Corlia van Zyl, digital and technology director (DNT) at Heineken Beverages South Africa, believes in putting up her hand and taking opportunities. Marking three decades with the company, her philosophy has remained constant: technology matters, but people matter more.
Corlia van Zyl’s IT journey began when she volunteered to join a critical SAP project ahead of the Year 2000 transition, designed to ensure the company’s systems remained functional and compliant during the change. What began as a temporary assignment soon became the foundation of her 30-year career for the now digital and technology director at Heineken Beverages.
After matric, she joined Sanlam as an admin assistant while pursuing a bachelor of commerce undergraduate degree and later her honours part-time through Unisa. In 1995 she moved to Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, now part of Heineken Beverages, as a bookkeeper.
While her work in finance was repetitive, it developed analytical skills and attention to detail that would later inform her IT career. At the same time, managing work and study taught her discipline and time management that would later make her an effective IT leader.
Corlia said that had she not transitioned into IT she would have pursued a career in forensic auditing, which is a testament to the curiosity and investigative mindset that is central to her approach in business.
Asked what she enjoys most about her role, Corlia explained that it is not the technology itself that motivates her, but the opportunity to improve processes and deliver tangible business results. “I enjoy finding completely different ways to approach tasks than they were done before. I especially value this because it allows me to challenge my team to innovate. Nobody wants to be bored at work, so when people are challenged, they feel like they are contributing meaningfully and the results follow naturally,” she says excitedly.
An authentic leader
Corlia grew up in Hartenbos, a small town near George, and was the middle child in an Afrikaans family with two brothers. She credits her upbringing for shaping her people-first leadership approach. “I enjoy learning about people and what motivates their behaviour. This makes it easier for me to understand and lead my team. My upbringing made me extremely honest and authentic, which contributes to how I foster a nurturing and cohesive team environment.”
Her belief in authenticity has deepened over time through coaching, which introduced her to the concept of being an “evolved authentic” leader. “This means bringing my best self to every professional interaction and managing my emotions intelligently while remaining honest about my opinions and thoughts,” she explains.
Corlia believes career growth comes from stepping outside formal job descriptions. She says she would not be in her current role if she had limited herself to her initial responsibilities. “I wouldn’t be here today if I stuck to my job description in my initial years at Heineken Beverages. Put up your hand and take opportunities, regardless of whether the task is more senior or junior than your current job titles,” she advises.
According to Corlia, her leadership style is collaborative yet challenging. She avoids micromanagement, trusts her team to deliver and places strong emphasis on commitments. “I am open to proposals for change because the people in my team and their wellbeing will always be important to me. That said, if I have to drive a project, I will. Delivering initiatives fully and on time is a must as it creates trust in the IT team and our capability to deliver.”
A key factor to driving innovation in her team has been encouraging ownership and stepping back to let her team lead. During management meetings she says she sometimes rolls her chair back from the table and sits on her hands to help her resist the urge to dominate discussions. This way, the team has space to be creative.
All about delivery
Reflecting on her career journey, Corlia said that her first experience of being in IT management came with a lot of naysayers who doubted her ability to do the job. Some team members believed she was appointed as a diversity hire as the youngest in a male dominated team. When her promotion was announced, a male colleague told her she only got the job because she was a woman and threatened to put her photo on a dartboard.
At the time, she said she lacked the emotional intelligence to dismiss the comment and responded by overworking to prove herself. Today, she sees the episode as a formative moment for her. “Now it’s not about men or women, it’s about what I can deliver as an individual. The proof is in the pudding.”
Today, now that she’s in the talent acquisition hot seat, she prioritises attitude over pure expertise. Drawing on her coach’s “emotional waste” model, she looks for candidates who contribute positively to team cohesion, noting that a bad hire can bring the whole team down.
“In my three decades of experience, I have found that a bad hire can have a profound effect on team morale. I look for people who can bring their whole selves to work and create value while contributing to the team.” A key indicator for her is how many times a person uses the word “I” during their interview – if it’s too much then it’s unlikely the person will be a good fit in the team, she explains.
At Heineken Beverages, Corlia’s focus is digital transformation that delivers measurable value. Customer and consumer experience sits at the centre. “If we can’t add value to the consumer, our product means nothing. There’s so much competition in our sector, so our focus is on creating an exceptional customer experience that stands out,” she says.
Boosting productivity
Supply chain optimisation is another priority, particularly enhancing the route-to-market. “We are working with our partners and retailers to extract insights and leverage them to improve our route-to-market processes.”
At the production level, Corlia is pushing automation to reduce paper use at production facilities and exploring leveraging AI-driven insights in collaboration with retail partners. Transportation and logistics management were major priorities for Heineken Beverages in 2025, with investments aimed at boosting productivity.
Corlia explains that the greatest challenge in driving digital transformation has been managing change, as many specialists in the company have spent decades mastering their craft and can be resistant to adopting new ways of working.
Although Heineken operates under a global AI policy, the company has employed a digital technology, automation and AI lead tasked with localising global AI strategies to the EMEA region. Still, Corlia plays a key role in introducing AI to the local environment and stresses the importance of governance and training.
“We have been focusing intently on training our employees to use AI ethically and safely. We have encouraged them to adopt tools like Microsoft Copilot and have “super users” that act as ambassadors in innovation groups that test and optimise new processes,” she adds.
With AI adoption comes heightened cybersecurity risk and Corlia believes in addressing these head-on. Employees must complete annual cyber training or lose access to their devices until they have completed the training. She and her team also use gamified campaigns to make the lessons engaging, and the company runs workshops where they run simulations to ensure that management is ready in the event of a cyber attack and know who to contact.
Finding her music
In the evolving manufacturing landscape, sustainability is becoming a bigger talking point and is integral to Heineken’s strategy. “We have digital tools and intelligent equipment that we use to gather and analyse data for reducing water usage,” says Corlia, noting it as one of the company’s biggest environmental and operational efficiency priorities.
Outside work, Corlia enjoys reading fiction by authors like Deon Meyer and Dan Brown, which she describes as her way of escaping reality. She also enjoys crime dramas such as CSI and Law & Order and walking near her home for exercise.
Corlia has also been intentional about cultivating a flexible work environment for her team, noting that the old nine-to-five model of work is no longer efficient for today’s workforce. “Overtime is part and parcel of working in tech, but flexibility can also co-exist with that. I am happy for my team to go and support their children at their sporting events and work those hours at another time. I think being stuck on the old definition of balance being nine-to-five is ridiculous,” she says passionately.
When she’s not developing and implementing impact-driven tech strategies, she serves as vice chair of the African SAP User Group (ASUG), a non-profit dedicated to SAP professionals across the continent. She draws inspiration from thought leaders like Jaco Boettger, whose teachings on “finding your music” emphasise personal responsibility for happiness, and Brené Brown, whose work on emotional intelligence has influenced her leadership.
After three decades at Heineken, Corlia still believes that leaders must invest in understanding themselves and those around them. Only then, she says, can managers evolve into true leaders.
