HR Director Conference 2026

Under Mure Wesigye’s leadership, Coca-Cola Africa has integrated people strategy with business execution through cultural coaching, cross-market alignment, and leadership development rooted in empathy and visionary thinking. This case study offers practical lessons on leading HR transformation across a complex, multicultural operating environment.

How do you connect talent, diversity, and purpose in a way that truly reshapes culture? In this session, Tembi Topham shares how RCL Foods is embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) into its talent strategy—turning values into practice and building an organisation where people and performance grow together.

South Africa’s labour market is under intense pressure—shaped by sluggish growth, rising youth unemployment, skills mismatches, and disruptive forces like automation and AI. Is the labour market fit for a modern economy, or is it stuck in an outdated cycle? This session explores where the cracks are showing, what bold reforms are needed, and what the next 10 years could realistically hold for employers, employees, and policymakers.

• Fit for Purpose? Is South Africa’s labour market delivering for a digital, skills-driven economy—or falling dangerously behind?
• Demographics & Disruption: How will youth bulges, migration, and AI reshape the nature of work?
• The Policy Puzzle: Labour laws, union dynamics, and the balance between protection and flexibility.
• The 10-Year Outlook: What employers should prepare for—best and worst case scenarios.

How can HR keep culture alive while a company grows at speed? Drawing on her experience leading Clickatell’s people strategy across global markets, Zan Chivell shares lessons on scaling teams, sustaining culture in hybrid work, and aligning HR with business milestones. Expect practical insights from the front line of tech growth.

Virgin Active undertook a bold global transformation from a gym model to a Social Wellness Club. This session unpacks how the people strategy was reshaped to support the new business direction, ensuring employees could deliver on an evolved customer experience.

Thembi explores how technology and human-centred design are transforming learning into a strategic enabler. She shares how digital ecosystems, innovation, and immersive experiences can strengthen leadership, adaptability, and organisational capability for the future of work.

Drawing inspiration from the resilience of the Fynbos biome, Giselle Courtney shows how organisations can grow like ecosystems—interconnected, adaptive, and regenerative. She shares practical insights on embedding sustainability into culture, talent, and leadership to build resilient, future-ready organisations.

• Introduce holistic tools for nervous system regulation, with breathwork as a first-line strategy for managing anxiety, high levels of stress, and sympathetic overwhelm
• Reinforce healthy neuro rhythms, including quality sleep, adequate movement, focus restoration, and optimal nourishment
• Equip employees with resilience-building strategies, enabling them to adapt and thrive in high-pressure environments

CHROs bring powerful insights on talent, culture, and organisational resilience, yet their influence often lags other C-suite peers. This session explores practical strategies for HR leaders to build credibility with directors, elevate the people agenda, and secure their voice as strategic business leaders in the boardroom.

• Beyond Compliance: Has transformation in South Africa become a box-ticking exercise rather than a genuine driver of equity and innovation?
• Credibility at Stake: How can HR leaders restore trust in diversity initiatives and counter perceptions of tokenism?
• Business Value vs. Social Mandate: Are organisations balancing regulatory requirements with the commercial and cultural benefits of true inclusion?
• Future of Transformation: What new approaches will keep diversity relevant, impactful, and aligned with the next generation of employees and leaders?

What if the way we approach learning is contributing to burnout rather than alleviating it? Traditional L&D strategies often focus on adding more—more content, more skills, more training—but real well-being comes from knowing what to unlearn just as much as what to learn. This session will challenge common assumptions and introduce counterintuitive strategies to enhance engagement, psychological safety, and sustained growth without overwhelming employees.