NIGERIA – As part of efforts to strengthen its operations in Africa, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (HFMP), on Wednesday announced the appointment of five new members to its board.

Four of the new board members are foreigners. They include Dr. Zate Raymond Zoukpo (Ivorian); Mr. Alan Palmer (British); Dr. Teddy Ngu (Cameroonian); Mr. Andrew Smith-Maxwell (British); and Mrs. Wonuola Adetayo.

A statement from the company  stated that the appointments was in furtherance of its vision to become one of Africa’s leading food companies, with a diverse portfolio of leading products and brands, preferred by its consumers.

The company explained that the new board members had track records of achievements and world class experience in the foods industry and other sectors.

According to the statement, the broad experience would further strengthen the board of the company in its role of leading the company and guiding the management team in the achievement of the organisation’s vision.

Furthermore, it noted that the appointment of “these highly qualified and diverse individuals also underlines the company’s commitment to ensuring the highest level of corporate governance.”

Speaking on the appointments of the new board members, the Chairman of the board, Dr. Oba Otudeko was quoted to have said:

“We are clear about our vision to become the most admired African foods company, operating across the food value chain from farm to fork. “We believe that the natural resources in Nigeria as well as the population base of the country, gives us a natural advantage for the achievement of our vision.”

Speaking further, Otudeko stressed that:  “We recognise the importance of having the right quality of people across all levels of the organisation, including on the board  and therefore our new board members were appointed because of their collective wealth of diverse experience from some of Africa’s and the world’s leading organisations.

“We believe that the unique blend of their knowledge, insight and independent perspective will be of immense benefit to the company.”

Zoukpo, one of the appointed board members recently retired as Chief Operating Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB).  He obtained his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Tsukuba, Japan in 1985.

As a scholar,  Zoukpo began his career as a Research Fellow with the Ivorian Centre for Economic and Social Research. He later went into banking, where he spent 25 meritorious years across diverse executive roles and functions at African Development Bank (AfDB), from where he retired as First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Also, Adetayo has over 25 years of combined Consulting and Marketing experience. She is currently a partner, co-founder and Chief Executive of Kainos Edge Consulting Limited.  Adetayo’s rich career has seen her work, at various times, in senior marketing and leadership roles across different geographies with Unilever/UACN. These roles included: Divisional Marketing Director, UAC Foods; Marketing Director, CAP Plc; Managing Director, UACN Pharmaceutical & Personal Products Limited; and, Group Marketing Manager, Unilever Caribbean in Trinidad & Tobago.

She currently serves on the board of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Equally, Palmer is the immediate past Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kraft West Africa and Cadbury Nigeria Plc. He was also previously the Managing Director, South-East Asia for Cadbury Schweppes Plc. Palmer has close to 40 years of experience in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space working with global organisations such as Kraft Foods Incorporated, Cadbury Plc and Trebor Bassett Limited.

Palmer is presently Chief Executive Officer Foods, Honeywell Group where he has primary responsibility for managing the transformation of the Honeywell Foods Business into a leading, world-class, pan-African foods FMCG company.
In the same vein, the statement said Smith-Maxwell had over 25 years of global investment banking experience from some of the world’s leading Investment banks.  He has been a partner in Fieldstone Private Capital Group, a boutique investment bank specialising in power and infrastructure projects across Africa.

Also, it stated that Ngu is presently Head, Corporate Development and Investments at Honeywell Group.

He has over 17 years of experience in strategy consulting, corporate strategy, corporate finance and auditing, having led and served on project teams with some of the world’s leading consulting firms in over 15 countries in four continents. Before joining Honeywell Group he was a Director and Head of Strategy and Operations Consulting at the Lagos office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

He qualified as a chartered accountant (ICAEW), with the United Kingdom  practice of the global professional services company, Ernst and Young. He attended The Wharton Business School, from where he obtained his MBA.

Honeywell Flour Mills is one of Nigeria’s leading foods companies.

January 16, 2014; http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/honeywell-flour-mills-appoints-five-new-board-members/199228/