Nathan Kalumbu has made history by becoming the first Zimbabwean Coca-Cola president of the 85-country Eurasia and Africa Group.
Report by Melissa Mpofu Business Reporter He will assume the new position on January 2013.
Kalumbu is currently the president of the Central, East and West Africa business unit.
Business units and their presidents that will be reporting to Nathan will include Kelvin Balogun, currently general manager for Nigeria, who will succeed Nathan as president, Central, East and West Africa; Curt Ferguson, Middle East and North Africa Therese Gearhart, South Central Africa Galya Molinas, Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia and Zoran Vucinic, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
In a statement, Coca-Cola said Kalumbu had successfully held numerous positions of increasing responsibility since 1990 with The Coca-Cola Company.
He began his career as region external affairs manager in Central Africa before taking on marketing operations and country management roles in Zimbabwe Zambia and Malawi.
Kalumbu is the chairman of Coca-Cola Juices (Kenya) Ltd and a director of Coca-Cola Shanduka Beverages Ltd in South Africa — both of which are joint ventures of the Coca-Cola Company in Africa. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation.
He has a Master’s degree in Business administration from Emory University and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Studies from the University of Zimbabwe.
