About Beverley D’Cruz, General Manager- Middle East and Pakistan, Pizza Hut

On March 1 Beverley D’Cruz made history as the first female General Manager for Yum Brands in the Middle East, where she is responsible for developing and executing the brand’s growth strategy. Prior to being General Manager, Beverley was the Chief Brand Officer for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. Beverley is a transformative leader with 22 years of Brand, Digital, and E-Commerce experience. She has worked with Unilever and with Yum Brands across Pizza Hut and KFC. Her career has spanned Pakistan, Sri Lanka, UAE, Canada, and the UK. Beverley is a leader that leads with Smart, Heart and Courage. She builds strong teams, leads cutting-edge work, and drives transformative growth. Beverley is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is hugely passionate about giving people an equal slice of life and is passionate about helping businesses and leaders find Purpose!

About her thoughts for the industry

Beverley wishes for a more purposeful future for leaders, companies, and brands.

Purpose is our Why? Why leaders lead, why brands exist, why companies exist.  In a world where we are overwhelmed with choices, we look to align our values with people and brands that share the same values as we do. These values are called “Purpose”. 

In the world of Brand Marketing, Purpose-driven marketing is going to be the future, and brands and marketers are going to have to dig deep. While being interesting and entertaining might be enough to capture audiences, it may not be enough to keep them.  So what is Purpose Driven Marketing?  Very simply put a brand purpose is the reason your brand exists beyond making money.  Let’s think of Marketing 3.0 just like Internet 3.0. Marketing 1.0 was product driven, focusing on the benefits of the product. Marketing 2.0 was customer-driven, harnessing the power of data to focus on consumers. Marketing 3.0 is being Purpose driven.  Marketing today is no longer a one-way conversation where you tell consumers all the reasons why they should buy your brand. To be competitive companies must connect with their consumer’s values in a meaningful way. 

People are not only driven by purpose as consumers, but also as individuals. Beverley is hugely passionate about helping leaders find their purpose. She runs a program internally at Yum that helps leaders unlock their purpose. Purpose-driven leaders live a better more meaningful life and this contributes to better physical and mental health. When you live your life with a sense of purpose, you begin living positively and start seeking out new opportunities. You start experiencing everything that you feel will make a difference. Relationships are also affected in a positive way when you live life with purpose. You seek out new relationships, nurture the existing ones, and build stronger connections with the people around you. You become more helpful to the people you love and become a role model for your family and friends. You tend to live your life with more curiosity, try to stay away from destructive habits, and try to seek out good ones that will help you create a difference in the world.