For the first time since it began operating in the country, Danish shipping giant Maersk has appointed a female Nigerian, Lara Lana, to head its business unit in Africa’s most populous nation.
Lana will serve as Maersk Nigeria Country Manager from 1st June 2020.
It is the first time a Nigerian will be appointed into the position. Before now, Maersk Nigeria was overseen by a Managing Director, who also doubled as the cluster head for the West and Central Africa sub-region.
Lana takes over from Gildas Tohouo who served as Managing Director until December 2019.
Lana has been with A.P. Moller-Maersk since 2002 where she has held various positions in West Africa and the United Kingdom for Maersk, Maersk Logistics/Damco and Safmarine.
“Now promoted to assume responsibility of Maersk Nigeria, Lara will continue in her role as Central West Africa Area Safmarine Manager, a position she was appointed to in 2013. She will be responsible for the business planning and execution for Maersk in Nigeria through optimization of company’s product portfolio and improved customer satisfaction,” Maersk said in a statement issued by its Africa Communications Manager, Kerry Rosser.
Thomas Theeuwes, who also succeeds Tohouo as the Managing Director, Maersk Central West Africa Area, said, “I am pleased to welcome Lara Lana to the Central West Africa Area for Maersk, where she will play a key role in the acceleration of our integrator strategy. Lara brings in-depth customer experience and local knowledge of the Nigerian market, which is a key country for Maersk within West Africa,”
Lana said she is excited to take up the new role within Maersk, “so that we can continue to enable growth for our customers in Nigeria by creating value in competitive environments”.
She said Nigeria is a “great nation saturated with opportunities which, with the right collaborations, we can harness for the benefit of many”.
“We will remain focused on our people, on putting our customers at the centre of everything we do and strengthening partnerships with stakeholders so that together we can go all the way in creating increased value,” she added.
A.P. Moller – Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains.
As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 76,000 people.