A leading Nigerian FMCG company has chosen SAP SuccessFactors to transform its human capital management capabilities across its West African operations.
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Kofi Abunu, Managing Director at Food Concepts Plc (FC), says: “Our company was founded with the vision of becoming the most loved quick-service restaurant and baked goods brand in Nigeria. We know that ultimately it is our people that enable us to realise this vision. To ensure we continue to attract and retain the best local talent, we embarked on a strategic technology project that would support our overall human capital management and employee experience efforts.”
Food Concepts Plc is a leading multi-brand quick-service restaurant group. The company operates three of Nigeria’s most popular brands, including Chicken Republic, PieXpress, and The Chop Box. Food Concepts was founded in 2000 and employs 6 000 people across West Africa.
Strategic partner for HR transformation
With a mandate from the Board, Claudette Russel, Human Resource Director at Food Concepts, and her team determined that the company needed a strategic partner to support its HR transformation. “We sought a partner that would support the management of our ‘Hire to Retire’ process and optimise our core enterprise capabilities. In addition, we wanted to address challenges related to payroll processing and accuracy as part of a broader five-year growth plan.”
The company chose SAP SuccessFactors as its human capital management solution of choice. Following a competitive selection process that involved five separate solutions providers, the Food Concepts executive team appointed experienced SAP regional Gold partner WYZE to support the implementation, covering all core HR business processes.
Olu Familusi, Technology Partner at WYZE, says: “We implemented several core SAP SuccessFactors modules, including Employee Central, Performance & Goals, and Recruiting. Additionally, our bespoke payroll solution – WYZE Payroll – was deployed to support the employee lifecycle journey.”
Following the deployment of the modules, WYZE also retains responsibility for ongoing end-user support across all the user groups within Food Concepts.
Managing a complex rollout
“WYZE is an experienced SAP partner based in Nigeria and understands the local work culture and nuances required to manage such a complex rollout,” says Kofi.
“As our technology partner, WYZE brought best practices that helped fast-track aspects of our deployment, leading to an accelerated go-live. In addition, WYZE ensured change management and risk management principles were filmy embedded throughout the implementation, leading to rapid adoption internally and avoiding any undue delays.”
Claudette further added the implementation of various SAP SuccessFactors modules has helped the company improve process efficiency and enhance the overall employee experience.
“We now have a single source of truth for all HR data across the organisation, which has significantly improved our decision-making at a management level. The digitisation of HR processes has reduced paper use and unlocked cost savings and greater efficiency. Overall, our ability to deliver better quality support services to our teams has resulted in greater overall employee satisfaction.”
Other benefits
- Centralised employee data management providing a unified platform for HR, payroll and benefits administration.
- Drastic reduction in paperwork and less pressure on HR teams through greater employee self-service via the new platform.
- Greater overall process efficiency through the automation of various HR functions, including promotions, transfers and leave management.
- Better strategic alignment of employee performance with company strategy and KPIs through continuous performance management.
- Improved workforce planning and compliance with HR standards through access to real-time data.
- Enhanced talent attraction, retention and overall employee engagement.
Commenting on the project, Shiraz Khota, Managing Director for Emerging Africa at SAP, says: “With this landmark project, Food Concepts has transformed its ability to attract, retain and engage its employees while also eliminating inefficiencies and enhancing decision-making.
Thanks to the outstanding work by implementation partner WYZE and the active participation of Food Concepts’ executive team, the company can now confidently execute its growth strategy and that its most precious asset, its people, are well looked after.”