Group Annual Financial Statements
Chief Executive Officer
A E Thunström
Executive Director
BCom (Hons Acc), CA (SA)
Anthony, our CEO, joined the Group in 2015 as CFO and assumed the position of CEO in September 2018. Prior to this, he had 21 years’ professional services experience, during which he held various local and international leadership positions.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2015
Chief Financial Officer
Ralph Buddle
Executive Director
CA (SA)
Ralph joined the Group as Head of Finance & Advisory from September 2023, and was appointed CFO, effective 1 April 2024. He is an experienced senior finance executive with extensive retail experience. Ralph previously served as the interim CFO of Oceana Group Limited, and as Director of Strategy & Business Development at Woolworths Holdings Limited.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2024
Non-Executive Director
Michael Lewis
Chairman of the Board
BA (Econ) (Hons)
Michael has more than 35 years’ experience in the investment management and retail sectors. He is the chairman of Strandbags Holdings Proprietary Limited (Australia), which includes the Antler travel products group, and Oceana Investment Corporation Limited (UK). He is also a director of UTB Partners Limited (UK). Michael served on the supervisory board of Axel Springer AG (Germany) and on the board of Cheyne Capital Management LLP (UK). He previously worked at fund managers Ivory & Sime and Lombard Odier.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 1989
Lead Independent Non-Executive Director
Graham Davin
Chairman of the Nomination Committee
BCom, BAcc, CA (SA), MBA
Graham is a chartered accountant and a career banker with extensive international financial and broad business experience. Graham is currently the Deputy Chairman of United Trust Bank, a specialist UK credit provider and the Chairman of Optalitix, a London-based SaaS business supporting the insurance and finance sectors. Graham qualified with Arthur Andersen in Johannesburg and joined Investec Bank after an MBA at UCT. He was a director of Investec Bank for 16 years and of Bank Insinger de Beaufort N.V., a Dutch private bank. He was responsible for listing Investec on the JSE and Insinger on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. In 2003, after moving to London, Graham led the management buyout of United Trust Bank, a fast-growing UK specialist bank of which he was CEO for 17 years.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2015
Independent Non-Executive Director
Colin Coleman
BA (Architecture)
Colin is currently a non executive director of The Foschini Group and Kyosk, Co-Chairman of the Youth Employment Service (“YES”), a member of the Advisory Board of Mercury Public Affairs, LLC, a bipartisan public strategy firm, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington D.C. headquartered nonpartisan think tank.
He was CEO, Sub-Saharan Africa, of Goldman Sachs up until his retirement at the end of 2019 and head of its South African business from when he joined in 2000, and head of its Investment Banking division for Sub-Saharan Africa. He was named a partner of Goldman Sachs in 2010.
Colin was an anti-apartheid activist and deeply involved in South Africa’s constitutional transition and negotiations from apartheid to democracy. He also served as a business leader on the boards of Business Leadership South Africa, the National Business Initiative and the Steering Committee of the CEO Initiative.
In 2024, he served as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School and previously, in 2020, served as a senior fellow and lecturer at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He was also a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD Business School, hosted by their Africa Initiative.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2020
Independent Non-Executive Director
David Friedland
Also a director of South African listed company: Pick n Pay Stores Limited
BCom, CA (SA)
David is a chartered accountant with extensive audit experience from a broad range of listed retail companies. He served as international partner at Arthur Andersen from 1990 and was a partner at KPMG from 2002. David was head of Audit and Risk at KPMG (Cape Town) and was the lead audit partner for several listed companies. In 2013, he retired and was appointed to the boards of Investec Limited, Investec plc and Pick n Pay Stores Limited. David retired from the boards of Investec Limited and Investec plc in August 2022, having served the maximum term of nine years in terms of the Banks Act, and is scheduled to to retire from the Pick 'n Pay Stores Limited board on 5 August 2025.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2013
Independent Non-Executive Director
Boitumelo Makgabo-Fiskerstrand
Chairman of the Social & Ethics Committee
BA (International Relations)
Boitumelo is the founder and executive director of Africa Worldwide Media and director of Tumi Makgabo Enterprises, focusing on enterprise development in South Africa and across the African continent. In addition, Boitumelo served as the vice-chairperson of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Women’s Empowerment and as a member of its Council on Africa for two years. In 2008, she was nominated to the World Economic Forum’s Forum of Young Global Leaders, which is a multi-stakeholder community of exceptional leaders below the age of 40, selected from around the world. She is currently reading for her LLM in International Business Law.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2012
Non-Executive Director
Eddy Oblowitz
Also a director of a South African listed and public companies: Fortress Real Estate Investments Limited, Trencor Limited and BNP Paribas Personal Finance South Africa Limited
BCom, CA (SA), CPA (Isr)
Eddy has considerable audit, finance and business advisory experience, having spent 21 years in professional practice, most notably as a senior partner of the Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth offices of Arthur Andersen. He also served as a member of the firm’s worldwide Retail and Distribution Industry Team. In addition to serving as a non-executive director and trustee to various companies and trusts, he is the Principal at Contineo Financial Services, which provides specialist advisory and fiduciary services to high net worth South African and international families and their entities.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2010
Independent Non-Executive Director
Jan Potgieter
Chairman of the Audit Committee and a director of South African listed companies: Italtile Limited and Motus Holdings Limited.
BCompt (Hons), CTA, CA (SA), Management Development Programme (University of Michigan), Strategic Planning and Management in Retailing (Monash University, Australia), Advanced Management Programme (INSEAD France)
Jan is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and has extensive senior-level experience in the manufacturing, retail and supply chain sectors, having most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Italtile Limited and formerly CEO of Massdiscounters (a division of Massmart). He also served as a business manager at Clover SA and spent eight years in senior financial roles at SABMiller. Jan currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Italtile Limited and Motus Holdings Limited. He is also Chairman of Janette Media Consulting and Founder of Source and Style Lda.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2023
Non-Executive Director
Ronnie Stein
BCom, CA (SA)
Ronnie was previously the Group’s CFO. He retired from this position at the end of June 2015 after serving 19 years with the Group. Prior to joining the Group, he was an accountant and auditor in public practice. He was a partner at Kessel Feinstein for 15 years. Following his retirement, Ronnie remains on the Supervisory Board in a non-executive capacity.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2015
Independent Non-Executive Director
Nkululeko Sowazi
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.
Also a director of South African listed companies: Chairman of Sappi Limited, Grindrod Limited and MTN Group Limited
BA, MA (Planning)
Nkululeko has over 30 years senior executive and investment management experience and has served on numerous boards of both listed and unlisted companies. He is the Executive Chairman and co-founder of Tiso Investment Holdings, a diversified Pan African investment holding company with business interests in South Africa and Ghana. He was Chairman of Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH) until June 2020 and currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Sappi Limited, Grindrod Limited and MTN Group Limited and chairs the Investment Committee of the Sanlam Private Equity business, a division of Sanlam Alternative Investments. Nkululeko also serves on a number of not-for-profit organisations and holds a Masters degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2024
Independent Non-Executive Director
Gcina Zondi
Chairman of the Risk Committee. Also a director of South African listed companies: RCL Foods Limited and Hulamin Limited
BCompt (Hons), AGA (SA)
Gcina is the founding Chief Executive and shareholder of Imbewu Capital Partners. He is a qualified General Accountant and is an associate of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the private equity industry, of which six years were spent with Nedbank Capital Private Equity as a Private Equity Manager. Gcina currently serves as a non- executive director on the boards of Isegen South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Container Conversions (Pty) Ltd, Icon Construction (Pty) Ltd and NPC InterCement.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2025
Non-Executive Director
Doug Murray
Also a director of a South African listed company: Equites Property Fund Limited
BA, CA
Doug was previously our CEO. He retired from this position in September 2018 after serving 33 years with the Group, 11 of those as CEO. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the international retail sector in general and TFG in particular, where he held several senior executive roles in the Group before he was appointed as CEO. Doug was appointed to the Supervisory Board in a non-executive capacity on 1 October 2019 and also serves on the Group’s UK and Australian subsidiaries’ boards and committees.
Appointed to the Supervisory Board: 2019
