INTHEBLACK September 2026 - Flipbook - Page 31
MEMBER PROFILE
Cariessa Leow CPA believes that
implementing change is not
just about technology or KPIs.
It requires influence, empathy
and continuous learning.
Successful transformation is
more about winning people
over through communication,
empathy and purpose than it is
about introducing new systems.
Future-ready finance teams
integrate digital capability,
strategic leadership and
measurable sustainability to help
businesses navigate change.
The human
side of change
From leading complex finance
transformations at L’Oréal to
helping teams embrace change
with confidence, Cariessa Leow CPA
believes technology only succeeds
when people come along for
the journey.
Words Chris Sheedy
Photography Vignes Balasingham
TWENTY YEARS AGO, AN
accounting graduate had little say
in the direction of their career or
in the place they worked, says
Cariessa Leow CPA, head of finance
transformation at L’Oréal in Malaysia.
“That was when I started my career,”
Kuala Lumpur-based Leow says. “It was
very conventional. We had to start in an
audit and assurance role, and we were
thankful to be offered a job.”
But today, graduates can “evaluate
the company”, she says. “Not only is the
employer choosing them, but they are
choosing their employer.”
The graduate experience at major
fast-moving consumer goods multinationals
today, including L’Oréal, looks almost
unrecognisable compared to what Leow
encountered at the start of her career.
Structured management trainee programs
now deliberately expose young talent to
multiple functions and markets, equipping
them with the cross-functional fluency that
modern business demands. This immersive
grounding means that when graduates are
ready to take their next step, they do so with
genuine insight into the business and into
themselves and where they can add the
most value, she says.
It is precisely this kind of intentional talent
development, Leow says, that forward-thinking
organisations are investing in as a long-term
strategy — not just to build capability, but
to continue to attract exceptional people.
LEADING TRANSFORMATION
Leow is spearheading the transformation
of large-scale enterprise resource planning
(ERP) and digital transformations at L’Oréal.
She views technology not as the end goal,
but as an enabler of organisational capability.
“The reality is that ERP systems are not
one-size-fits-all,” she says. “Organisations make
choices based on their scale, their priorities and
their resources, whether that means starting
with a single module or building out a fully
integrated suite.”
The true measure of a successful enterprise
system, Leow says, is not just modernised
software, but how effectively the business
extracts and operationalises the resulting
data to make faster, sharper decisions.
That shift brings entirely new organisational
capabilities, but only when the business
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