RIM appoints new MD for Southern Africa

TELECOMS

Research In Motion (RIM), the company behind the BlackBerry solution, has announced the appointment of Alexandra Zagury as Managing Director for South Africa and Southern Africa.

Based in Johannesburg, Zagury will oversee all of RIM's operations, sales and marketing efforts for the region.

Commenting on her appointment, Alexandra Zagury said: "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.”

Robert Bose, Regional Managing Director for Africa and the Middle East at RIM 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.”

RIM is growing from strength to strength in South Africa. 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.

Alexandra Zagury has been with RIM for more than four years and was RIM's first Managing Director appointed in Turkey. Prior to moving to Istanbul, Zagury was based 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 was at Yahoo! Europe, where she headed the UK and Pan-Euro Business Operations and Intelligence teams. Her earlier experience spans over the property, leisure, financial services and media industries in the US, Tunisia, Argentina, Korea and Poland.