Sharon joined HEINEKEN Beverages South Africa as marketing director in January 2022 and leads the company’s broad portfolio of well-loved brands that includes Heineken®, Windhoek, Amstel, Bernini, Savanna, Amarula, Durbanville Hills, and Nederburg.
As a leader, she believes that the simple act of listening can make a massive impact. She describes herself as a courageous leader and places great value on forging connections with her colleagues and team members. This is important in her role as a leader which she says, “involves a little bit of everything: teamwork, collaboration, understanding, developing others or contributing to their growth and exposing them to new challenges”.
Sharon has an important role to play within the marketing industry, particularly at senior level, and the development and empowerment of women and young girls is one of her passions.
“All of us have the responsibility to help where we can. Look around you and see how you can contribute to the development of others, it could be as easy as pointing out opportunities that may not be obvious to them or sharing a book that may be life-changing to someone else,” she says.
Her approach to overcoming significant stumbling blocks hinges on applying the principles of neuroscience and behavioural economics, which strive to develop an understanding of what motivates people’s behaviour.
Since attaining her Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at the University of Cape Town, her career has seen a meteoric rise, working for companies such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, Unilever, Brandhouse and Standard Bank CIB. She has been instrumental in developing and solidifying the brands at each of these organisations and driving growth. While at Standard Bank, Sharon was instrumental in developing the bank's new brand, while her work at Coca-Cola enabled her to reinforce the company's position as an industry leader.