DHL announces new heads for key Africa regions

DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist within Deutsche Post DHL, has promoted two African country heads to take regional roles in a continent poised for renewed growth.

Former Managing Director, South Africa, Mr Lubabalo ‘Twine’ Mtya, becomes the new CEO for the Southern Africa region, while Mr Pramod Bagalwadi, currently Country Manager DHL Global Forwarding Ghana, has been named Eastern Africa CEO and Kenya head with immediate effect.

Mr Mtya, who took over his new post in February after three years with DHL Global Forwarding, will now be responsible for Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, as well as South Africa, while Mr Bagalwadi takes charge of Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mauritius in Eastern Africa, as well as being Country Manager for Kenya.

Both Mtya and Bagalwadi will report to Roger Olsson, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

A release from the company said “DHL Global Forwarding has been growing steadily across the Southern African and Eastern African regions, however the untapped market is still huge”.

“More investments and global customers are coming into Africa every day and we need to be ready to serve them with excellence. That requires a great team, led by great management”, it added.

The release said both Twine and Pramod’s operational backgrounds, combined with leadership experience and business acumen are “welcome additions to our senior leadership team in Africa, and their promotions to regional roles are well-deserved and ones that both are eminently equipped to fulfill.”

Mr Mtya joined DHL Global Forwarding as Chief Operating Officer in March 2011, taking responsibility for the operational performance of the company in South Africa. In that role, he streamlined the South African operations which resulted in the business achieving all its targets.

He was promoted to Managing Director of DHL Global Forwarding South Africa two years ago, and since then, South Africa’s profitability and success path has been on the increase, with continuous growth and investments.

It quoted Mr Mtya, as saying that “This is an expanded role for me and I welcome the opportunities to develop the freight forwarding opportunities in Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia and work with our teams there, as well as in South Africa”.

“Intra-African trade, and especially Southern Africa Development corridors has tremendous potential for growth and we will focus on the synergies of these markets and the benefits for our local, regional and global clients,” he added.