MarketForce, the Kenya and Nigeria-based B2B platform for retail distribution of consumer goods and digital financial services in Africa, is pleased to announce the appointment of Arthur Bourekas as the Chief Commercial Officer, effective 1st October 2021.
Mr. Arthur has over 25 years of experience executing commercial growth, logistics and distribution in some of the most challenging countries in the world. He worked for A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) PLC and PZ cussons in Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. He is a veteran FMCG distribution expert in Africa, where he has spent over 17 years supporting conglomerates listed on the NSE to conquer African markets, including running an affiliate company supporting Coca-Cola Hellenic in Nigeria (one of the largest Coca-Cola bottling companies in the world).
Most recently, Arthur was involved – at a very senior level – with Alerzo, a Nigerian B2B retail-tech startup that also helps retailers stock inventory directly from manufacturers.
“FMCG distribution in Africa is yet to be done effectively. Even multinationals with years of experience often can optimize their distribution and add real sales growth to their business. Innovation and focus is key! I am confident that with the platform MarketForce has built so far, along with the expertise being built within the organisation, we are destined to revolutionise the sector and become a formidable force.” – Arthur Bourekas, New Chief Commercial Officer of MarketForce.
Running sales operations, logistics and distribution in the most populous countries in both South East Asia and Africa brings to MarketForce a multitude of partnerships, commercial, logistics and distribution skill sets. These countries have thousands of islands, regional geo-political complexities and a combined 500M people – the kind of experience that matches MarketForce’s ambitions to be the largest B2B retail distribution company in sub-saharan Africa.
“Arthur aligns to our ambitious growth plans and brings significant expertise into this new, critical role for MarketForce as we empower informal merchants to maximise their profits and grow in a digital age. His extensive emerging market experience, ability to drive commercial growth, and depth of technical distribution knowledge in Nigeria will be valuable in our efforts to deepen our East Africa market reach while expanding into the West African market.” – Tesh Mbaabu, Co-Founder and CEO of MarketForce.