GOODYEAR SOUTH AFRICA Two years behind the wheel To celebrate two years behind the wheel of one of the pioneering tyre brands in the world, we got the chance to catch up with Darren HayesPowell, who’s been Group Managing Director of Goodyear South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa since November 2017. Goodyear South Africa have had a presence in the country since before the last century was in its teenage years. From as early as 1912 they were importing tyres and in 1945, they opened their own manufacturing plant to keep up with the demand for safe and reliable tyres. Over a century later the business is still a pioneer in its industry, a powerful and respected name and a keen market innovator.
KEEPING THE PACE South Africa’s automotive market is an all-out race of intense competition, where businesses are having to implement new technologies, formulate new strategies, assimilate new market analytic data and make decisions while keeping the accelerator pedal pressed hard. This was the exact environment that Darren Hayes-Powell, Group Managing Director of Goodyear South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, entered into when he took over the steering wheel in November 2017 and planted his foot firmly on that pedal. “It was an exhilarating time to take the role,” he reveals, “But I was confident in my local team’s ability to meet the tasks ahead and I was fully prepared to start at a sprint.” In all fairness, he was already accustomed to the blistering pace of Goodyear’s managerial circle. Having spent twenty-five years working with Rolls Royce, he entered Goodyear in 2008 as Finance and IT Director for the United Kingdom. He then became Vice President of Finance for Asia, then Vice President of Operations and Technology Finance before taking on his current assignment almost exactly two years ago.
Issue 01 | 46
Darren Hayes-Powell
“My international experience and thorough understanding of Goodyear’s strategy and culture put me in a good position to deliver the strategies for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. But even then, it was still a learning curve.” THE MAN FOR THE JOB However, in the same way that Goodyear’s reputation for keeping all four tyres on the road (innovations involving flying cars aside), Darren has a reputation for being sure footed and always having a plan. For
