Across FMCG, retail chains, consumer brands, and direct-to-consumer commerce, we recruit senior commercial and brand leadership for organizations operating in fast-moving consumer markets.
Consumer and retail organizations across our markets operate in an environment shaped by rapid demographic change, evolving consumer expectations, and the steady reshaping of channel structures by digital commerce. The senior leaders who succeed in this sector combine deep commercial discipline with the brand-building capability that durable consumer franchises require, and the operational sophistication to execute against increasingly fragmented channel landscapes.
Our practice supports FMCG manufacturers across food, beverage, household, and personal care, retail chains and modern trade operators, consumer brand businesses building national and regional presence, e-commerce retailers and direct-to-consumer businesses, and the distribution networks that connect manufacturers to retail. Engagements span CEO and managing director appointments through to specialist commercial, marketing, supply chain, and channel leadership.
How the senior talent market is moving in this sector and what it means for boards and CEOs.
Channel transformation is the dominant force in senior commercial hiring across the sector. Traditional trade remains the dominant volume channel across most of our markets, modern trade is growing materially, and e-commerce is emerging as a meaningful third channel. The senior commercial leaders being hired today need credibility across all three — and the candidate population that has actually built capability across all three is small.
Brand-building capability is increasingly central to senior consumer leadership. As consumer choice expands and category competition intensifies, the executives who can build brands with genuine consumer pull — not just distribution-led volume — are disproportionately valuable. This is a profile that is hard to develop quickly, and boards that recognize the difference make stronger appointments.
Pan-African expansion continues to drive senior leadership demand. The consumer businesses building presence across multiple African markets — from FMCG groups expanding regionally to retail chains opening new geographies — require leaders with proven multi-market execution capability. The pool of executives with this experience is growing but remains constrained relative to demand.
Typical senior roles we are engaged on across this sector.
Food, beverage, household, and personal care manufacturers including multinationals and pan-African groups.
Supermarket chains, specialty retail, and modern trade operators serving consumer markets at scale.
Branded consumer goods businesses building national and regional presence across categories.
Online retailers, marketplace businesses, and direct-to-consumer brands operating across digital channels.
Distribution networks, wholesale operators, and route-to-market businesses connecting manufacturers and retail.
Quick-service restaurants, casual dining chains, and food service businesses with scale operations.
Our consumer and retail engagements are conducted by partners with direct senior commercial experience inside the sector. We carry working relationships across the senior commercial talent ecosystem in each of our markets — meaning we can engage qualified senior candidates quickly and credibly, including the passive candidates who define most consumer goods senior populations.
We also push hard on capability assessment in this sector. Strong consumer leadership combines several distinct disciplines — brand thinking, channel execution, supply chain orchestration, financial discipline — and rare candidates excel at all of them. Our assessment process is structured to surface the genuine strengths and the specific gaps, rather than producing the generic 'strong commercial leader' assessment that says little.