Our executive committee

Tjaart is a CA(SA) with a PMD from Harvard Business School and has more than 30 years of leadership experience garnered from multiple leading South African companies including strong fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) know-how. He sharpened his career through previous experience as divisional managing director at ICS Foods Limited (today Astral Foods), CEO of Country Bird (Proprietary) Limited, and at Tiger Brands as the managing executive for the Pharmaceuticals and Grains divisions over the period 2001 to 2007. In 2007, Tjaart was appointed as CEO of Afrox Limited where he gained experience in managing a global company with responsibility for operations in six countries. Prior to re-joining Tiger Brands in 2023, Tjaart served as CEO of Premier Foods over the period 2011 to 2021.

Deepa joined Tiger Brands from the Massmart Group, where she held the role of vice president: integration and strategy for Massmart Wholesale. Earlier, she served as the interim CEO for the Masscash division. She joined the Masswarehouse division of Massmart as finance director in 2016. In 2018, her portfolio was expanded when she was appointed as finance and commercial director. She is currently a non-executive director of Datatec. Deepa’s previous roles include finance director of Mondelez International (responsible for South, Central and East Africa, Israel and Mauritius), finance and procurement director at Entyce Beverages, a division of National Brands (AVI), and senior finance manager at Samsung Electronics. Deepa is a chartered accountant, with an MBA (cum laude) from GIBS.

Zayd re-joined Tiger Brands, from FNB, a division within The First Rand Group, where he led the marketing team. He brings broad commercial, marketing, strategy and business leadership experience amassed through leadership roles in companies including Unilever, L’Oréal, Coca-Cola and MTN Group, in global, local, and regional roles across sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey. He also spent several years running his own business. He has a track record in driving business, brand and category growth, and developing strategy from insights to execution. He holds a BCom degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an MBA from Wits University.

Luigi has more than 14 years with Tiger Brands, after re-joining the group in 2009 as customer executive: Grains. He was previously with AVI: National Brands where he held the position of sales director of their Snackworks business. Luigi has more than 27 years’ experience within FMCG, spanning both South Africa and international markets with particular emphasis on sales strategy and execution, customer management and customer relations.

Thushen re-joined Tiger Brands from Aspen Holdings Limited, where he was group commercial officer responsible for markets including China, Russia and the USA. Prior to this, he played a pivotal role in developing the international strategy of Pioneer Foods with direct responsibility for the global exports business as well as UK and Africa operations. During his previous tenure at Tiger Brands, he played a pivotal role in the execution and development of Tiger Brands’ growth strategy at the time, having held the executive position of group strategy, investor relations and business development. He is a qualified CA(SA) with an MBA from Henley Management College.

Polycarp re-joined Tiger Brands in this position, having previously served as managing director for Tiger Brands East Africa business. He brings strong commercial capability as well as marketing, sales, strategy and business leadership experience developed through various leadership roles in companies such as Coca-Cola, Kenya Breweries, Vivo Energy and Equity Bank across the continent. He spent a brief period as the deputy governor of Nairobi and is well-versed in engaging and influencing diverse stakeholders towards a shared outcome. He has a track record of leading high-energy teams that deliver stretch targets, business results, innovation and growth. Polycarp holds a BA (Economics) degree from the University of Nairobi.

S’ne is a seasoned and innovative business leader with a passion and track record for growing high impact teams that deliver results and create sustainable value. Before joining Tiger Brands, she was group senior vice president, human capital for the Sasol Group and has held various human resources leadership positions within Sasol since 2008, both locally and globally. Prior to joining Sasol, she spent 10 years at Shell in various roles in South Africa and the Netherlands. She is a well-rounded and highly experienced human resources executive having a proven track record in business strategy development and execution, global human resources leadership and organisational design. S’ne has an undergraduate degree in social sciences and an MBA from the University of Cape Town.

Yokesh re-joined Tiger Brands from Mondelez where he was president for sub-Saharan Africa. During his previous tenure at Tiger Brands, he was chief growth officer for Exports, International and Consumer Brands. He has a long track record in the FMCG industry and broad experience in working across Africa. Yokesh previously held the position of managing director: Africa at Distell Limited and spent 17 years at South African Breweries (SAB). During his tenure at SAB, Yokesh held the positions of executive director: sales and distribution, executive director: HR, and president of SAB, following the AB InBev acquisition.

Derek is an internationally experienced technical and operations leader with over 30 years of experience in supply chain and manufacturing leadership roles. Prior to joining Tiger Brands as operations support director in July 2020, Derek held senior roles at SABMiller and AB InBev in South Africa and in Asia Pacific.

Mary-Jane joined Tiger Brands in 2016 as the chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer. Prior to this, she was the head of corporate affairs at Anglo-American Platinum from 2007 to 2013. Her passion for sustainability and women’s development has led to the establishment of many projects to address food security. Her desire to contribute positively to society has led to numerous recognitions. With a career spanning more than 30 years, she has tackled some of the toughest socio-economic challenges. Among her significant academic achievements was her visiting fellowship at Harvard University. She is a senior associate of the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership, a trustee of The Tiger Brands Foundation, Leratong Hospice and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She holds an undergraduate degree in Social Science and post-graduate degree in Sociology from the University of Cape Town. She is a fellow of Harvard University and has completed a number of executive education programmes at Stanford University, Harvard Business School and Cambridge University.

Joe joined Tiger Brands from the Massmart Group where he served as group legal executive, general counsel and company secretary until December 2019. Prior to Massmart, Joe held various senior corporate legal roles at British American Tobacco Southern Africa Region and The Coca-Cola Company in South Africa and the UK. He is an admitted attorney and an accomplished legal and corporate executive with extensive corporate legal skills and multi-national FMCG experience as well as retail knowledge.