City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, January 2026 – Caribou, a global consultancy working with governments, foundations and mission-driven organisations, has appointed Desereé Cloete as Head of People & Culture, strengthening its people strategy as the firm scales its impact across inclusive digital economies, climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.
In her new role, Desereé will lead Caribou’s global people, culture and organisational development agenda, focusing on building agile talent systems, strengthening leadership capability and enabling high-impact, purpose-led performance.
Desereé joins Caribou while continuing her role as an independent Freelance HR Consultant & Change Manager, where she has led large-scale change programmes, workforce transformation, mergers and restructuring initiatives, Section 189A retrenchment processes, leadership development, and complex industrial relations engagements across South Africa.
Prior to this, she served as Fractional Head of People at DataEQ, driving people strategy and organisational frameworks, and as Change Manager at empanda (Pick n Pay Franchise Estate), where she led enterprise change management for workforce management technology implementation across national retail operations.
She earlier held senior HR leadership roles in the education and digital sectors, including as Senior Human Resources Manager at Valenture Institute and Senior HR Business Partner and Talent Business Partner at 2U, shaping people strategy, talent development and performance systems in fast-growing EdTech environments.
Her early career included leadership positions at Digistics, EMENDY Multimedia Institute, MoreCorp, DAV Professional Placement Group and Labacor CC, building strong foundations in recruitment, HR operations, payroll, organisational development and industrial relations.
Desereé has also contributed to academia as a Guest Lecturer at The University of Manchester, reinforcing her commitment to leadership development and capability building.
About Caribou
Caribou is a global consultancy that partners with foundations, companies and governments to design strategies, manage funds and programs, measure impact and deliver research to accelerate inclusive and sustainable digital economies worldwide.
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