SPAR Group CFO Megan Pydigadu says bridging the gap between strategy and execution is the modern CFO’s primary mandate. In this Q and A, Megan shares insights from the COO chair, a role she joined in 2023.
How has the dual COO/CFO perspective reshaped your understanding of what the CFO role should be today?
My time as COO fundamentally reframed what I believe the CFO role needs to be and has reinforced the role I see the CFO playing in the organisation. Finance cannot operate as an oversight function removed from the business, it has to be embedded in the decisions that shape performance. As COO, I was directly accountable for translating strategy into execution – aligning capital, operations and growth initiatives. That is precisely where the modern CFO needs to operate.
Today, I see the CFO as a decision partner – someone who understands not just financial outcomes, but the operational drivers and trade-offs behind them.
What’s one assumption you held as a finance leader that changed once you were closer to day-to-day operations?
I used to assume that capital allocation decisions were largely resolved at the strategic planning level, that once leadership had agreed on direction, execution would follow. Operating as COO taught me how wrong that is; in reality, execution is where value is either realised or lost. The disposal of SPAR Poland and Switzerland, for example, although the financial rationale was clear, this wasn’t simply a financial decision. It required sustained operational discipline and the courage to hold a position even when businesses were still generating revenue. The financial logic, that both required ongoing funding and were not generating returns above our weighted average cost of capital, had to be translated into operational will. Finance can identify the right answer. Execution determines whether that answer translates into value.
How did being immersed in operations challenge or validate the way you think about financial decision-making?
It validated the importance of data but challenged my assumptions about how readily data translates into action. One of my priorities as COO was consolidating oversight of retailer loans and head-lease management under a single Loans and Leases Committee, using a single data-driven framework for site selection and feasibility. That sounds straightforward from a finance perspective. In practice, getting a decentralised business to operate with that kind of clarity and coherence is enormously complex. Good financial frameworks only work when the people executing them trust the logic and building that trust is an operational capability, not a technical finance skill.
What did you learn about the gap between strategy and execution?
The gap is real, and it lives in the middle layer of the people and processes between the boardroom and the retailer. Our purpose is to unleash the power of independent retail and that’s not a slogan. It is the governing principle of how we make decisions. But the distance between that principle and a retailer on the ground managing a lease, a loan, or a SAP transition is significant. My job as COO was to close that distance through governance effectiveness by simplifying structures, standardising processes and enhancing accountability. As CFO, I carry that discipline into how the finance function supports the business.
Did your time as COO change how you approach trade-offs between short-term performance and long-term value?
Decisively. The adjacency strategy – the acquisition of Aptekor for integration into SPAR Health, launch of the Pet Storey format – requires capital and management attention before it generates meaningful return. From a short-term lens, they can dilute performance. From a long-term perspective, they are essential for diversifying earnings and building resilience in a mature retail market. The CFO who hasn’t lived that tension will naturally be more conservative. I am able to hold both sides of that trade-off simultaneously because I’ve managed it operationally. Pet Storey is performing in line with our expectations, but I remember when it was a concept requiring investment justification.
How has your operational experience influenced how you engage with business units?
I engage with less distance and more credibility. When I sit with the team responsible for SPAR2U or the omni-channel rollout, I’m not receiving a report, I’m engaging with decisions I’ve been part of. When the SAP implementation team presents, I understand the stakes. That system is described explicitly as needing to become an enabler rather than a distraction and I know precisely what that means operationally, not just financially. It changes the quality of the conversation and, I believe, the quality of the decisions.
Do you see the finance function as a partner to operations rather than a control function?
Absolutely and this isn’t a new belief; it’s one that has been tested and confirmed. The governance improvements made during my time as COO – the Loans and Leases Committee, the single data-driven framework for site and feasibility decisions – these are finance principles applied operationally. The finance function at its best creates the frameworks that allow decentralised businesses to operate with coherence. That is partnership, not policing. Control is a subset of what finance does. Partnership is the whole job.
What do you look for in a high-performing finance team today?
Operational fluency. I want finance people who are curious about the business, not just the accounts. People who can sit with a retailer or a supply-chain team and understand the decision being made before they model it and translate that into financial insight. The technical competence is a given, but the differentiator is commercial curiosity. I’ve always built teams that are diverse in experience and willing to engage beyond the numbers. That hasn’t changed, it’s just more important now.
What would you encourage finance leaders without operational exposure to do differently?
Cross the aisle. Deliberately. I didn’t gain operational insight through a training programme; I took a role that put me directly accountable for operations. That is the fastest and most honest way to close the gap. Short of that, spend time embedded in the business – in supply chain, in stores, with customers. Not observing, participating. Without that exposure, you risk developing a technically sophisticated but incomplete view of how value is created.
As you step fully into the CFO role, how are you bringing those operational insights into shaping the function for the future?
The priorities are clear and they are grounded in what I’ve managed: SAP stabilisation so the system becomes the enabler it is meant to be; margin recovery towards the three percent operating target through disciplined cost management and sharper supply-chain execution; grocery growth through retailer loyalty and data-driven marketing; and private label penetration. These are not abstract financial targets – I have been close enough to the operations to know exactly where the levers are. The finance function I am building is one that is tightly aligned to those levers, with a clear standard: every rand allocated must contribute to long-term value creation. The finance function will be a true business partner to business.
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