America. Within our business, he played a critical leadership role in the Stabilise the Foundation (STF) project for Supply Chain. Henry’s academic achievements include graduating Cum Laude with a M.Sc in Chemical Engineering (NWU) and an MBA from Leicestershire Business School (UK). He’s excelled in leadership at every stage of his manufacturing career and the business has greatly benefitted from his combined manufacturing and profit-focussed leadership, as well as the invaluable experience gained from the strategic global business projects he’s led.
Mkuseli Dlikilili
Human Resources Director
Prior to Mkuseli’s appointment to CCBSA, Mkuseli was Group Executive: Human Resources at Pioneer Foods. He has worked for leading South African organisations during his working career, including Eskom, SAB, Dulux, Portnet and Pioneer Foods. Mkuseli’s extensive experience in the FMCG environment includes playing a leading role in Pioneer Foods’ successful listing on the JSE and the integration of SA Dried Fruit and Ceres Fruit Juices into Pioneer Foods. Mkuseli is passionate about enablement, empowerment and development of people to realise their full potential, as well as to contribute positively to all the spheres of their lives, and the accentuation of human dignity.
He describes himself as an authentic, resilient, reliable, courageous, humble, principled and value-based person, and a committed Human Resources professional.
Rakesh Rajbally
Commercial Director
Prior to his appointment as Commercial Director, Rakesh headed up CCBSA Sales and Marketing Operations. He joined CCBSA in 1996 and progressed over the years to lead CCBSA’s Commercial Sales and Marketing strategy – a role he has been in since 2010. Rakesh has well-rounded experience having previously worked in senior roles in Sales, Warehousing, Distribution and General Management. He holds a B.Comm Degree in Marketing and Logistics and has travelled extensively around the world, leading various strategic benchmarking trips. He has also hosted various global companies at CCBSA for benchmarking exercises. He is a leading strategist in Route to Market, Sales and Marketing operations and Revenue Growth Management within the South African soft drinks market and is well respected among Coca-Cola bottlers globally. He has been a driving thought leader behind go to market strategies in both modern and emerging markets, including the introduction of Market Logistics Partners and world class sales execution at CCBSA. Under his leadership, CCBSA has won both local and global awards as well as gaining recognition for being the only Coca-Cola bottler in Africa to sell over 300 million unit cases. Furthermore, CCBSA’s sales execution standards were recognised during the Coca-Cola Company’s Global Awards when CCBSA was awarded the Right Execution Daily (RED) 2020 Today Award and the RED Best in Class Full Process Award, competing against 57 entries from 38 bottlers in 26 countries.
Nozicelo Ngcobo
Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Director (PACS)
Nozicelo is an experienced Regulatory and Public Affairs professional with a 25-year track record managing complex regulatory markets within the ICT, alcohol, tobacco manufacturing, food manufacturing and, recently, beverages industries for top-tier listed and multi-national firms.
She has extensive experience in developing and executing group level strategies and campaigns on public affairs, regulatory affairs, stakeholder relations, B-BBEE/Transformation as well as corporate social investment, socio – economic development and creating shared value portfolios. Nozicelo also has extensive experience in shaping and driving regulatory affairs and public policy agendas for business.
Throughout her career, Nozicelo has established long-term relations based on trust and transparency with key role players within the regulatory, business, political and government environments. In addition, Nozicelo has strong communications skills, excellent project management skills and a great eye for detail.
Nozi joins CCBSA from Tiger Brands where she held the position of Director: Group External Relations. In this role, she was accountable for Government, Stakeholder Relations, CSI, SED and B-BBEE.
