Blog
Apr 26

Head of Digital Innovation at MAKRO

Lazaros Karapanagiotidis has been appointed as Head of Digital Innovation at Makro, March 2018.

Lazo, is responsible for promoting the use of new digital technologies to optimise the end-to-end Makro value chain for competitive differentiation, as well as overseeing operations in rapidly changing sectors including mobile apps, social media, virtual goods and marketing.

Another core part of his role is driving the adoption of technology across internal and external customers, and developing plans to manage resources, risk, time and quality, while creating an innovative, fun, focused, relevant and delivery-centric culture.

When asked what appealed to him about the role with Makro, Lazo comments, “Makro is an entrepreneurial business that is unafraid of pioneering new things. Makro’s digital promise and its relevance to the South African market just made so much sense and the role was next to impossible to resist.”

He says the best thing about joining Makro is the organisation’s diversity and authenticity.

“Makro has a culture of harnessing the deep knowledge of its people. It’s an extremely diverse place which focuses on empowering its staff. This is what makes this place special and unique. It’s got a ‘real’ feeling to it.”

Prior to joining Makro, Lazo worked at Accenture as Senior Manager Digital Transformation.

After graduating Cum Laude with a Bcom in informatics, Lazo worked spent several years in the technology consulting space as a management consultant working across five geographies in the banking, retail, telcos and public sectors. He also ran his own business for two years, before going back into consulting, citing that he “missed the days of being practical and getting involved in the noise”.

When asked what he enjoyed most about working with Homecoming Revolution, he replied, “The young at heart, vibrant approach to quite a serious and unsettling stage of a person’s career, and ultimately, life.”