eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Limited has appointed Innocent Zulu Chikwata as substantive chief executive officer (CEO) following his acting stint which was effective from December 1, 2022 replacing Goeffrey Ndugwa.
The changes come after Fossil Mining took over control of Lafarge Cement after successfully buying the 76,45 percent stake that had been put up for sale by Swiss headquartered Holcim Group.
Ndugwa had been the substantive CEO for close to a year after having been appointed on December 15, 2021.
With 16 years’ experience in the fast-moving consumer goods and construction materials industries and having worked for Colcom, Innscor Africa Group and Lafarge Holcim, Chikwata was seen as a suitable temporary replacement.
Chikwata has held various positions in sales, marketing and operations with Profit & Loss oversight and has worked with start-ups and global branding organisations.
Having joined Lafarge in November 2017 as national sales manager, Chikwata was promoted to commercial director in September 2020. In 2021 he added distribution to his portfolio along with the dry mortar business.
Fossil Mining also made changes in the finance department with Willcort Dzuda becoming the substantive chief finance officer (CFO) after being acting in the role from December 1, 2022.
Dzuda replaces Amry El Moufay who was the CFO of the cement manufacturer.
According to Lafarge Cement, Dzuda is a chartered accountant and registered public auditor who has 25 years’ experience in auditing, consultancy, financial management, strategic and the execution of turnaround strategies for companies.
In 2021, Lafarge commissioned a new US$2,8 million dry mortar plant, which increased output of dry mortar products such as adhesives and agricultural lime from just 7 000 tonnes per year to 100 000 tonnes annually, equal to national demand.
“Should Fossil takeover Lafarge, the planned strategy is to maintain the company as a listed business and also recapitalise the cement maker, leading to an increase in the cement output from the plant,” Fossil said in June.
Fossil beat favourites Huaxin of China for the 76,45 percent stake even after the Chinese firm had successfully taken over Lafarge’s Malawi and Zambia units.
Five companies had shown interest in the shares, with reports Africa’s richest man and cement producer Aliko Dangote had considered the operation.
Dangote owns Dangote Cement.
