ZAMBIA – Zambeef, Zambia’s food producer and retailer has announced that Tim Pollock, Joint Chief Executive Officer of the Company resigned from the company effective 31st May 2018.

The company said Mr. Pollock had left Zambeef for personal reasons and that he will be returning to the United Kingdom to focus on the development of his agricultural investment business, AgCap Limited.

Consequently, Francis Grogan, currently Joint Chief Executive Officer became the sole Chief Executive Officer at the company effective 1 June 2018.

Grogan is a co-founder of the business which now has operations in Zambia, Nigeria and Ghana.

He is said to have in collaboration with Dr. Irwin, seen growth of the company into one of the region’s greatest agribusiness and food companies through their vision, entrepreneurial drive and leadership.

The joint CEOs were also important in the dual stock exchange listings of the company’s shares in Zambia and London.

Under their watch, Zambeef made an investment of US$101 million over the years to develop Zambeef’s operations into world-class operations, according to Mr. Mwanza.

In a restructuring move, Zambeef announced the retirement of its Joint Chief Executive Officer Dr. Carl Irwin in March 2018.

As a result, Tim Pollock joined Zambeef on January 1, 2018, initially as Group Managing Director and the company then said he was to take over Dr. Irwin’s role after appropriate regulatory approvals.

Pollock has been a Non-Executive Director of Zambeef since September 2016 and was Investment Director for Food & Agriculture for CDC Group which holds 17.5% of Zambeef Product’s ordinary share capital.

This development, in addition to Dr. Irwin’s departure follows a 9-month leadership succession planning process by the company’s Board assisted by an external Human Resources consultant.

As part of its leadership overhaul, the firm appointed Nelson Basaalidde as new general manager for Zampalm Limited’s palm oil plantation scheme.

It also completed sale of majority stake of Zampalm Limited, its palm oil plantation scheme to the Industrial Development Corporation of Zambia Limited (IDC) for US$16 million as part of Zambeef’s strategy to focus on its core business.