Twiga Foods has announced the appointment of Charles Ballard as the new Chief Executive Officer. Charles was until most recently the CEO Jumia Kenya.
With a career spanning over 15 years, of which 9 years in the Kenyan market, Ballard brings a wealth of experience in e-commerce, retail, and financial services. Prior to joining Jumia, Charles was a consultant at Sagaci Research, working on retail & e-commerce projects across more than 15 African countries. He was also Deputy CFO at ACTED, a humanitarian NGO in 40 developing countries worldwide. He began his career in Merger & Acquisitions in Paris & Hong-Kong.
Charles holds a Master’s degree from the ESSEC Business School (France) and a Bsc in International Development from the London School of Economics – UoL/LSE (UK).
Hein Pretorius, Chairman of Twiga’s board of directors, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Charles as our new Chief Executive. His deep understanding of the Kenyan e-commerce and retail landscape, his proven operational grip, his entrepreneurial drive, and his passion for the Twiga Foods opportunity make him the ideal leader to steer Twiga into its next phase of growth and success.”
Welcoming his new appointment as Twiga CEO, Charles, expressed optimism for the opportunity, “I am honoured to lead such a talented team at Twiga Foods during this pivotal time. With our unique value proposition, we
are ideally positioned to seize key market opportunities.”
He observed that Twiga Foods was in a good position to enhance its operations, technology, and user experience to create significant value for all stakeholders and the ecosystem. “I am deeply committed to developing our
team and fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence that will drive us into our next phase of growth.”, he concluded.
As CEO, he will oversee all aspects of Twiga’s business supported by the other senior leaders – Chief Operating Officer Anjan Dasgupta, Chief Technology Officer Paul Bombo, Chief People Officer Susan Kiama, and
Chief Financial Officer Zuber Momoniat. The appointment of a new CEO will bolster Twiga Foods’ ambition to continue to deliver on its mission to transform food supply chains in Africa.