MEET THE DREAM TEAM - SAB'S WOMEN VICE PRESIDENTS

The global Dream at AB InBev is to bring people together for a better world. In Africa, the Dream is to build the most aspirational company on the continent, one that grows a lot, is super-efficient, that everybody loves to work for and that makes a real difference in society. This Dream underpins everything that we do in our Africa Zone, across all our operations.

Meet the fanatic owners making this Dream a reality and backing Africa Zone President, Ricardo Moreira:

Taryn Rosekilly, Vice President: Procurement and Sustainability – investing in agriculture and transforming our supply chain through our focus on sustainable operations

Zoleka Lisa, Vice President: Corporate Affairs – transforming South African communities and building strong partnerships

Lucia Swartz, Vice President: People – Investing in people and talent

Andrea Quaye, Vice President Marketing – Building and innovating brands across Africa

As makers of one of the oldest drinks ever produced, we realise that, as far back as the story of beer can be traced, women have played a significant role in it.

Our people are our greatest strength and we recognise that, to build a company that will last for the next 100+ years, we need a workforce that is representative of our consumers. Diversity and inclusion are more than novel concepts to us, but rather important drivers of our success. As such, we have a diverse community of bold, ambitious and passionate people, who embrace diverse thinking; ensuring that our potential for growth is limitless.

AB InBev's 2025 Sustainability Goals

Our products are intricately linked to nature, the basic ingredients of beer are natural, and it is, therefore, our responsibility to make sure that sustainability is at the heart our strategy. Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our sustainability goals, launched in 2015, support the global efforts of numerous stakeholders to achieve the ambition of "ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity". As the Africa Zone, we are fully aligned with the four global sustainability goals. We have also added a fifth goal, which aims to reduce unemployment: one of the Zone's biggest challenges.


TRANSPARENT LEADERSHIP THAT IS ACCESSIBLE AND ENGAGING


Taryn Rosekilly, Vice President: Procurement and Sustainability

"If you are working with people that you truly believe in, on something that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed."

Tell us more about what your portfolio at SAB involves?

I look after Procurement & Sustainability across Africa. We have big ambitions to deliver our 2025 Sustainability Goals across our four pillars: Agriculture, Climate Change, Circular Packaging and Water. We are well on our way to ensuring that these are realised.

As local sourcing remains a critical part of our business model, we are working to ensure that 100% of our growers, across the continent, are skilled, connected and financially empowered by 2025 – helping them improve their productivity, profitability, and efficient use of natural resources, such as soil and water. We leverage these to advance agricultural development at scale and measure our impact through yields, resource-efficiency, soil health and smallholder incomes.

We are also actively supporting graduate education within agronomy, which is aiding us in developing a pipeline of graduates for our business.

We are focused on ensuring that 100% of our communities, which battle with access to clean water and who are in high water stress areas, will have measurably improved water availability and quality.

We are actively committed to acting against climate change, by working towards our 2025 goal of ensuring that 100% of our purchased electricity is from renewable energy sources, as well as achieving a 25% reduction in carbon emissions across our value chain.

We are also committed to the circular packaging agenda, which seeks to ensure that 100% of our products are sold in packaging that is returnable, or made from mostly recycled content, and we're reducing the amount of plastic we use across our supply chain.

Our procurement strategy is anchored on local sourcing. We are truly proud that 95% of raw materials used in South Africa are purchased locally.

Being a woman in leadership, what makes you excel in your role?

My core strength is the ability to drive real business transformation, because I can challenge and revolutionise the status quo. I also find, being a woman, I am a creative, big picture thinker, who can quickly interpret complex problems, synthesize the detail and communicate key messages clearly to a range of stakeholders. This allows me to contextualise performance within the bigger picture for my team, clearly articulating the reason behind the work they are doing and simplifying the steps required to achieve the designed outcome.

What is your leadership style?

I take great pride in my authentic leadership style and deliberately put people at the heart of everything that we do within Procurement & Sustainability at SAB & AB InBev Africa.

One of my key focus areas is on transparent leadership, and I aim to always be accessible and engage with the people in my function to ensure they are passionate and involved in what we do at SAB.

What do you love about SAB?

What I love most about SAB is that we are a meritocracy; we give our people stretch opportunities based on their performance track record and potential for growth. We are encouraged to operate outside of our comfort zones, and we are given the latitude to follow our passions and explore creative new ideas to transform and disrupt our business. This is something that truly energises me and allows me the freedom to pursue my passion while driving company growth.

In addition, I passionately believe in our 2025 sustainability goals and in driving significant value to the business through our supplier partnerships and localisation agenda.


PASSIONATE ABOUT WORKING TOWARDS A UNIFIED GOAL


Zoleka Lisa, Vice President: Corporate Affairs

"When you learn, teach. When you get, give." &ldash; Maya Angelou
"I believe that as leaders we should use our position, influence and networks to inspire, encourage and pave the way for others to realise their dreams."

Tell us more about what your portfolio at SAB involves?

Our global company Dream is to bring people together for a better world. This Dream underpins all the work done by our Corporate Affairs team. I really do believe I have the best job at SAB. Much of my work sees me engaged with the challenges of developing economies. I am a social being, navigating how to change the world, leveraging my sphere of influence – I believe my work is part of my life's purpose. Part of my job includes tackling the problem of youth unemployment and underage drinking, which, as a mother of three, is close to my heart.

I am passionate about education, and fundamentally believe that, for the African continent to develop, young people need access to good education. Given the right influences, they can make better choices about their future. If I can play a small role in this, I will have achieved my goal. I have been given a platform to lead the SAB community agenda across Africa and ensure, as a corporate citizen, we are indispensable to the communities in which we operate. At the same time, I am excited to lead programmes that bring about change in South Africa using SAB as a vehicle. One such change can be seen through the SAB Entrepreneurship Programme, which is focused on job creation, transformation and providing market access to many local small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs). This has yielded a great deal of value as we remain true to our localisation strategy – making us almost 100% locally sourced.

Being a woman in leadership, what makes you excel in your role?

As a working mom – I have an amazing support structure which includes family, friends and colleagues.

My kids have taught me so much about myself and are a source of inspiration. They look up to me, which encourages me to be a better version of myself and I encourage them to be better at what they do.

There are a couple of things that I use to my advantage. I love to shape strategic concepts that build the broader vision of the business. It also helps that I am a decisive person and enjoy getting things done, it renews my energy to do more.

What is your leadership style?

I am a driver. I love to work with motivated and energised teams, who are passionate about working towards a unified goal. I believe in healthy competition among team members, which keeps people on their toes. I love honest feedback, even if it's tough, as it helps me to improve.

I don't have to know everything: by believing in myself and surrounding myself with people I can learn from, we are successful.

I am passionate about gender transformation, and, along with my colleagues, create platforms for SAB's women leaders to grow and develop within the organisation.

As obstacles come your way, my advice is #ChallengeAccepted

What do you love about SAB?

What an exciting time to be in beer, especially at SAB! In what was previously a male-dominated industry, women are breaking the barriers. I love that I am part of a strong women leadership team – all of whom are brilliant within their sectors and who are fiercely pursuing their dreams.

I have been given the opportunity to create new programmes spanning transformation, regulation, reputation and shape global imperatives, all of which has made me feel like I've come full circle from my university days, where I wanted to change the world. Now I have a corporate giant believing that I can do so.


SAB PEOPLE ARE MY KIND OF PEOPLE


Lucia Swartz, Vice President: People

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain."

Tell us more about what your portfolio at SAB involves?

The people role comes with great responsibility because what we do impacts employees in the workplace every day. My role is to ensure the environment we create, and employee work experiences, are reflective of the AB InBev Dream, our 10 Principles; the traits of meritocracy, informality and candour; how we are organised; and our ways of working.

Our desire is to create a highly engaged workforce, and I am empowered to lead real change and to take responsibility for the results. For this reason, we talk about 'Owners' and the concept of having an owner's mentality. In addition, it's also about knowing that I am ultimately responsible for how we attract, retain, manage and develop the great talent of people that works across Africa.

Being a woman in leadership, what makes you excel in your role?

Although there are more women in senior positions in the workplace than ever before, my focus is on creating an inclusive work environment of talented people – whether men or women.

My take on leadership is less about my gender and more about skills and capabilities. Early in my career, I felt I needed to work ten times harder than my male counterparts to be recognised. Looking back, all the hard work was to my benefit today.

The beer industry is slowly undergoing an evolution from one that was previously male-dominated to one that is embracing females across the value chain. Consequently, women are slowly overcoming some of the challenges they previously faced as a result of working in such an environment.

I know I am excelling when we have created a workplace that enables choice. In addition, excellent leadership is just that, excellent leadership – whether portrayed by a man or a woman.

What is your leadership style?

I am a democratic leader. I like to get input from others, have rich debates and have my assumptions challenged. Yet, at the end of the day, I am not afraid to make the final call. If I were to use three words to describe my leadership style, they would be "fair, empowering and integrity".

What do you love about beer?

I love the people I work with: by which I mean the people specifically within the beer industry because we have a 'type' - I do think our company is unique.

People at SAB & AB InBev Africa work extremely hard and share the common Dream, while having fun at the same time. I love the pace at which we work (we are never static), and I find it energising. We constantly re-examine what we do and how it can be done better. We live our culture in all areas of how we go about our daily life at work. It's truly amazing.

It's the pride I feel every day when I come to work. The effort I put into my work and just having this sense of accountability for the whole company for everything it does, together with all the other employees who work here.


MARKETING ICONIC BEER BRANDS ACROSS AFRICA


Andrea Quaye, Vice President Marketing

"If you are fortunate to have opportunity, it is your duty to make sure other people have those opportunities as well." (Kamala Harris)

Tell us more about what your portfolio at SAB involves?

I am the Vice President for Marketing at SAB, responsible for multiple brands across the continent. This means I have the immense responsibility of ensuring that our brands are connected to our consumer and their needs. My role entails strategy development, marketing activations, and growth of these brands in their local markets. All of this boils down to understanding the nuances that exist across African consumers, and making sure that our portfolio of brands resonate with consumers.

I joined SAB in 2003 as Marketing Development Manager in the Africa Zone, and briefly left for one year before returning to the South African business as Capabilities Development Manager in the company's brand marketing organisation.

Between 2008 and 2014, I was responsible for leading the brand marketing teams on two of SAB's biggest beer brands. I have also had the opportunity to develop and lead the turnaround for one of South Africa's most iconic beer brands: Carling Black Label.

This was a rewarding challenge, and we successfully returned the brand to growth. Under my stewardship, the Carling Black Label 'Be the Coach' campaign won 12 Cannes and 4 Pencil Awards as well as a Grand Prix at the Loeries. I also worked on Castle Lite, again as General Manager, and, for this brew, I provided strategic leadership to develop the innovation strategy that supports Castle Lite's 'Extra Cold' positioning doubling the brand in 3 years, and led the development of digital marketing capability across all SAB brands.

Being a woman in leadership, what makes you excel in your role?

One aspect of my role I am passionate about is inspiring and mentoring other young woman to work towards achieving their dreams; I believe it's vital that women in leadership help grow the next generation of female leaders.

I am a believer in the principles of hard work and merit. Through both, I have been able to advance my career and build a team of next generation marketers who will take our brands into the future and secure their position in the lives of South African for years to come.

I have a strong work ethic, because I believe that talent alone will not get you to the top, you need to put in the effort. I believe in constant development, I have also invested in my education, and I have two international degrees in economics.

My economics background has been fundamental in shaping me as a commercially minded marketer with a passion for growth.

What is your leadership style?

I believe that building trust is the most fundamental part of leadership. Trust that my team will deliver what they have committed to and trust that I have the businesses and the individual's best interest at heart.

I place enormous importance on radical candour because giving and receiving candid feedback is the only way we build trust, performance and a sense of ownership.

What do you love about beer?

I love being in such a consumer-facing industry. The fact that we get to work on so many iconic brands, which touch people's lives in so many different ways is what makes me get up in the morning. We impact our consumers from innovative ideas that we bring to market though to concerts.

But my love for beer extends outside of the work environment, I love the friendships and memories that are strengthened over a beer with family and friends. There is nothing like being outdoors on a hot day with friends sipping a delicious beer.