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Parbhoo heads to Westcon-Comstor SA

Kgaogelo Letsebe
By Kgaogelo Letsebe, Portals journalist
Johannesburg, 23 May 2017
Rakesh Parbhoo, current CIO of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, is moving to Westcon-Comstor Southern Africa.
Rakesh Parbhoo, current CIO of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, is moving to Westcon-Comstor Southern Africa.

Rakesh Parbhoo, current CIO of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, will take on the role of CEO at Westcon-Comstor Southern Africa as of 1 August.

Parbhoo will take over from interim CEO Guy Whitcroft, who stepped in last year when Paul Conradie took a sabbatical following a sudden illness.

Whitcroft will leave the value-added technology distributor on 31 May, and senior management will facilitate business until Parbhoo's arrival.

Parbhoo, who was born in Ireland and grew up in SA, holds a BCom degree from Wits and completed a management development programme through Manchester Business School.

He presently oversees the overall direction, growth and strategic focus of a central team, as well as the 15 countries comprising the group's footprint on the two continents.

In April, Datatec, holding company for Westcon-Comstor, announced it is looking to sell a majority stake in the subsidiary for more than $800 million, adding the proposed transaction is subject to contract and exclusivity provisions.

The international ICT solutions and services group said at the time that its year-over-year expected decline in earnings is as a result of worse than expected Westcon-Comstor results, adding there was a decline in fourth quarter financial performance in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

The company further explained that Westcon-Comstor experienced disruption to the business as a result of final stages of a SAP implementation in EMEA but has made adjustments to the operating model and Datatec expects this to support a rapid recovery.

Datatec bought an 80% stake in the company then known as Westcon in June 1998 for $160 million.

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