Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited has appointed Yebeltal Getachew as its new Managing Director.

He replaced Bhupendra Suri as the company’s helmsman.

Getachew’s appointment, which took effect from June 2018, was disclosed in a statement signed by the company’s Public Affairs and Communications Manager, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe.

The statement said: “We are pleased to have him join Coca-Cola Nigeria and leverage his experience for our total beverage portfolio in Nigeria.”

What you should know: The appointment of Getachew came with his in-depth knowledge and wealth of experience, having worked across Africa in senior leadership positions within the Coca-Cola system.

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Yebeltal’s profile: Before his appointment in Coca-Cola Nigeria, Yebeltal was the General Manager, Stills and VEB, responsible for overall leadership of the Stills Beverages business for the West Africa Business Unit (WABU) across 33 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He joined The Coca-Cola Company in July 2000 as the Marketing Manager for the Horn of Africa territory of the Central, East and West Africa Business Unit (CEWABU).

Since then, he has worked in various roles across several countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Mauritius, Tanzania, Eretria, Uganda, and Mozambique.

He worked with Coca-Cola as the Operations Marketing Representative for Ethiopia and Djibouti and as Country Lead for Mauritius in 2007. During this period, he won the prestigious annual Central East and West Africa Business Unit Values Champion Award.

In addition, Getachew served as the Customer and Commercial Leadership Director for WABU, as Country Manager for Tanzania and as the Regional Franchise Manager for Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda and Mozambique.

He is credited for developing and rolling out best-in-class frameworks and training modules for initiatives such as Right Execution Daily (RED) and Third-party Distributor Operation Standard Assessment (DOSA).

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He had also worked at Urgent Cargo Handling (K) Limited, Nairobi, Kenya, where he served at various roles and rose to the position of operations director from April 1998 to January 2000.

His educational background: Getachew holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration (Economic Development & International Trade) from United States International University (African campus) in Nairobi, Kenya.

He also has a postgraduate certificate and MBA from Edinburgh Business School – Heriot-Watt University Scotland.