AFRICA – The multinational confectionery firm, Mondelez International has appointment Nigel Parsons as the president of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) operations, a newly created leadership role that will strengthen focus in the region.
Parsons will be directly supported by Alisdair Sinclair as managing director, South Africa who prior to the appointment was the CEO of Vamara Group, a Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (“FMCG”) company in Africa, reports bizcommunity.
Mondelēz said both Parsons and Sinclair bring with them a deep understanding of the confectionery industry locally and abroad, and their unique skill sets and global perspective make them the right leaders to drive Mondelez’s focus on long-term growth across its SSA markets, as well as unlock the business potential that exists in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Parsons is a long-term employee of Mondelez who was the country director of Mondelez Australia before the appointment.
He joined Mondelēz in 2001 and brings over 25 years’ experience in fast-moving consumer goods, having worked in senior sales roles across a multitude of markets, including Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Asia, Middle East and Africa.
“After 13 amazing years with Mondelēz in Australia and the last six years leading the Australian business, I’m delighted to take on a new and incredibly exciting challenge as business unit president for the newly created sub-Saharan Africa business,” says Parsons.
“With over 50 countries and more than one-sixth of the global population, it’s an exciting region with major growth opportunities for our snacking portfolio,” he added.
Mondelēz said that an independent SSA business unit will allow it to keep a consumer-centric approach across a large geography with different cultures, a fragmented portfolio and varying emerging demand spaces.
Sinclair will help support this mandate through his role as MD responsible for the day-to-day running of the South Africa commercial business.
He is a seasoned business executive who brings 24 years of industry experience from multinational and local corporates within the FMCG/consumer-driven business sector in South Africa and key African markets including East, Central and Southern Africa.
He gained extensive experience as CEO of Vamara Group for 4 and a half years.
He has also held executive/director roles at The Lion Match Company as its group CEO, MD at General Mills and managing executive for the personal care division at Tiger Brands.
According to Mondelēz, this has positioned him well to focus on driving profitable top-line growth, ensure a relevant and optimised innovation pipeline and seek opportunities to manage talent, develop people and invest in broader communities.
Parsons concluded, “With more dedicated resources, we’ll be able to go beyond our current key markets and work on multiple projects at the same time, to strengthen our ambitious growth agenda, bring us closer to our consumers and allow us to allocate resources closer to where we need them most.”
In March this year Cadbury Nigeria Plc, subsidiary of Mondelez International appointed Parsons as a Non-Executive director following the resignation of Mr Gawad Abaza.
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