How Stedrick Saayman, Group Procurement Director, Tiger Brands turned a governance crisis into R265 million in savings and a blueprint for AI-powered procurement across Africa’s largest food company…
Three years ago, Tiger Brands had a problem that went well beyond procurement. South Africa’s largest FMCG company – a €2 billion enterprise with 35 factories, 9,000 employees, and a portfolio of brands that has fed the nation for over a century – was in the middle of a governance crisis. The house, as insiders describe it, was on fire. Twelve separate business units operated with fragmented systems, manual processes, and limited visibility into how money was being spent. Compliance gaps were widening. Controls were inadequate. The board issued a clear mandate: digitise and govern across the entire organisation.
What has happened since is one of the more remarkable corporate turnarounds in African business. Under new executive leadership, Tiger Brands restructured from 12 business units into four, decentralised its operating model, and launched a multi-year transformation programme that has already made the front page of South Africa’s Financial Mail under the headline ‘Tiger Brands Finds Its Roar.’ Procurement has been a critical pillar of that turnaround.
Stedrick Saayman, Group Procurement Director, was tasked with building a modern, governed, digitally enabled procurement function from what, in his words, was a glorified accounts payable operation. No structured sourcing. No centralised contracting. 14,000 suppliers managed with limited governance. Invoices processed manually. Contracts scattered across shared drives.
The platform he chose was Zycus – a full Source-to-Pay suite with an integrated AI roadmap. The results in under two years: R265 million in documented savings, double-digit reductions from eAuctions in transport and packaging, Source-to-Contract live for over 18 months, and procure-to-pay now rolling out across all four business units.
But what makes this story worth telling is not just the numbers. It is the fact that procurement has become a visible, measurable contributor to a corporate turnaround that the board, the CEO, the CFO, and the market are watching. This is not a back-office efficiency story. This is a front-page business story, and procurement is at the centre of it.
Tiger Brands has been through a significant corporate transformation over the past three years. Where did procurement fit in that picture when you started?
Saayman: “It barely existed as a strategic function. When I looked at what we had, procurement was essentially a glorified AP function. Invoices came in. There was no contract behind them. There was no purchase order. My team would have to onboard the supplier after the fact, fight to get a contract signed after the service had already been delivered. We were reactive in every sense.
Meanwhile, the company was structured as 12 separate businesses, each with its own way of buying, its own suppliers, its own processes – or lack thereof. 14,000 suppliers. Six thousand contracts scattered across the organisation. No centralised visibility into any of it.
The board mandate was clear: digitise and govern. Not just in procurement; across HR, operations, quality, everything. But procurement was one of the most critical areas because that is where the money flows.”
You evaluated the major platforms. What led you to select Zycus?
“We looked at all the major players and we chose Zycus for very specific reasons. First, the digital backbone. We needed a complete, integrated Source-to-Pay suite – not modules to assemble, not bolt-ons. There were naysayers internally who said we could do catalogues in Oracle, or handle this piece in another system. But that is exactly the fragmentation we were trying to eliminate. We resisted the temptation of shortcuts and went with the integrated solution.
Second, the forward-looking approach. At the time we selected Zycus, the agentic AI functionality you see today was not yet operational. But they showed us what they were building, and we knew that in two to three years we would walk that journey with them. That was a pivotal factor – we were not just buying what existed. We were buying into where procurement technology was going.
We did not pave over the cow paths. We did not even try to map our existing processes, because 12 business units were all doing things differently. We said: let us build the superhighway. And that is what Zycus has done for us.
And third, partnership. This is not just a software provider. They have been a genuine partner walking this journey with us: through a major organisational restructuring, through scope changes, through the inevitable challenges of a transformation at this scale.”
You mentioned restructuring. Tiger Brands went from 12 business units to four, mid-implementation. How did you navigate that?
“That was one of the hardest parts of this entire journey. We started designing a centralised procurement office serving 12 business units. Halfway through implementation, the company restructured into four business units with a decentralised, federated operating model. Procurement teams moved into those business units. It was a significant change.
Two things saved us. First, we had chosen a platform that could flex. The Zycus system adapted with us; we pivoted, and the system pivoted. Second, the Zycus team adapted with us. They did not say ‘that is out of scope’. They leaned in and helped us redesign on the fly.
In Africa we say: when the music changes, so does the dance. The music changed dramatically. But we kept dancing.”
Let us talk about the results. R265 million in savings in under two years is a significant number for a company of Tiger Brands’ size. How did you get there?
“We didn’t try to boil the ocean. We applied a strict filter to everything we put in scope: does it drive compliance, efficiency, strategic value, or resilience? If yes, it went in. Anything else was deferred.
Then we went after the big targets. Transport, packaging, key ingredients – categories where you have many suppliers and where eAuctions and structured sourcing events can drive real, measurable value. We ran 44 sourcing events and delivered double-digit savings on several of them. The top five projects alone – mayonnaise jars, transport, cleaning, facilities, baby food ingredients – accounted for the lion’s share.
R136 million in FY24. R129 million in FY25. Over R100 million of that driven directly through eAuctions on the Zycus platform. These are not theoretical savings. They are documented, audited, and visible on the P&L.
R265 million in savings. Documented, audited, visible on the P&L. This is cash that went back into the business. And our benchmark was a two-year payback on the entire investment. We achieved it.”
Beyond the savings, what has actually changed in how procurement operates day to day?
“Everything. Before Zycus, sourcing was ad hoc: phone calls, emails, fragmented negotiations with no audit trail. Now it is structured, competitive, and traceable. Contracts were scattered across shared drives with no visibility into expiry dates or obligations. Now they are centralised, monitored, and managed. Supplier onboarding was manual and reactive; we would create vendor records in our system after the invoice arrived. Now, onboarding happens before the engagement begins, with proper due diligence and risk assessment.
And the digital footprint is the real game-changer. From the moment an intake request enters the system, you can follow it through the entire lifecycle: sourcing, contracting, ordering, invoicing, and payment. That end-to-end traceability is what the board asked for when they said ‘digitise and govern.’ We have delivered it.”
Tiger Brands’ turnaround has been recognised publicly; the Financial Mail front page, strong shareholder results. How visible is procurement’s contribution to that story at the executive level?
“That’s something I’m working on constantly. The reality is – and I think many procurement leaders will recognise this – executives tend to hear about procurement when something goes wrong. A PO is stuck. A supplier isn’t paid. An approval is delayed. The operational noise is what reaches the C-suite.
What doesn’t always reach them is the R265 million in savings. The governance framework that now covers 14,000 suppliers. The structured sourcing that delivered double-digit reductions in some of our largest spend categories. The fact that we went from no system to a full source-to-pay platform, through a major organisational restructuring, in under two years.
The turnaround story – ‘Tiger Brands Finds Its Roar’ – is a company-wide story. And procurement has been a critical part of it. Our CEO and CFO have led the charge on the overall transformation. What I want to make sure is that the contribution of procurement – the hard savings, the governance, the platform we have built – is clearly understood as one of the pillars that made that turnaround possible.
The turnaround is a company-wide story. But R265 million in documented savings, a governed supply base, and a digital backbone that did not exist three years ago. That is procurement’s contribution, and it needs to be visible.”
Looking ahead, Zycus is investing heavily in agentic AI. How does that translate into Tiger Brands’ next chapter?
“This is what genuinely excites me. We built the superhighway. Now I want to see how fast we can go on it.
The agentic AI capabilities that Zycus showed us this morning – autonomous negotiation for tail spend, continuous monitoring of pricing and fraud through iRisk Radar, intake as an AI-powered control tower – these aren’t theoretical. We’ve seen them. We’ve discussed them in the AI Council. And we are planning the rollout.
What I find particularly exciting is the continuous monitoring in the background by agents. A system that does not wait for someone to run a report, but proactively highlights pricing anomalies, possible fraud, renewal opportunities. That changes the role of my team fundamentally.
AI does not replace procurement professionals. It gives them superpowers. My team becomes more strategic, more enabled, more impactful. And for a company going through the kind of transformation Tiger Brands is going through, that is exactly what we need.
We built the superhighway. Now I want to see how fast we can go on it with AI. It does not replace procurement professionals. It gives them superpowers.”
For a procurement leader in a similar position – governance crisis, board pressure, fragmented operations – what would you say?
“Three things. First, don’t pave over the cow paths. If your existing processes are broken, mapping and digitising them just gives you automated chaos. We deliberately chose not to map our as-is processes. We built for where we wanted to be, not where we were.
Second, resist the temptation of bolt-ons and shortcuts. There will always be voices saying you can do this piece in Oracle, that piece in another system. Fight that. The power of an integrated platform is the end-to-end traceability from intake to outcome. You lose that the moment you fragment.
And third, choose a partner, not a provider. The technology matters. But the willingness to adapt, to co-innovate, to walk the journey with you through changes you cannot predict – that’s what makes the difference. We restructured our entire company mid-implementation. Our technology partner adapted with us. That is not something you can put in a contract. That’s partnership.”
About Stedrick Saayman
Stedrick Saayman is Group Procurement Director at Tiger Brands, South Africa’s largest FMCG company. He leads the digital transformation of procurement across four business units spanning 35 factories, 9,000 employees, and 14,000 suppliers. Under his leadership, procurement has delivered R265 million in documented savings and deployed a full Source-to-Pay platform in under two years. He was recognised with the Transformative Trailblazer Award at Zycus Horizon EU & UK 2026.
About Tiger Brands
Tiger Brands is South Africa’s largest food, beverage, and home care company, with a portfolio of iconic brands that has served the nation for over a century. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation exceeding R50 billion, Tiger Brands operates 35 manufacturing facilities, employs approximately 9,000 people, and distributes across 22 countries. The company is currently executing a multi-year turnaround strategy under CEO Tjaart Kruger, focused on operational excellence, digital transformation, and sustainable growth.
About Zycus
Zycus is a global leader in AI-powered procurement technology, recognised as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Source-to-Pay Suites, Forrester Wave Leader for Supplier Value Management, IDC MarketScape Leader for Procurement, and Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice 2025. Its platform delivers Intake-to-Outcomes powered by Agentic AI across a single, unified architecture.
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