Cynthia Duru on Scaling Culture Before Product: Lessons from Leading HR Across Six Countries

Cynthia Duru, a seasoned HR strategist, has been instrumental in shaping people operations across six countries, from Nigeria to China. With a background in law and finance, Cynthia transitioned into HR, driven by her passion for aligning culture with business growth. As a Global HR Executive at Weshare Group, she successfully managed people operations across EMEA, Asia Pacific, and North America, embedding a unified culture while respecting local nuances.

In an interview with MARY NNAH, she shares her insights on scaling culture before product, a philosophy she’s embedded into every stage of a company’s growth. With her extensive experience leading HR operations across four countries and two continents, Cynthia emphasises that “you can’t scale a product without scaling culture first.”

You’ve led HR operations across four countries and two continents. What personal experiences most shaped your belief that “you can’t scale a product without scaling culture first”?

My belief in scaling culture alongside product growth was shaped by working in environments where rapid expansion outpaced people systems. Early in my career, I saw teams grow quickly without the infrastructure to support communication, alignment, and shared values.
This led to silos, disengagement, and operational inefficiencies that directly affected product delivery. Later, while leading HR across multiple countries, I witnessed the opposite, companies that intentionally invested in building cultural alignment, leadership capability, and clear processes were able to scale sustainably. It became clear to me that a product’s potential is tied directly to the people who build, deliver, and support it. If the culture cannot grow at the same speed as the product, the business will hit a ceiling sooner than expected.

Can you walk us through your career journey leading up to becoming Global HR Executive at Weshare Group?

I began my career far from HR, starting with a first-class degree in Law before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant. My early professional life involved practicing corporate law, which gave me a deep understanding of governance and compliance. I then transitioned into the financial sector, where I began to see the direct link between human capital strategy and business growth. This inspired my move into HR. I started as an intern, literally making coffee and handling administrative tasks, but I embraced every opportunity to learn. Over time, I took on increasingly strategic roles, managing regional teams and driving cross-border projects. My academic journey mirrors this professional growth. I hold a distinction in Law, an ACCA qualification, a CFA charter, and a Master’s degree in Human Resources. Today, as a global HR executive at a product-led organisation operating in over six countries, I oversee people strategy across multiple continents, ensuring teams are aligned, engaged, and empowered to deliver on ambitious growth goals.

You describe culture as “not a soft function.” How do you define a scalable culture in practical terms?

A scalable culture is a set of values, behaviours, and operating norms that remain consistent as the company grows, yet are adaptable enough to work in diverse cultural and market contexts. It is not about slogans on walls or a one-off engagement survey, but about embedding ways of working into hiring processes, leadership expectations, performance systems, and decision-making frameworks. In practical terms, a scalable culture is measurable. You can see it in onboarding outcomes, retention metrics, employee advocacy scores, and the speed at which teams can collaborate across borders without loss of quality or alignment.

What early warning signs should founders watch for that indicate their people systems aren’t keeping pace with their product growth?

Founders should pay attention to recurring communication breakdowns, inconsistent customer experiences, and high turnover in critical roles. Another warning sign is when decisions start being made in isolation rather than collaboratively, often due to unclear ownership or misaligned priorities. If onboarding times are increasing or productivity drops after expansion, it is usually a sign that the people systems, processes, and cultural alignment have not kept up with the scale of operations.

How did Weshare’s rapid global expansion expose the risks of a fragmented people strategy?

Expanding across multiple countries without a unified people framework quickly revealed inconsistencies in onboarding, performance management, and compliance. While each market operated successfully on its own, the lack of alignment made it difficult to move talent across borders, launch coordinated initiatives, and maintain a shared company identity. This experience reinforced for me that growth must be supported by a central people strategy that is locally adaptable but globally consistent.

You worked on harmonising operations across five countries. How do you balance global consistency with local cultural and legal requirements?

I start by identifying the non-negotiables that define our company culture and operating principles. These remain consistent across all markets. Around these, I work with local HR leaders and legal experts to adapt policies and processes to fit local laws, customs, and workplace norms. The key is to maintain a shared strategic direction while allowing enough flexibility for each country to thrive within its own context.

What does a “glocal” framework look like in practice, and how did it work for Weshare?

A “glocal” framework means having one central strategy with room for local adaptation. At Weshare, our global HR policies were designed centrally, but every local market could customise elements such as benefits, learning programs, and engagement activities to match cultural and regulatory needs. This ensured we remained one company with one identity while still respecting local differences.

Can you share a specific example of a local adaptation in onboarding or employee engagement that significantly improved retention?

In one country, we introduced a mentorship program pairing every new hire with a senior colleague from day one. This was not part of our original global onboarding design, but it was a cultural fit locally where relationship-building is highly valued. Within six months, retention of new hires in that region improved by over 30 percent, and engagement scores rose significantly.

You’ve recruited talent across EMEA, Asia-Pacific, and North America. What’s your process for ensuring that new hires — no matter where they are — are fully aligned with the company’s mission and values?

Every recruitment process starts with alignment on mission and values. We design interview questions and case studies to assess both skills and cultural fit. Candidates receive a clear picture of our expectations and way of working before they join. Once hired, they go through an onboarding program that reinforces these values through real-world scenarios, peer learning, and direct interaction with leadership.

How do you prevent a “fast hire” from becoming a “fast liability” in high-growth environments?

We balance speed with structure. While we move quickly to secure top talent, every candidate must pass through multiple layers of assessment, including values alignment and role-specific performance simulations. Post-hire, we have structured probation reviews that identify any misalignment early, allowing us to course-correct before it becomes a performance issue.

Many still see HR as a support role rather than a growth driver. How did you successfully shift that perception inside Weshare Group?

I tied HR objectives directly to business metrics such as revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and product delivery timelines. By showing how improvements in hiring, engagement, and retention translated into faster go-to-market timelines and higher product quality, HR became seen as a strategic partner rather than a back-office function.

Could you share an example where aligning People OKRs directly to user or revenue milestones produced measurable impact?

At one point, we set a People OKR to reduce time-to-hire for key technical roles by 40 percent. Achieving this meant our product team could launch a major update three months ahead of schedule, directly increasing user adoption and revenue in that quarter.

How does HR strategy tie into speed-to-market for new products?

A well-prepared people strategy ensures that the right skills, roles, and leadership structures are in place before a product launch. Without it, delays in hiring, misaligned priorities, or unclear ownership can slow the entire process. HR removes these bottlenecks by aligning talent planning with product roadmaps.

In your experience, what’s the most overlooked people-related factor that can derail tech scaling efforts?

Underestimating the role of middle management. Founders often focus on hiring senior leaders and frontline staff but forget that middle managers are the ones who translate vision into daily execution. If they are not aligned, trained, and empowered, scaling will be chaotic.

You advise leaders to “involve your people leader before scaling starts.” What’s the ideal timing and process for this?

The ideal timing is before funding closes or before a major market launch. Involve your people leader in strategic planning sessions, product roadmaps, and financial forecasting. This ensures that talent acquisition, onboarding, and cultural alignment are ready to support the planned growth.

For startups with limited budgets, what’s the first and most important cultural system they should invest in?

Clear values and performance expectations. These cost little to implement but provide a foundation for hiring, managing, and engaging talent effectively. Without them, every other system will lack coherence.

You’ve been the first African executive to contribute to Weshare HQ’s blueprint in China. How did that experience shape your vision for future global HR leadership?

It reinforced the importance of representation and diverse perspectives in shaping global strategies. Being part of a leadership team in a completely different cultural context taught me how to bridge gaps, adapt strategies, and advocate for inclusion at the highest level.

What’s one key mindset shift you hope every founder or tech leader takes away from your story?

That people strategy is business strategy. The two are inseparable, and if you invest in building a strong culture and capable teams, product growth will follow naturally.