United States, December 2025 — Walmart has appointed Ayanda Sotubu as Group Director: International People Strategy and Transformation, marking a significant leadership elevation within the global retail organisation. In this expanded role, Ayanda Sotubu is responsible for driving international people strategy, large-scale transformation initiatives, and next-generation people capabilities across Walmart’s global operations.
In her most recent role prior to this elevation, Ayanda Sotubu served as Senior Director: People at Walmart, where she played a key role in strengthening enterprise-wide people leadership across international markets. Her work focused on enabling people strategies aligned with business transformation and organisational scale across geographies.
Before this, Ayanda Sotubu led major initiatives as Senior Director: People Digital Transformation & Enablement at Walmart, where she was instrumental in transforming the people function through digital people products, people analytics, organisational design, people strategy and change, transformation delivery, and shared services. Her leadership during this phase contributed to modernising HR capabilities and embedding data-driven decision-making across the organisation.
Earlier in her career, Ayanda Sotubu spent nearly five years at Absa Group as Head: People Function, supporting Everyday Banking businesses across retail, consumer products, digital, UX/UI design, advanced data and analytics, and people innovation. Her responsibilities spanned workforce planning, talent strategy, HR transformation, and executive leadership engagement.
Prior to Absa Group, she held senior HR leadership roles at Wilmar International as Head: Human Resources, overseeing acquisitions, digital and culture transformation, and industrial relations. She also built a strong foundation at TotalEnergies, where she progressed through roles including HR Project Manager and Talent & Career Manager, leading organisation design, digital transformation, people analytics, performance frameworks, and talent management initiatives.
Ayanda Sotubu holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from GIBS Business School (Gordon Institute of Business Science), strengthening her strategic and transformation-led leadership approach in global people roles.
About Walmart
Walmart began over sixty years ago as a single store founded by Sam Walton and has since grown into the world’s largest retailer. The company remains committed to helping customers save money so they can live better, while continuously reinventing the shopping experience. Walmart’s associates are central to its success, playing a critical role in shaping the future of retail worldwide. The organisation has also been recognised as a Great Place to Work® Certified employer and featured among Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators.
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