The woman looking after South Africa’s biggest retailer – worth R175 billion

Wendy Lucas-Bull is the current chairperson of Shoprite Holdings, following stints at Absa, FirstRand, and Eskom.

Lucas-Bull was appointed as the Independent Chairman of the Shoprite Holdings Board on 16 November 2020, following the retirement of longstanding Chairman Christo Wiese.  

Shoprite is South Africa’s largest retailer, and its market cap currently stands at roughly R175 billion.

She currently serves on the Nomination Committee, Social and Ethics Committee as well as Finance and Investment committees.

She also served as the chairperson of Absa Group, Absa Bank and Absa Financial Services from April 2013 until March 2022.

As chair, she saw the bank transition from Barclays Africa back into Absa.

She also saw the start of the revolving door of CEOs, with Maria Ramos and Daniel Mminele both stepping down as permanent CEOs, while Rene van Wyk and Jason Quinn held the roles on an interim basis.

She had previously worked as an Executive Director of Rand Merchant Bank Holdings and thereafter Chief Executive of FirstRand Retail, which included First National Bank, WesBank, Outsurance and Firstlink.

She also sat on the boards of Nedbank, Anglo American Platinum, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Dimension Data, Alexander Forbes, Aveng, Lafarge Industries SA, Eskom, Momentum, Discovery Holdings, Telkom SA and the South African Financial Markets Advisory Board.

She is also a founding director of Peotona Group Holdings, which is a women’s investment and development group.

Known for her ability to facilitate strong partnerships between business and government since 1994, she became the founding Chairperson of Business Against Crime.

She also served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Black Economic Empowerment from 2011 to 2014.

Her experience also includes financial services consulting as an international partner at Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, for 14 years.

Shoprite’s big developments

With total revenue close to R250 billion in the group’s most recent full financial year, Shoprite is South Africa’s largest retailer.

The group’s supermarket operations alone recorded an additional R21.4 billion in sales compared to the previous year.

Highlighting the group’s monstrous growth, CEO Pieter Engelbrecht said that nearly two decades after achieving R10 billion in revenue, it now generates the same amount every 15 days.

A key part of the group’s success has been it being able to adapt quickly to market demands, such as its Checkers Sixty60 Delivery Service.

That said, there are still questions over the hiring practices and the safety of drivers at Sixty60.

Speaking at Shoprite’s Annual General Meeting, the group’s chairperson, Lucas-Bull admitted that foreigners make up the bulk of the country’s drivers, with only 23% of the delivery workforce being South Africa.

Notably, Shoprite does not employ the Sixty60 drivers who work for Pingo.

However, Shoprite is currently in the process of purchasing Pingo, with a comprehensive due diligence review taking place.

She noted that the company is actively recruiting South African drivers, with the group having multiple training centres and a 10-week training programme.

Although the company has attempted to attract and retain local drivers, only 8% of South African trainees have been retained after two years.

There have also been question marks over the pay of Sixty60 drivers.

Lucas-Bull said that Pingo’s drivers earn far more than minimum wage, but failed to disclose specific earnings.

Drivers do, however, benefit from additional policies, including funeral cover and insurance, among other unspecified benefits.

Reports show that an average Sixty60 driver earns around R7,600, with an R350 daily minimum fare. This is far above the R220.64-a-day minimum wage in South Africa.

However, the R350 daily minimum must also be used to cover their own fuel costs and motorbike rentals.

Fuel expenses reach R3,200 monthly on average, while the weekly motorbike rental costs R400, or R1,600 per month.

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