Ivana Bajamic

Early life and background

Bajamic is Croatian, and her hometown is Split. She left Croatia in 2008. She has lived in Boston and Barcelona, and she lives in Dubai. She has two children, a daughter and a son. [1]

Early career

Bajamic started working in marketing as a fresh graduate. She worked for fashion brands early in her career. She left marketing because it did not feel fulfilling. She asked to spend part of a high season on a shop floor to understand consumers better, and she decided she wanted to be part of HR. [1]

Her global background spans adidas, Chalhoub and BRF. She worked for Adidas Group, a German organisation, and for a Brazilian poultry producer. She has sat in regional roles and on global project teams. She came from a manufacturing environment before joining National Foods, and she spent a fair share of her career in talent acquisition. [1]

Work in Dubai

Bajamic could not get a job interview for her first six months in Dubai. She was asked whether she could remove her surname from her CV. She says she did not want biases to be louder than her voice. [1]

She says her career grew fast, but not because she chased a title, and that she never had the ambition of becoming a chief people officer. She says no career map could have shown her path. She says she wants her work to speak louder than her passport, and that the global mindset is about how you work, not where you work. [1]

National Foods

Bajamic is Chief People and Corporate Reputation Officer at National Foods Limited. She leads two functions: people, traditionally known as HR, and corporate reputation. Her job includes taking care of the human and reputational core of National Foods. She leads corporate reputation and HR from Dubai for a Pakistani company, and she visits Karachi about every two months. [1]

She joined National Foods in January 2023. She says she joined although it was a non-traditional career move. She says she joined for the vision and passion of driving the business, not for the number of employees or the revenue. She visited the National Foods head office in Karachi and its factories, and she says the working environment, systems and tools she saw could belong to any organisation in the world. [1]

She knew that the organisation she was joining would invite HR to the decision-making table. She asked not to be judged by the clock. She says she speaks up and voices her opinions respectfully, both as a person and as an HR professional. She says that if things do not change and she does not voice her opinion, it is not an environment in which she wants to continue belonging and operating, and that she became more willing to voice her needs. [1]

She says the board is progressive and trusts professionals to lead the business. She says she sometimes does not talk to her boss for weeks. [1]

The company

According to Bajamic, National Foods was established in 1970 by two partners from two families who are not related. It is now led by the second generation of both founding families, and it is publicly listed. Its head offices are in Karachi, and it has a factory in Port Qasim. She says it has a very significant market share across most of its categories in Pakistan. [1]

She says National Foods has about 850 full-time employees and can have up to 4,000 employees at a time. She says it covers more than 40 countries through its exports, with a focus on the GCC, Canada, the US and the UK. It has a separate product range for its international business, is present at Morrisons in the UK and works with Costco in Canada. One of its main objectives is to penetrate the mainstream market. [1]

Bajamic says the company launches products only after understanding consumers' needs and tastes, and that it keeps the same quality standards in all geographies. She says consumers now want blends and recipes rather than plain spices. She says National Foods sponsored a first Pakistani conference at Harvard at the end of April. [1]

Approach to human resources

Bajamic says the historical image of HR as a police role makes no sense to her. She says the core of HR is to be a co-driver of strategy, and that HR is not a thing a company does but a thing that runs the business. She says she tries to humanise HR and encourage people to speak up. She says the evolution of trust towards HR is probably the transformation she is most proud of. [1]

She does not believe in a copy-paste approach to global best practices. She says merging global practices with local traditions depends on deep listening and adaptive integration. She says the company has to evolve because it has a beautifully rooted tradition in its DNA. She says she would never claim to understand Pakistani culture. [1]

She says she cannot succeed in isolation, and that she does not want to be a leader who works in isolation. She says she shares bad facts and problems openly with her leadership team. She says National Foods holds a monthly meeting at which the entire leadership talks only about people topics. [1]

Talent and performance

Bajamic says growing and retaining talent is the biggest challenge in Pakistan. She says Pakistan has had a hyperinflation environment over the last two years. She says National Foods revamped its talent practices and began talking about performance culture, and that one of its biggest sales talents moved from Pakistan to Canada. [1]

She says she looks for the ability to learn, unlearn and relearn in candidates. She says skills can be taught, but she looks for the right mindset in young people. She says she finds energy and integrity in Pakistani candidates. She says she is dedicated to growing and nourishing local talent, and that she does reverse mentoring on an informal basis. [1]

She says National Foods' back-office employees have KPIs set at the start of each year, and that the company holds a mid-year talent review. She says clocking in and out at set hours does not mean much. She says the bar must be raised, because what met expectations five years ago may not be good enough today, and that talent management must be human driven, not only process driven. She says there is a clear correlation between engagement, productivity, profitability and turnover. [1]

Generations and ways of working

Bajamic says about 22% of National Foods' people are Generation Z. She says organisations need to embrace the differences of new generations, and that long tenures of 10 to 15 years are no longer the norm. She says the ability to understand the big picture and to connect one's work to the outcome is still not there. [1]

She says an announcement appeared on her screen saying there would be no more working from home policy. She was asked to come back with a hybrid working proposal, and National Foods has hybrid working today. She says COVID changed how people work, not just where they work. She says she does not believe in work-life balance and sees work and life as fully integrated. [1]

She says people who abuse the system should face consequences, without penalising the whole organisation. She says empathetic leadership, rather than control, makes people react better, and that people who cannot relate to the way of working will leave by themselves. [1]

Digital transformation and AI

Bajamic says National Foods is at the very early stage of digital transformation. She says it implemented a system as a foundation for its digital work, and that it is looking at outsourcing repetitive administration work. She says HR leaders must understand digital transformation, D&I and people analytics. [1]

She says a large part of National Foods' learning and development will focus on AI. She says culture and leadership cannot be outsourced to AI. She says presentation making and data analytics can be outsourced to AI. [1]

Women in the workforce

Bajamic says National Foods launched its first female apprentice program in STEM and brought more than 20 young female scientists to its factories. She says it implemented family-friendly policies rather than female-friendly ones, and that the company must avoid any perception of positive discrimination. She tells Pakistani women not to blend in and to stand up. [1]

Views

Bajamic says she leads better without a title, and that corporate reputation starts with proper communication. She says leaders must genuinely care about the impact they make and the value they add. She says people need to pause and check whether they are doing too much, and that rigidity in an approach will come back to cause trouble. She advises people to take responsibility for what they can change instead of pointing fingers. [1]

She says she remains hopeful about Pakistan's future, and also that it is fairly unpredictable. She says Pakistan has a lot of potential if people who know and care are invited into decision making. She says real change needs to happen earlier in people's careers. She says she expected to be met with a lot of resistance, but that has not been the case at all, and that she has only recently started deep conversations about Pakistan's internal and regional dynamics. [1]

Personal life

Bajamic used to play handball. She recommends the book Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek and the book Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. [1]

Timeline

1970

National Foods was established by two partners from two families who are not related.[1]

2008

Bajamic left Croatia.[1]

2023

Bajamic joined National Foods.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. What a Croatian chief people officer learned about Pakistani talent . Thought Behind Things , 2025-06-25.