Winning Back CPG Talent in Latin America

There is a common misconception that Latin America is not a critical market within the global consumer packaged goods industry. In reality, for some of the world's largest CPG companies, such as Unilever, Nestlé, Colgate, AB InBev, and PepsiCo, Brazil and Mexico consistently rank among their top five markets globally.

The region has produced leaders with significant commercial depth and enterprise experience, reflected in the number of Latin American executives who have progressed to leadership roles, including global CEO positions at companies such as Unilever (Argentinian) and Coca-Cola (Brazilian).

While companies in the CPG industry have long excelled at developing commercial and general management talent, many have been less deliberate in building digital and technology capabilities internally. Technology companies recognized this gap and Latin America’s strategic value quickly, drawn by one of the world’s most digitally active populations operating at scale in a market that traditional economic metrics consistently underrate.

The result is intense competition for the same consumers and, increasingly, for the same talent. As technology companies recruit aggressively from consumer organizations, a steady outflow of high-potential executives has moved into the technology sector, carrying with them the commercial instincts and enterprise judgment that consumer companies had spent years developing. This has created a growing leadership gap inside CPG organizations.

Competing head-on with technology companies on compensation alone has never been a winnable game for most CPGs. Those that have attempted understand the limitations well.

However, CPG companies retain a more durable advantage. They can offer something many technology organizations are still building: broader scope, real multifunctional exposure, and a credible pathway toward general management for high‑potential digital leaders.

When a strong marketing or commercial executive moves from a major CPG to a technology firm, the role often becomes narrower than expected. A Chief Marketing Officer at a major CPG company typically carries true P&L accountability, leads integrated teams across brand strategy, consumer insight, media, and innovation, and represents a credible candidate for broader general management. Conversely, in most technology companies that same executive may only own one segment of the marketing funnel such as brand building, growth, customer acquisition, or performance marketing.

Similarly, the global exposure historically available to Latin American CPG executives remains distinctive. Country GM roles, regional presidencies, global category or functional leadership, and global CEO positions remain far more common outcomes in consumer companies. The pathway from functional leader in Latin America to the top of a global enterprise is well-worn in consumer goods. In the technology world, comparable leadership paths are still emerging.

A shift is beginning to take shape. A cohort of executives who left senior roles in the consumer-packaged goods industry several years ago to build digital capability are reaching a natural inflection point in their careers. Many have acquired the skills they set out to develop. At the same time, some are reassessing the scope of their roles, the clarity of progression, and their longerterm path to enterprise leadership.

For many, the experience in technology companies has been valuable and professionally formative. It has also created an opportunity that many CPG organizations have not yet fully recognized. There are two practical ways CPG companies can act on this opportunity.

The first is re-engagement. For executives who left to build digital capability, the CPG proposition is newly compelling precisely because the tech experience itself revealed what was missing. Enterprise scope, P&L accountability, functional breadth, succession visibility were elements those executives once had, and in many cases, gave up without fully appreciating the trade. The message does not need to be defensive. It can be direct and confident: “You acquired what you went to learn; now bring it back and apply it where the scope is real.”

The second is earlier intervention. CPG companies do not have to wait for their best talent to leave in order to address the capability gap. The most forward-thinking organizations are exploring ways to give high-potential executives meaningful digital exposure before the pull to leave becomes irresistible. Structured secondments to key ecosystem partners—digital platforms, marketplaces, media companies—represent one possible model, offering genuine skill immersion while keeping the long-term career trajectory anchored inside the CPG. There are other approaches still being developed. The underlying logic is the same: make the development offer real and early, so the "I need to go somewhere else to learn this" narrative loses its force.

These approaches are not yet happening at scale. But the window is open, and the CPG companies that recognize this moment and act deliberately can regain momentum in a talent market that has, for some years, favored technology companies.

The most talented executives in the Latin American market are not simply looking for the next role. They are looking for the next chapter, one with real stakes, real scope, and a horizon worth building toward. Established consumer companies, at their best, are still the place where that chapter gets written. Those that articulate and invest in this proposition will compete more effectively for talent in an increasingly contested market.

If your organization is navigating questions around attracting, developing, and retaining senior talent in the consumer-packaged goods industry, Egon Zehnder works closely with boards and CEOs across Latin America on leadership assessment, succession, and consumer executive search. As one of the leading CPG executive search firms, we partner with global and regional consumer companies to design enterprise‑scope roles and build leadership pipelines aligned with long‑term growth.