BlackBerry's local operations have seen a shake-up at the top, with Yudi Moodley replacing former MD for sub-Saharan Africa, Alexandra Zagury.
The company announced Moodley's appointment as MD for Africa this morning, saying he will replace Zagury with immediate effect.
Zagury has been in Johannesburg overseeing operations since July last year, when the smartphone maker was still called Research In Motion (RIM). Zagury, in turn, will take up a new role as BlackBerry MD for the UK and Ireland.
BlackBerry says Moodley - previously the company's business management director for the Middle East and Africa - will now be responsible for overseeing and driving the overall business strategy and growth for BlackBerry across Africa.
The company says his former role spanned commercial management, as well as business planning and forecasting. Moodley joined BlackBerry in 2010, prior to which he spent four years with Cell C, where his last position was as senior national retail sales manager. He started his career with Caltex Oil.
Optimistic outlook
Zagury joined BlackBerry in April 2008, prior to which she headed the UK and Pan-Euro business operations and intelligence teams at Yahoo Europe.
She moved to SA from Istanbul last year, where she was BlackBerry's first MD to be appointed in Turkey. Zagury has also been responsible for regional strategic planning and business operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa - based in the UK.
At the time of her local appointment, Zagury was optimistic about the future of the company, which has struggled to stay afloat in the increasingly competitive smartphone market. "A company like RIM can't just go away - it changes, and it evolves. RIM is a solid going concern and it is going through a change."
Moodley, too, is optimistic - saying Africa is one of BlackBerry's key markets. He says, in his new position, he will drive the adoption of the BlackBerry 10 platform - as well as the company's popular instant messaging service BlackBerry Messenger - across the continent.
Zagury's earlier experience spans the property, leisure, financial services and media industries in the US, Tunisia, Argentina, Korea and Poland.
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