KFC has announced on March 16 the appointment Akhona Qengqe as its new General Manager for Africa. She becomes the very first KFC black female General Manager for Africa and will step into this role on 01 April 2023. She will replace outgoing GM – Dhruv Kaul, who is moving into a GM role for KFC Pan Europe.
KFC is a global chicken restaurant brand with a rich, decades-long history of success and innovation. It all started with one cook, Colonel Harland Sanders, who created a finger lickin’ good recipe more than 75 years ago—a list of 11 secret herbs and spices scratched out on the back of his kitchen door. Today, KFC has more than 27,000 restaurants in over 145 countries and territories around the world.
In Africa, KFC has restaurants in 24 countries : Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Gabon, Madagascar, Senegal, Sudan, Rwanda, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Experience across multiple industries
Akhona Qengqe’s experience, spans across multiple industries including petroleum, property, marketing, operations and convenience retail. She has also served as the Chairperson of the Board of the Franchise Association of South Africa.
She joined Yum! Brands, KFC Africa in 2015 as director, franchise development for Africa. In 2017, she took on the role of director, transformation and diversity and inclusion, before becoming the chief people and transformation officer, Africa in 2020, and more recently, appointed to Chief Development Officer. For her role as the chief people and transformation officer, Africa at Yum! Brands, KFC Africa, Akhona has been nominated for the 2021 “Chief human resources officer (CHRO) Awards.
Akhona Qengqe started her career as an assistant brand manager, before moving to Shell SA Marketing where she held a number of positions, including business analyst, retail territory manager, real estate property manager, fuels marketing implementation manager and head of convenience retail. She has also held the role of retail national convenience operations manager at Engen.
She holds a BCom, majoring in economics, politics and philosophy, from the University of Cape Town and a certificate in marketing management from University of South Africa (Unisa).
Sabir Sami, KFC Global Chief Executive Officer, says: “Akhona has spent the better part of her eight years at KFC as an intrinsic part of the KFC leadership team in Africa and has worked closely with Dhruv and the team to ensure sustainability of the business but also, growth of local female talent. In fact, she has been instrumental in the team achieving diverse talent, with the Africa Senior leadership population now transformed at 50% women.
Helped the KFC business navigate a disruptive pandemic
Akhona Qengq, it’s explained, has moved up the KFC ranks with grace and rigor. And, in partnership with the Leadership team, she has helped the KFC business navigate a disruptive pandemic which impacted not only business but also staff from a wellness and workplace perspective – a job she managed with humility, empathy and efficiency. More than this, Akhona has been central to the business’s development programs – enabling a heart-led, high-performing people culture. Further to this, Akhona has been a spearhead for the KFC Add Hope program and an advocate for creating access to nutritious meals, for those less fortunate – assisting the team in mobilising and driving this critical pillar of purpose for the business.
Akhona Qengqe has also been central to the development and success of KFC Africa’s equality programs, taking them to new heights both on the local front as well as from a global perspective. “Akhona has been central to the development and success of KFC Africa’s equality programmes, taking them to new heights both on the local front as well as from a global perspective”, continues Sabir Sami.
As a fierce advocate for gender parity and female empowerment, Akhona Qengqe conceptualized and launched KFC Africa’s Women on the Move program, which was created in 2021 as a transformative 12-month program to equip women with tools and resources that will help them leverage their innate leadership qualities and fuel results within the KFC business locally.
KFC’s global Community of Belonging
Further to this, and critical to her role as a true leader and advocate, Akhona Qengqe created and launched KFC’s global Community of Belonging (COB), SHINE – a safe and brave space for people to connect, belong and lead – building leadership experience in creating an environment of inclusion and belonging, with a restaurant-first mentality. This program allows the business to not only partner with other leaders from around the world and be at the forefront of leading change for our people, but also become a visible ally for our communities, bringing together our women and LGBTQIA+ communities from around the globe.
Akhona Qengqe said: “This role really is a dream come true, and though I didn’t always know where my career would lead, getting here has been an incredible journey of learning, self-discovery and building many friendships along the way. Having grown up in the small rural town of Umtata in the Eastern Cape and being exposed to the many challenges that most women in our country face, being able to fill this role and represent others that look like me, is what gives this real meaning and purpose for me. I believe in Africa, I believe in its people and the incredible untapped potential that still exists. As a business we have shown tremendous growth, momentum and acceleration through very challenging times in the past few years but because of the people we have in our business and our ongoing commitment to a high performance, heartled culture, we have shown that the impossible is in fact possible. I cannot wait to see what we can collectively achieve”.
