Ex Tongaat Hullet CEO Gavin Hudson named Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Chief Operating Officer
AFRICA – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa, has announced the appointment of Gavin Hudson as the new Chief Operating Officer starting 1 November 2023.
Gavin earlier played the role of CEO at Tongaat Hulett, South Africa’s biggest sugar company, before his resignation in February 2023.
Gavin boasts a solid track record of delivering growth and effective turnarounds in highly competitive and challenging markets in; South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Latin America, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and CIS Countries.
Jacques Vermeulen, CEO of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, said, “Gavin is an accomplished business executive with extensive experience in diverse and challenging markets in the alcoholic beverages and sugar industries.”
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa currently serves 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mayotte and the Comoros.
His role will be to lead and manage CCBA’s diverse business operations, ensuring world-class customer service and execution capabilities, as well as achieving the consistent delivery of business and performance targets across our markets.
Earlier in August, Coca-Cola vice-president for East and Central Africa operations Debra Mallowah exited the beverages firm barely three years after taking the position.
Ms Mallowah who was appointed to the Coca-Cola role after leaving the position of chief business development officer at Safaricom is headed to Bayer, a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company.
Coca-Cola has picked Alfred Olajide, vice president and general manager at Nigeria’s Coca-Cola Africa, to replace Ms Mallowah.
Until his appointment, Alfred Olajide served as the vice president and general manager at Nigeria’s Coca-Cola Africa.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) has put brakes on a planned IPO even though revenue in Africa’s non-alcoholic drinks market is expected to reach US$96.14 billion in 2023.
Following the initial announcement in April 2021 plans for a dual listing of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Johannesburg and Amsterdam are on hold as capital markets across the globe struggle in the ongoing economic slowdown.
“Globally, very few IPOs are coming to the market because these are not the right conditions,” Jaques Vermeulen, CEO of CCBA told The Africa Report on the sidelines of the Africa 2023 CEO Forum in Abidjan on 5 June.
“We are waiting for markets to stabilise,” Vermeulen says.
