Taelo Mojapelo, CEO, bpSA

Standard Bank Top Women Business Leader of The Year

By Fiona Wakelin

Taelo Mojapelo, CEO of bpSA, possesses over 20 years of extensive commercial experience, including eight years of senior leadership. She has made great progress in creating a market-leading fuel and convenience retailer in South Africa while continuing the focus on transformation in bpSA.

Taelo is a certified supply chain professional and has held a number of operational and senior leadership supply chain roles including Supply Chain Development Consultant at South African Breweries, General Manager at DHL Exel, Head of Planning and Logistics at Kellogg’s and Supply Chain Director at Mondelez.

Taelo joined bpSA as the Head of Commercial Optimization and Logistics, and later took over the role of leading the bpSA organisation. Her academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemical Technology from the University of Natal, a Masters in Environmental Engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science. In addition, she is a certified director with the Institute of Directors (IoDSA).

Authentic, Ethical Leadership

Taelo embodies essential leadership qualities, earning widespread recognition for her integrity, empathy, humility, resilience, positivity, and vision. Her genuine concern for people and dedication to fostering transformation, and more specifically gender diversity, is evident. She is committed to her ethos of “uplifting other women and grooming better men“, which aligns with her passion for promoting equality in the workplace.

Leadership During a Major Transition

Taelo took the helm at bpSA as the global oil industry faced immense challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently the Russia / Ukraine conflict. Both events had a significant impact on oil prices. The demand for oil products declined as the pandemic intensified, which resulted in a collapse of crude oil prices. Additionally, bp was going through its own major global changes having appointed a new Group CEO and launching a new strategy to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 or sooner. These changes meant that the company needed to be much leaner and nimbler, and as such, a global restructure was required.

Taelo led the organisation during the biggest restructure in the history of bp. However, as challenging as this was, the restructure was effectively managed, with all tools in place to ensure proper people transition. Locally, the refining landscape was changing, and bpSA had to adapt –this led to a step change from a refining model to an import model. Positively, this transition has allowed to access to cleaner fuels, thereby lowering carbon emissions. This, again, meant leading the organisation through a major transition and restructure.

In celebration of her authentic, ethical leadership, Taelo Mojapelo was named Standard Bank Top Women Business Leader of the Year in 2023 - an accolade well deserved.