Naidoo appointed new BAT Zim Managing Director – NewZimbabwe.com

By Alois Vinga

BRITISH American Tobacco (BAT) Zimbabwe has appointed seasoned accountant Kimesh Naidoo to the position of Managing Director.

The appointment is effective from June 21 2023 as he takes over from Sivenasen Moodley who resigned from the post effective 20 June 2023 after serving in the role since March 2022.

A qualified Chartered Accountant with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), Naidoo has over 11 years’ experience in cross-functional management, financial management, audit, sales and distribution in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry.

He has worked in various companies in South Africa, including KPMG, Standard Chartered and Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) having   joined BAT South Africa in June 2019 and was subsequently appointed as the MD for the company in October 2019.

“Naidoo later joined BAT‘s East African Markets in March 2022 as Cluster Manager, Horn of Africa and now returns as Managing Director.

“The Board of Directors congratulates Mr. Kipkemoi and Mr. Naidoo on their appointments and welcomes them to the Board,” BAT’s company secretary , Phyllis Chenjera announced Thursday.

The top cigarette manufacturer also announced one other senior executive appointment.

Philemon Kipkemoi was appointed to the position of  Non-Executive Director  effective 21 June 2023.

Kipkemoi has been with the BAT Group for 17 years having joined  BAT Kenya in 2007 from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he served as an Internal Audit Manager.

He has subsequently held various senior Finance Leadership roles within the Group, including, Finance Controller (Uganda & Big Ben Tobacco DRC), Finance Controller (East & Central Africa), Head of Operations Finance (East & Central Africa) and Head of Finance (Horn of Africa & Indian Ocean Islands).

He is currently the Head of Finance for BAT East and Southern Africa market.