Bidco Africa, the consumer goods giant, has enhanced the process of separating the management of the business from its management with appointment of an independent chief executive.
The Thika-headquartered, family-owned company yesterday tapped the immediate former Nakumatt Holdings' regional operations and strategy director Thiagarajan Ramamurthy as group managing director. His appointment made barely three days after Nakumatt announced his exit.
The move will see the long-serving chief executive Vimal Shah become the company chairman to oversee the implementation of strategy by the management, Bidco said in a statement.
“Thiagarajan Ramamurthy is a business leader with top-level experience and we are delighted to hand him the reins at this time,” Shah said. “Bidco is entering a period of exponential growth and Thiagarajan Ramamurthy has the right skill set to chart a winning way forward.”
Bidco plans to expand new product categories and markets.
“My brother Tarun and I will focus on mapping the company’s growth trajectory and identifying the right adjacencies for the business,” Shah said. “The goal is to become a billion dollar business and to do that we have to grow four times. My new role is to figure how to make this happen.”
The rest of the family who have owned and run the company for more than 30 years will become shareholders, Bidco said.
“We have always wanted to make the transition from a family run to professionally run organization and this is the climax of that idea,” founder director Tarun Shah said. “We have had a dual view of the business for 32 years as both directors and managers, this change will give us an aerial view of the business without having to worry about the ground level.”
Bidco Monday last week also appointed former Kenya Airways marketing director Chris Diaz its group marketing chief..
With a commercial footprint in 17 African countries, Bidco is expected to launch several new product. The company is presently constructing an industrial park in Ruiru that will house multiple manufacturing units including a beverage plant expected to begin production later this year.