As Group Finance Reporting Manager, Nafessa helps bring THG’s half-year and full-year results to life - translating a year’s worth of strategy, performance and decision-making into what the market sees. Alongside leading complex audit processes, she also champions inclusion as Senior Sponsor of the Race & Ethnicity Network, working to ensure employees feel heard, represented and empowered to shape the business.

We sat down with Nafessa to talk about the pace and responsibility of Group Reporting, sponsoring our Race & Ethnicity Network, and the power of representation and community in shaping the industry.

Can you tell us about your role at THG and what your day-to-day looks like?

I’m a Financial Reporting Manager within the Group Finance team. My role is primarily focused on managing the external audit and producing the financial information that is released to the market.

My team is responsible for producing the company’s key external financial information – the Annual Report and Accounts. We manage two major reporting cycles annually, delivering the half-year interim results to the stock exchange in June and the full-year results following the December year-end.

Day-to-day, I act as a main point of contact between the business and our external auditors. That involves liaising with teams across different divisions, making sure audit requests are completed on time, and ensuring everything runs smoothly during what can be a super intense reporting period.

Outside of audit season, I work on producing the statutory accounts for our UK and overseas subsidiaries – some of which require audits. I also have some direct reports, so my role is a real mix of technical accounting, collaboration, and leadership - the variety is what keeps it both engaging and rewarding.

What’s your favourite part of the role?

I’m definitely a people person, and my role allows me to collaborate with different teams across the business.

What I find especially interesting is having oversight of what happens throughout the year and seeing how this translates into the results we release to the market. You can see how marketing strategies, operational decisions, and commercial performance all

roll up into the final numbers. It gives you a really unique perspective as to the work each individual team delivers and on the business as a whole.

The most rewarding part of my role is when the results are finally released. The Annual Report is a huge collaborative project involving so many teams - from Group Reporting, FP&A, Consolidation to design and content - and when you see it published, it feels like a real achievement.

What’s the most challenging aspect of your role?

It’s very fast-paced. Reporting deadlines are fixed - there’s no pushing them back - so you have to be incredibly organised and adaptable.

You might plan your day around a specific task, and then the auditors raise a query that needs immediate attention. It requires strong workload management, resilience, and the ability to support your team while navigating unexpected challenges.

Championing Inclusion: Senior Sponsor of the Race & Ethnicity Network

Alongside her finance role, Nafessa is Senior Sponsor of THG’s Race & Ethnicity Network.

Why are networks like this important in the workplace?

We work for a global business with a hugely diverse workforce. It’s important that everyone feels their experiences, challenges, and perspectives are heard.

As a woman of colour myself, feeling like you belong is incredibly important. Networks create a sense of community - a space where people can share experiences with others who may understand them on a deeper level.

But they’re also valuable for the wider business. They help us listen, learn, and improve - not just internally, but externally as a consumer-facing business. Different backgrounds bring different insights, and those insights help us grow.

How do you see the network supporting the business?

I think the network can be a really powerful tool to build a sense of community. There are experiences that not everyone can relate to, so being part of a group with people from similar backgrounds makes it easier to share openly, feel understood, and support one another.

One area we’re passionate about is working on shaping what the business looks like for our consumers. We think there’s a really exciting piece where the insights from employees from ethnic minorities can help to shape the customer experience. For example, when it comes to haircare for Afro-Caribbean hair, there are nuances that really matter - whether someone wears their hair naturally, has chemically relaxed hair, or uses heat styling regularly. Those differences translate into the type of product they’d use.

As consumers, we understand those details first-hand. That lived experience is invaluable. Even small enhancements to how products are categorised or described online can significantly improve the customer journey.

There’s a lot that we already do as a business that’s amazing – but enhancing that driven with insights from the demographic that actually uses these products will help differentiate us even further from our competitors.

What’s your vision for the network this year?

First and foremost, we want to increase engagement. There are so many people across the business from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and we’d love to see more of them involved. If you want to know more about the network you can reach out to me or the network leads, we’d love to talk.

The network isn’t just for people from ethnic minority backgrounds either - it’s for everyone. You might not personally identify with a particular experience, but your colleague, manager or direct report might. These conversations benefit the whole business – allies are welcome too!

We’re also looking to collaborate with other internal networks, such as the Multi-Faith Network, where there’s natural crossover. Creating shared events and conversations will help foster an even stronger sense of community.

Ultimately, we want everyone to feel seen, heard and valued.

How can leaders best champion racial and ethnic diversity?

Through education - it’s okay not to know everything - but there needs to be a willingness to learn. Leaders need to understand the importance of creating environments where people feel safe to speak openly about their experiences and concerns.

It’s also about accountability. If employees share ideas or raise issues, it’s important for us to listen and show genuine commitment to driving change. When people feel heard, that’s when real progress happens.

What has representation looked like for you in your career?

Across the business as a whole, I’ve seen huge progress in diversity and inclusion over the years I’ve been here.

Within Accounting and Finance, I think there’s still room for improvement. My immediate team has strong female representation, but representation of women of colour in leadership positions is still limited across the industry.

That’s something I care deeply about. When you’re starting out in your career, seeing someone who looks like you in a senior role is powerful. It makes you think, “That could be me one day.” Representation matters because it shapes ambition. I’d love to help create more pathways so that those starting their career can see themselves excelling in whatever field they work in.