Telecom Lead Africa: BlackBerry smartphone maker Research
In Motion (RIM) has appointed Alexandra Zagury as managing director for South
Africa and Southern Africa.
Zagury, based in Johannesburg, will be responsible for
RIM’s operations, sales and marketing efforts for the region.
Alexandra Zagury has been with RIM for more than four
years and was RIM’s first managing director appointed in Turkey.
I am excited to be taking on the role of managing
director for the Southern African region, one of RIM’s most important growth
markets. We are proud of the company’s success in this region, particularly in
South Africa where BlackBerry is the leading smartphone brand, and I believe
there is still tremendous opportunity for growth. Our goal is to maintain
customer loyalty and expand RIM’s leading position in South Africa by being
even more customer-focused and by working closely with our carrier and
developer partners across the region,” Alexandra Zagury said.
Alexandra brings a wealth of commercial, strategic and
leadership experience to this role, and she will be instrumental in driving the
next stage of our business growth in Southern Africa,” said Robert Bose,
regional managing director for Africa and the Middle East at RIM.
Recently, RIM appointed Sunil Dutt as the managing
director in India, one its emerging markets.
According to GfK Retail and Technology, BlackBerry
smartphones accounted for 7 out of the 10 best-selling smartphones in South
Africa in May 2012. GfK data in May also shows that BlackBerry has been the
leading smartphone vendor in South Africa for over 20 months.
Zagury has also worked with RIM in the UK, where she was
responsible for regional strategic planning and business operations for Europe,
the Middle East and Africa.
Before joining RIM in April 2008, Zagury worked with
Yahoo Europe, where she headed the UK and Pan-Euro Business Operations and
Intelligence teams.
