Alex De Sousa

Strategically, operationally and with full P&L responsibility, led the Angola business unit for the Hungry Lion Group, a pan-African Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) chain based in South Africa. In Angola, Hungry Lion Group operates three QSR brands, namely the primary company-owned fried chicken brand (Hungry Lion), and the Debonairs (Famous Brands) master pizza franchise as well as the more recently introduced vida e caffe master coffee franchise. I managed to secure the master vida e caffe franchise, and opened 4 high profile sites in Luanda within the first year. I also established two strategic partnerships, 1) with the airport operator of the new world class Luanda airport and 2) with Sonangol (the Angolan state oil company) for access to key premium fuel station sites. I also supported the overall Hungry Lion group with strategic procurement activities, including international sourcing of chicken and chips (french fries), and designed & implemented a cloud based supply planning system to generate requirements for imported goods

Managed the day to day operations of the company, for 340 stores across South Africa (of which 80 were company owned, employing around 500 staff). My responsibilities included managing company owned stores, franchisee operations and relationships, supply chain, new product development, training, technical operations and IT/Technology.

Managed the day to day operations of the company, including the fishing fleet, two manufacturing facilities and a cold chain distribution warehouse, with a staff complement of over 2000. This was a mature business that required constant optimisation due to fluctuating government allotted fishing quotas. I learnt how to operate in an asset intensive, resource (fish) scarce model, where operational disciplines to prevent waste/losses were critical and to optimise the scarce resource in terms of allocation to various customer channels were key.