Westcon-Comstor combines Middle East and Africa regions under leadership of Rakesh Parbhoo
-Rakesh Parbhoo, Senior Vice President and Group CTO, Westcon-Conmstor MEA.

Westcon-Comstor combines Middle East and Africa regions under leadership of Rakesh Parbhoo

Westcon-Comstor is a global technology provider and specialist distributor, operating in more than 70 countries. It delivers business value and opportunity by connecting the world’s leading IT vendors with a channel of technology resellers, systems integrators and service providers. It combines industry insight, technical know-how and more than 30 years of distribution experience to deliver value and accelerate vendor and partner business success. The value-added distributor (VAD) recently extended the region it covers to streamline operations and improve efficiencies with a new structure and leadership.

Westcon-Comstor, a leading global distributor, has announced the company will be combining its Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa (MEA) operations as part of a group-wide strategy to improve efficiency, drive profitability, and streamline engagement with partners and vendors. Effective March 1st 2022, the new structure will be headed by Rakesh Parbhoo, who has been appointed Senior Vice President whilst maintaining his role as Group CTO.

“The combined operations will represent nearly 14% of group revenue and boasts close to 500 staff members, making Westcon-Comstor one of the most formidable distributors in this market,” said David Grant, CEO, Westcon-Comstor. “The expanded operation headed by Rakesh provides the perfect platform for us to scale our services while giving partners and vendors with multiple geographies a seamless experience, no matter where their customers are.”

The company has made further strategic appointments to support the new combined entity. Steve Lockie, Group Managing Director for the Middle East, is joined by his recently appointed counterparts Louise Taute, Managing Director for Southern Africa and Vincent Entonu, Managing Director for Rest of Africa, all reporting directly to Parbhoo. The new structure will allow Lockie to focus on the opportunities presented by the company’s recent expansion into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Elmien du Toit, current COOfor Sub-Saharan Africa, has been with the group since 2006 takes on the role of COO for MEA. Forming part of Parbhoo’s executive leadership team, du Toit will be responsible for supply chain and sales operations, including oversight of back-office business functions aligning these to company-wide global best practices while ensuring their local relevance.

Another strategic appointment is that of Catherine Mwololo who will take the role of chief financial officer (CFO) for MEA. As a member of the regional executive team, Mwololo, the current CFO for Sub-Saharan Africa, will consolidate her responsibilities for finance across the entire MEA region.

“I am excited about what we are building in the MEA region. By combining operations, we are creating an entity that has cross border reach while providing our teams room to grow. My new executive team know this industry, understand the region, have extensive knowledge of distribution, and most importantly they are entrenched in the Westcon-Comstor DNA. Looking ahead, we want to take our unique brand of digital distribution to every corner of MEA, expand our business, and show our partners and vendors that we will always ensure a local focus while delivering global best practices,” said Parbhoo.

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