Nakumatt Holdings has reshuffled its top management as part of ongoing reforms demanded by the new strategic investor who is in final stages of injecting $75 million(about Sh7.76 billion) into the country’s largest retailer by market share.
The deal, first made public on January 18, has seen Nakumatt embark on a series of changes, including change of management structure. This has led to the exit of long-serving regional operations and strategy director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy (pictured below) this month, the retail chain, battling rising debt, said on Friday.
“The departure of Ramamurthy comes at a defining moment in the history of Nakumatt and we sincerely wish to extend our gratitude for his service to this organization,” Nakumatt Holdings managing director Atul Shah said.
Duties previously undertaken by Ramamurthy will be taken over by Nakumatt’s newly appointed chief marketing officer Andrew Dixon, helped by regional chief officers. Dixons, hired on January 19, is a former executive at UK’s Tesco – the world’s third largest retailer by profitability. He has been charged with facilitating a seamless transition at Nakumatt.
Shah on Friday confirmed the firm has adopted a new performance-based management strategy, geared at enhancing corporate governance and customer delivery excellence as part of the ongoing restructuring programme.
The strategy, he said, will feature a new group and regional management structure featuring chief officers at the Nairobi regional headquarters complemented by country management teams in Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The regional retailer has also confirmed the appointment of Srihari Vemula as the chief operations manager joining Nakumatt from Omani-based Khimji Ramdas Group.
The managerial changes at the firm’s group level include the appointment of Manoj Singh as the new group financial controller, whose role will be the provision of corporate finance leadership in close collaboration with the branch and headquarters’ finance teams.
“At less than 18 per cent retail penetration in East Africa, the market opportunity is wide open for Nakumatt, to double or even triple its market share with renewed corporate energy and vigour,” Shah said.
The changes have not affected country managers in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
The changes have been rang after Nakumatt Holdings hired global retail services corporate strategist Outram Cullinan & Company to help it develop a ten-year growth plan.