Nakumatt bolsters c-suit with former Tesco exec

Regional retailer Nakumatt has strengthened its executive suit with the appointment of three new directors.

The re jigging of top management comes a day after Nakumatt announced it had secured Sh7.7 billion from a strategic investor to bolster operations.

Andrew Dixon joins the senior management team as the Chief Marketing Officer after previously working for British retail multinational Tesco.

Before his appointment, Mr Dixon developed the Tesco Health and Beauty in store concept, led the development of Tesco’s core private label brands, launched and operated the Tesco Express convenience store format.

This fits well with Nakumatt’s strategy to grow the number of items in its in store branding dubbed Nakumatt Blue Label.

Manoj Warrier comes in as the Chief Information Officer while James Gakumo will serve as the chief risk officer.

Prior to joining Nakumatt, Mr Warrier served in various ICT postings at Reliance Retail, Essar IT, Shoppers Stop and Globus Stores in India.

Mr Gakumo joins the team at a time the retailer is looking to restructure its debt and put a lid on high operating costs.

According to Mr Shah he will be expected to streamline the firm’s risk control functions as the company steps up its cost and overall financial management strategies.

By February, Nakumatt’s gross debt had hit Sh15 billion, an indication of the skyrocketing cost of operations.

Nakumatt has over the last few months been forced to restructure contracts with suppliers enabling it to delay payments.

The new senior manages join Managing Director Atul Shah and Regional Operations and Strategy Director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy and Chief Business Development Officer Neel Shah among others senior executives.

It was not immediately clear whether the hiring of new executives was as a result of the deal with the strategic investor.

Nakumatt is yet to disclose the retailer’s second largest shareholder that snapped up 25 percent of the company.

Nakumatt has stores spread across Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.