Enterprise Development Defies Third Wave

Social Share:

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa kicks off 2021 Local Distribution Partnership (LDP) Lekgotla to empower logistics industry entrepreneurs around the country

South Africa, 09 June 2021 – Even as South Africa tightens Covid-19 restrictions in anticipation of a third wave of the pandemic, Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) has reaffirmed its commitment to its logistics network by hosting the annual Local Distribution Partnership (LDP) Lekgotla on 02 June 2021.

The full-day event themed “Emerging Stronger at Full Potential” was hosted virtually, with 71 LDP operators engaging with key CCBSA leaders in charting a unified growth strategy over the coming year. This was especially critical as the annual event was cancelled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Our LDP partners are extremely important to our supply chain and have endured some of the greatest challenges, as they are an essential service that had to be on the ground dealing with customers, unable to work remotely like other functions,” says CCBSA Managing Director Velaphi Ratshefola. “Following the changes that happened over the last year, we see this conference as an important platform to address their concerns, propose solutions and lay out the broader CCBSA strategy and the critical role they will play in helping us realise our ambitious growth prospects.”

The LDP programme is part of the CCBSA route to market strategy, enabling the company to reach its customers in the townships and rural areas, in line with its customer focused strategy, as it navigates the tumultuous trading environment. Since its launch in 2016, CCBSA has worked closely with the LDPs, ensuring smoother delivery and enhanced customer service, while creating much needed opportunities for entrepreneurs in townships and rural areas.

CCBSA’s operations are divided into four regions, which are Coastal (Parts of Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal), Inland (Free State, Northern Cape and North-West), North Region (Limpopo, North-West, Pretoria and Mpumalanga) and Gauteng (Central Gauteng, Johannesburg Metro, Centurion, Ekurhuleni Metro, Westrand and Midrand).

“The business context in which we operate has changed dramatically, particularly over the past year. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic set our business back by in terms of revenue, profitability, and earnings and we have had to think about how to capture market share, grow our business, while we also support our partners and communities where we are located”, added Ratshefola.

In 2020, CCBSA consolidated its LDP network from 134 partners, many of whom were struggling with declining unprofitable volumes, down to 71 partners who displayed potential for volume growth in their respective regions around the country. Of these remaining businesses, 92% are black-owned,18% are black female owned and 8% are owned by youth under the age of 35. Of the 2600 employees that these operations employ, 4% are women, which CCBSA hopes to improve on in coming years.

“At CCBSA, 44% of all our leadership is made up of women, which we hope to increase to 50% by the end of 2021,” says CCBSA Commercial Director Rakesh Rajbally. “As we seek to transform our operations, we want to see similar progress in our supply chain and we are appealing to all our LDPs to appoint women where vacancies arise, and those who retire to reach out to women in their families to take over the business through our legacy programme that seeks to keep businesses within families.’

Changes in market conditions and the pandemic have negatively affected certain regions, leading to a decline in volumes and the need to restructure the network.

Over the past year, the North, Inland and Coastal Regions were the strongest performing. However, the Gauteng Region struggled to recover due to the pandemic and the area’s higher exposure to customers with on-premises consumption, many of which were adversely affected by social distancing measures and the severe restrictions of liquor sales.

Despite the economic crisis of the past year, Rajbally reported that in the first five months of 2021, overall LDP volumes had shown strong recovery, surpassing targets, and indicating a sustainable return to trading growth. With the consolidation to a fewer LDPs, the average earnings per operator has nearly doubled, driven by a corresponding doubling in average cases and customers per LDP.

To address some of these issues, CCBSA indicated that it will work closely continent-wide AFRICA WINS Strategy would seek to address these issues and deliver long-term sustainable growth.

The conference delegates discussed how to deal with challenges real time, including enhancement of engagement processes between sales teams and LDPs, and significant investments into technology, particularly a new business-to-business platform that will allow customers to make direct orders with LDPs.

“Despite adverse market conditions, overall performance has been improving,” says Rajbally “Where we see gaps, we will take the opportunity to engage directly with LDPs and develop meaningful interventions to ensure performance improvements.

“As CCBSA explores new growth areas, we want to ensure that our LDPs are motivated and inspired to embark on this very exciting journey with us,” he says.

The Lekgotla was capped off with a prize giving ceremony in the evening, and announcement of the best performing LDPs in the various regions.

END

About CCBSA

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) is a proudly South African company which began operating as a legal entity in July 2016, after the merger of six non-alcoholic ready to drink bottling operations. We employ over 7000 people at 13 manufacturing facilities across the country. As a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) and a bottler for The Coca-Cola Company, our vision is to refresh Africa every day and make our continent a better place for all. We manufacture and distribute Coca-Cola beverages that make life’s everyday moments more enjoyable, while doing business the right way. The result is shared opportunity for our customers, our employees, our communities, and our shareholders. We conduct our business ethically, transparently and conscientiously. We espouse an inclusive business culture to reflect our African identity. We accelerate sustainable, profitable revenue growth across all categories and offer an innovative portfolio of products that respond to customer needs and consumer preferences. Profitability is important, but not at any cost. People matter. Our planet matters. We do business the right way by following our values and partnering for solutions that benefit us all.

Related Press Releases

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa appoints Rakesh Rajbally as the new Managing Director

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) has appointed Rakesh Rajbally as the new Managing Director (MD) and announced further strategic appointments within its Commercial and Manufacturing function aimed at strengthening leadership...

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa Receives Prestigious Awards at Inaugural Worker Share Ownership Conference

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) received high recognition at the inaugural Worker Share Ownership Conference, organised by The Department of Trade Industry and Competition (dtic)....

CCBSA Continues to Empower Suppliers through Strategic Partnerships

Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) has forged strategic partnerships with I Am an Entrepreneur (IAAE) and Henley Business School Johannesburg to provide comprehensive support and specialised business skills to its...
© Copyright CCBSA 2024 | All Rights Reserved
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).