Nigeria
I am a General Manager and Operations Director level leader with thirteen years’ experience working in Nigeria, Gabon, and throughout West and Sub Saharan Africa. A logistics professional with sea, air and road freight expertise, not only have I worked for Nigeria’s leading logistics specialist (GMT), but also for the world leader in its field, DHL. My achievements include reducing GMT’s sea freight lead times, and building a “trusted advisor” position for logistics with many of the country’s top companies. I more than doubled DHL Nigeria’s turnover and profits; worked with Vodacom to complete a systems and culture change in a national IS department and project managed the build of the most modern automated storage system in Africa. Very aware of the need to put the client and their requirements first, I have built and re-built relationships with accounts including Shell, Halliburton, Hewlett Packard and Nokia. My main interest lies in using my broad base of skills and local knowledge to meet challenging objectives and leave permanent, positive results.
GMT is Nigeria’s leading logistics firm, combining all modes of freight transportation with extensive warehousing and financing capacity. My role includes full responsibility for all the company’s operations, the leadership of more than 100 staff, directing the IT department and managing a combined total of 15,000 square metres of warehouse space on several sites. I also lead a fleet of 400 trucks. My achievements have included: • Developing GMT’s capacity to meet evolving and growing client need, changing processes and procedures and reducing shrinkage. • Increasing skill levels to world class by training and mentoring colleagues across the business, coaching a performance culture with supervisors and junior managers. • Building improved relationships and a true commercial partnerships with commercial ports and shipping lines, moving beyond price negotiations to performance improvement measures. • Creating a new container terminal for clients as a value added service, leading to faster invoicing, additional revenue and lower client storage charges, a win-win innovation. • Bettering previous client retention rates through enhanced reporting and a greater focus on problem solving, creating a powerful reputation which has been a USP for new business wins. • Establishing a position as a “trusted advisor” with many of Nigeria’s largest corporations, delivering workshops to client-side colleagues and creating a closer, less transactional, relationship. • Expanding the role of GMT’s IT Department, improving the flow and quality of information to senior corporate leaders and clients with business management benefits
Leading a team of more than 100, I had complete responsibility for the commercial, financial, legal and human resources activities of DHL in Gabon. In this growing and competitive market, my main achievements included: • Increasing core revenue on express deliveries by 23%, total revenue by 11% to €5.8 million and Earnings Before Interest and Taxation (EBIT) from a negative figure to 35%. • Regaining client confidence in DHL, building personal relationships with the twenty largest accounts, including Shell and Halliburton, by making myself available 24 hours a day. • Improving both inbound and outbound service performance against KPIs by 11%, through intensive staff training and personal leadership. • Boosting cash flow by better revenue collection, and reducing Days Outstanding Sales from 40 to 21.9 days by improving both customer and DHL billing processes. • Delivering improved results through a very hands-on style of management and leadership, monitoring business performance through participating in delivery, driving courier routes and joining the customer service team once a week.