Heleen Du Toit: Pioneering Global Procurement Strategies

Heleen Du Toit
Heleen Du Toit

In global procurement, transformational strategies are reshaping industries to achieve greater efficiency, sustainability and strategic alignment. Leaders like Heleen Du Toit navigate this environment with a blend of foresight and innovation, leveraging their expertise to drive substantial organizational impact.

With a career spanning diverse sectors, including banking, sales and manufacturing, her journey underscores a deep-seated understanding of operational intricacies and strategic foresight. Her proficiency in navigating international markets across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas has honed her ability to craft robust procurement strategies that drive organizational excellence.

As Vice President of Procurement at PepsiCo, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s global Rigids Packaging procurement agenda. Her strategic vision is focused on enhancing commercial value, fortifying supply chain resilience and advancing sustainability initiatives. Leveraging digital transformation and strategic partnerships, she fosters a culture of innovation and operational efficiency within PepsiCo’s packaging procurement framework.

PepsiCo stands at the forefront of innovation in the food and beverage industry, recognized globally as a leader in convenient foods and beverages and for a commitment to drive positive action for the planet and people. As a procurement leader at PepsiCo, she supports the continuous redefinition of procurement practices, emphasizing strategic value creation and operational excellence. Her tenure in the industry exemplifies a dedication to driving transformative change, collaborating to ensure that  PepsiCo’s procurement function remains agile and competitive in a developing market environment.

Let’s explore Heleen’s journey of transformation:

A Journey through Global Procurement

Heleen began her professional journey outside of procurement, exploring various industries and roles ranging from banking and sales to commercial management and manufacturing. This diverse career background has uniquely positioned her as a seasoned procurement professional, offering insights into multiple facets of business operations.

In her procurement career, she has garnered extensive international experience across diverse functions spanning markets in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Her proficiency extends across both direct and indirect procurement, encompassing operational execution, purchasing strategies and business partnering. This comprehensive exposure enables her to oversee procurement processes comprehensively within any organizational hierarchy, equipped with a nuanced understanding of her team’s daily challenges.

With a notable tenure of 8 years at Unilever, Heleen sought new horizons at PepsiCo, driven by the prospect of fresh perspectives and professional challenges. Embracing this transition, she continues to leverage her expertise to contribute meaningfully to PepsiCo’s procurement initiatives.

Driving Strategic Procurement Excellence Globally

Her role encompasses delivering PepsiCo’s strategic global rigid packaging procurement agenda, focused on advancing the company’s Faster, Stronger and Better initiative across its global supply chain. This entails crafting a strategy aimed at enhancing commercial value, supply chain robustness and sustainability. Key enablers include digital transformation, vertical integration, market intelligence, strategic partnerships and fostering a skilled workforce within a structured organizational framework.

Navigating Procurement Challenges

Heleen acknowledges that procurement professionals universally grapple with twin challenges of supply resilience and cost competitiveness amidst disruption and inflation. Securing competitive supply amidst economic complexities remains pivotal, requiring strategic adaptation in procurement practices.

The role of procurement extends beyond traditional negotiations, focusing instead on structural value chain shifts and innovative purchasing strategies to optimize cost efficiencies. Managing inflationary pressures demands a nuanced understanding of macroeconomics and leveraging market intelligence to inform strategic procurement decisions.

Drawing from extensive experience, Heleen emphasizes proactive supply chain resilience, honed through the development of a robust data-driven framework. A well thought through framework can help fortify operations against disruptions, particularly evident during recent global challenges.

For procurement and supply chain professionals, proactive risk assessment and predictive modeling are essential. Identifying vulnerabilities and anticipating disruptions enable tailored response strategies, enhancing organizational resilience and continuity.

Heleen underscores the power of innovative thinking in addressing procurement challenges. By reframing problems and integrating analytics with creativity, professionals can uncover overlooked opportunities and devise effective solutions.

Fostering Excellence Through Team Diversity

Leadership in any function is essential—success hinges on the strength of the team one leads. “It’s a recognition that leadership isn’t about being the most knowledgeable person in the room, but about surrounding oneself with talented individuals and empowering them to excel,” Heleen states. Building diverse and highly skilled teams is a deliberate choice focused on aligning people’s strengths with organizational needs. Understanding each team member and leveraging their capabilities is key to achieving collective success.

Moreover, embracing diversity of thoughts, ideas, skills and perspectives is crucial for fostering high-performing teams, especially when tackling intricate challenges. Harnessing the collective intelligence of a diverse workforce enables innovative problem-solving and anticipates future trends with unparalleled insight.

Creating a workplace culture that values innovation, fearlessness and enjoyment is indispensable. Leaders should cultivate an environment where bold ideas are encouraged, and failure is viewed as a stepping stone toward achieving leadership in the market. Embracing these principles fosters groundbreaking innovations and drives significant progress.

Achieving True Success through Strategic Prioritization and Supportive Networks

Heleen believes — the concept of achieving a perfect balance is a myth. According to her, genuine success hinges on mastering the skill of ruthless prioritization and nurturing a network of exceptional individuals. She emphasizes the importance of focusing squarely on aspects that significantly impact the business while relying on a competent team and supportive family to manage other responsibilities during her absence.

This approach may necessitate foregoing certain activities, opting out of certain meetings or not addressing every email promptly. However, by making these strategic decisions, she ensures that her influence is most profoundly felt in critical areas where it truly makes a difference.

Essential Attributes and Guiding Principles

Heleen emphasizes several key attributes crucial for professional success in procurement:

  • High Commercial & Financial Acumen: Understanding how actions impact business growth and margins, alongside knowledge of cost models and macroeconomics.
  • Strong Negotiation Skills: Recognizing the human element in negotiations, integrating psychology with structured methodologies.
  • Operational & Problem-Solving Ability: Effective in solving challenges and executing operations amidst volatile macro environments.
  • Strategic & Transformative Mindset: Developing visions and strategies to propel businesses forward, tackling complex internal and external challenges.

Her philosophy extends beyond sourcing, encapsulated by three principles essential for any career:

– Fearlessness

– Creative Thinking

– Enjoying the Journey

These principles guide her approach to both professional endeavors and personal growth.

Transforming Procurement with AI and Predictive Insights

Heleen spearheaded the development of a resilience framework in 2015 to address supply outages more effectively. Before the advent of the framework, the general approach had been largely reactive, resulting in costly delays and product stockouts. Shifting to a proactive strategy, her team devised a risk measurement tool evaluating 16 key factors to identify supply chain vulnerabilities. This created a risk profile that guided targeted pre-emptive actions, ensuring readiness for disruptions.

By 2022, this framework mitigated supply disruptions worth 2 billion USD for her employer at the time, earning the company the World Procurement Risk and Resilience Award in 2023. Currently collaborating with Dr. Mark Rodgers from Rutgers Business School, Heleen focuses on leveraging data for predictive insights into disruption types and likelihoods. This approach aims to model outcomes and develop tailored response plans, enhancing procurement strategy.

Central to this initiative is Artificial Intelligence (AI), enabling advanced analytics to optimize procurement processes. She emphasizes the importance of directing AI to align with specific procurement goals, ensuring it enhances decision-making and operational efficiency. This transformative work is poised to redefine the procurement approach and industry standards.

Elevating Procurement: From Cost to Strategic Value

Heleen highlights the evolution of procurement within organizations, emphasizing its transformation from a traditional buying function focused on cost optimization to a pivotal role in driving commercial value, brand differentiation and strategic advisory services. Procurement professionals are now integral in:

  • Establishing competitive advantage and enhancing value chains through innovation
  • Leading sustainability efforts in areas like plastics, agriculture and climate
  • Ensuring resilience in supply chains to support business growth
  • Providing critical commercial and market insights for informed decision-making
  • Shifting focus from cost to value through robust market intelligence

This strategic evolution positions procurement as a key contributor to business strategy, ensuring it plays a significant role in important decision-making forums. Professionals in this field are encouraged to expand their business skill set to effectively contribute to organizational success.

Leading Procurement Innovation

Heleen identifies five key priorities:

  • Harnessing generative AI for impactful solutions
  • Innovating procurement technology
  • Implementing proactive risk management frameworks for supply and cost
  • Strengthening integrated supplier relationships
  • Advancing procurement into a strategic business advisory role

She expresses enthusiasm about contributing to PepsiCo’s procurement team, where these priorities will shape strategy and organizational development.