Honeywell Flour Mills Plc (HFMP) has announced the appointment of five new members to its board. The new board members are: Dr. Zate Raymond Zoukpo (Ivorian), Mrs Wonuola Adetayo, Mr Alan Palmer (British), Dr. Teddy Ngu (Cameroonian) and Mr Andrew Smith-Maxwell (British).

In a news release to announce the development, the company stated that these appointments are in furtherance of the company’s vision to become one of Africa’s leading food companies, with a diverse portfolio of leading products and brands, preferred by its consumers.

The company explained that these individuals bring a track record of individual achievement and world class experience in the foods industry and other sectors.  This broad experience will further strengthen the board of the company in its role of leading the company and guiding the management team in the achievement of the company’s vision. The appointment of these highly qualified and diverse individuals also underlines the company’s commitment to ensuring the highest level of corporate governance.

Speaking on the appointments of the new board members, the chairman of the board, Dr. Oba Otudeko CFR, said that “We are clear about our vision to become the most admired African foods company, operating across the food value chain from farm to fork. We believe that the natural resources in Nigeria as well as the population base of the country, gives us a natural advantage for the achievement of our vision”.

Speaking further, Mr Otudeko stressed that  “We recognize the importance of having the right quality of people across all levels of the organization, including on the board  and therefore our new board members were appointed because of their collective wealth of diverse experience from some of Africa’s and the world’s leading organisations.  We believe that the unique blend of their knowledge, insight and independent perspective will be of immense benefit to the company.”

Dr. Zate Raymond Zoukpo

Dr. Zate Raymond Zoukpo  obtained his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Tsukuba, Japan in 1985. As a scholar, Dr. Zoukpo began his career as a Research Fellow with the Ivorian Centre for Economic and Social Research. He later went into banking, where he spent 25 meritorious years across diverse executive roles and functions at African Development Bank (AfDB), from where he retired as Director, First Vice Presidency and Chief Operating Office.

Mrs. Wonuola Adetayo

Mrs. Wonuola Adetayo has over 25 years of combined Consulting and Marketing experience. She is currently a partner, co-founder and Chief Executive of Kainos Edge Consulting Limited. Mrs Adetayo’s rich career has seen her work, at various times, in senior marketing and leadership roles across different geographies with Unilever/UACN. These roles included: Divisional Marketing Director, UAC Foods; Marketing Director, CAP Plc; Managing Director, UACN Pharmaceutical & Personal Products Limited; and, Group Marketing Manager, Unilever Caribbean in Trinidad & Tobago. She left UACN/Unilever to work in consulting, joining Phillips Consulting as Associate Director. She later founded and was Managing Director of SoftSkills Management Consultants. She was a member of the Nigeria 2020 Vision Drafting Committee and Chairman of the Governance & Institutions sub-committee. She currently serves on the board of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

Mr. Alan Palmer

Mr. Alan Palmer is the immediate past Managing Director and CEO of Kraft West Africa and Cadbury Nigeria Plc. He was also previously the Managing Director, South-East Asia for Cadbury Schweppes Plc. Mr. Palmer has close to 40 years of experience in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space working with global organisations such as Kraft Foods Incorporated, Cadbury Plc and Trebor Bassett Limited. Alan Palmer is presently CEO Foods, Honeywell Group where he has primary responsibility for managing the transformation of the Honeywell Foods Business into a leading, world-class, pan-African foods FMCG company.

Mr. Andrew Smith-Maxwell

Mr. Andrew Smith-Maxwell has over 25 years of global investment banking experience from some of the world’s leading Investment banks.  He has been a partner in Fieldstone Private Capital Group, a boutique investment bank specialising in power and infrastructure projects across Africa. Prior to that, he led and built up the Energy and Utilities Group at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, an erstwhile British-based investment bank which is now a member of the global banking group, Commerzbank, where he was responsible for overseeing its teams in the UK, Germany, Asia, Latin America and the United States. He has previously served on the Board of Wessex Water following its acquisition by YTL Power International. He will add his considerable experience and insight into corporate finance to the board of the company.

Dr. Teddy Ngu

Dr. Teddy Ngu is presently Head, Corporate Development and Investments at Honeywell Group. He has over 17 years of experience in strategy consulting, corporate strategy, corporate finance and auditing, having led and served on project teams with some of the world’s leading consulting firms in over 15 countries in four continents. Before joining Honeywell Group he was a Director and Head of Strategy and Operations Consulting at the Lagos office of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  Prior to PWC, Dr. Ngu was part of the Corporate Strategy and Development Group at Pepsico, New York and previously a consultant with the New York Office of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He qualified as a chartered accountant (ICAEW), with the UK practice of the global professional services company, Ernst and Young. He attended The Wharton Business School, from where he obtained his MBA. He also has a PHD in Mechanical Engineering.

The Company

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc is one of Nigeria’s leading foods companies. The company’s range of household products include: Honeywell Superfine Flour, Honeywell Brown Flour, Honeywell Semolina, Honeywell Whole Wheat Meal, Honeywell Macaroni, Honeywell Spaghetti and the popular varieties of Honeywell Noodles.