Paul Appleton

Hello. I am responsible for leading the Nando’s brand internationally. Nando’s is the first and only international high-street retail brand to have emerged from Africa and to be trading successfully on five continents. In my role, I have embraced this unique and inspiring heritage, reflecting it in the award-winning Nando’s visual identity, the brand’s architecture and EVP.I have also defined and codified the brand’s purpose and am responsible for the embedding of it globally.This work is deeply bringing a social impact agenda to life across the company supply chain, recruitment, community activities, design procurement and communication. As part of this, I kick-started the Nando’s PERi-Farms where Nando’s is partnering with small-scale farmers across Southern Africa to supply all the company’s PERi-PERi chillies. I’m a passionate believer that great brands are built from the inside-out and have led successful organisation-wide culture processes across multiple Nando’s markets. I have successfully driven strategic change and programme adoption through complex, international matrix structures. Over the past seventeen years of international brand management, I’ve adapted and developed the Nando’s offer to best suit local environments. I have worked in multiple countries across North America, EMEA, South East Asia and Australasia. Nando’s has grown to become the leading fast-casual restaurant and hot sauce brand in several of those countries. Nando’s has also been awarded Ad Age Top 30 Global Marketing Brand status.I sit on the Nando’s global board and lead the company Brand and Purpose forums.