Hamish Currie

Curriculum Vitae Hamish MacInnes Dodds Currie November, 2018 Page 2 of 10 Curriculum Vitae Dr. Hamish MD Currie Personal Details Profile : Male, Age 62, Engaged Nationality : South African Current Location : Gordon’s Bay, Western Cape Address : 23 Miller Street Gordon’s Bay Gauteng, RSA Email : - Mobile : +27 - Current Position : Owner / Managing Director Current Employer : Just About G Page 3 of 10 Education High School : Durban High School, KZN, South Africa (1970 to 1974) Qualification: : National Senior Certificate Degrees : Bachelor of Arts – Major Marketing, Economics : Bachelor of Commerce : MBA (Marketing), : Doctorate Bussiness - Category Management : Institute of Marketing Management : Cost and Management Accountancy : Training – Retail and Suppliers : Coaching and Mentoring – Member of COMENSA : Business Re-Engineering : Category Management / Range Optimization : Trade Marketing / Key Accounts : Sales Management : Retail Management : Supply Chain Management : Production Planning : Risk Assessment, Sensitivity Analysis and Scenario Analysis : Interpretation of Financial Statements : Financial Ratio Analysis : Quantitative Business Analysis : Marketing Research Analysis Diplomas Special Skills Page 4 of 10 Employment History Employer : Just About G (Pty) Ltd Period : July 1997 to Present Positions : Owner / Managing Director I have completed my third book “Just About Time Management” and "Just About Key Account Management" which is aimed at all people and companies that have to interact with other people or companies to achieve their business objectives. The first book, "Just About Visual Merchandizing", is available for download and in hard copy. These are the first three in a series of five that I am planning to write and get published. Nature of Business : Just About G People Development and Training was established in 1997 and has supplied strategic direction and support to many local and international Retailer, Wholesalers, Distributors, Manufacturers, and IT Companies. The majority of the focus is on providing strategic consulting services to our clients, but I are extremely well versed in rolling up my sleeves and doing what is necessary to get the required results. Career Experience: Although I do not go into the positions in detail in this cv, I feel that I should point out that I was appointed to the Board of Directors of IRI International [MD Africa - IT company], Route to Market [MD - IT company], Scriptnet Pharmaceuticals, IVPD, Basamh Group [Saudi Arabia], Max Retail [Saudi Arabia & Lebanon], ILS Logistic, B&C Trading [Import Export], , Design Electronic Marketing [Promotions]. Chief Strategic Officer – Next-Generation 4IR Ecosystem; CEO - Bank and Country agnostic Mobile Payment Platform Company; Managing Director – Consulting and Training Company, Data and IT Company; Board Member – Food Company, Retail Group, Pharmacy Group, Construction Company; Product development Manager - Non-Foods; Cost and Management Accountant - Non-Foods; Category Manager - FMCG; Sales Manager - FMCG; Sales Representative FMCG My training courses, business consulting and coaching & mentoring have given me the great oportunity to work with both large and small companies in the USA, UK, France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Internationally I have worked with Walmart, Walgreen, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Geant, Carrefour, Saudi Health, Max Group, Basamh Group, Shoptite / Checkers / OK / Sentra / 8Till Late / U-Save / Medi-Rite, Pick n Pay / Boxer, Clicks, East Africa Trading, Metro, Massmart / Game / Makro, Spar, Alpha Pharm, Scriptnet, Independant Cash & Carry, Government and a number of smaller groups. I work with Manufactors, Supply Chains, Retailers and Suppliers dealing with both the formal and informal sectors of the market. I have also worked with Governments to set up policy Pharmacy, Liquior, Women’s Working [Saudi] and Retail Development. Responsibilities : The areas of responsibility that I concentrate on most regularly include, but are not limited to, Strategy, Category Management, Analysis, and Retail Development and expansion. My experiences include Page 5 of 10 Production, Product Development, Sales, Merchandizing / Field Marketing, Key Accounts, Category Management, Training, Software Development, Retail Management, and Consulting. I focus on business issues and opportunities associated with driving profitability by presenting information in a form that supports key activities, such as category management, production, retail management, field marketing / merchandizing, supply chain management, model stocks, assortment planning, forecasts, and general business management, including business reviews. In order to fully convey the nature of what I have done it will be better to discuss this with you on a one-toone basis as the nature of the problem or opportunity discovered dictated the type and duration of the intervention that was proposed and undertaken. Companies: Just About G People Development & Training (1997 - Present) Note: I have been running Training Courses, Coaching & Mentoring, and Consulting in conjunction with the contract positions below. Chief Strategic Officer – Next-Generation 4IR Ecosystem [Consulting] CEO - Bank and Country agnostic Mobile Payment Platform Company [Consulting] Route to Market - MD - IT Company (2013 - 2014) The Basamh Group (Saudi Arabia) [Consulting] (2002 – 2013) Chase Retail Systems [IRI / MEMRB South Africa] - MD - IT Company (1998 - 2002) Tiger Brands - Category Manager (1995 -1998) Premier Foods - Regional Manager (1991 - 1995) Unilever Sales Rep / Field Manager / Area Manager / Accounts Manager / Marketing (1982 - 1991) SANDF - National Service became OC 12 Reception Depot as a Major (1979 - 19981) A&F - Page Engineering UK - Cost Accountant / Skivvy (1976 - 1979) Page 6 of 10 Employer : Chase Retail Systems [IRI / MEMRB South Africa] Period : March 1998 to June 2002 Position : Managing Director Nature of Business : Chase was an IT company that was responsible for the development of category management, retail data software and alalysis, and the sale of plan-o-gram software. Responsibilities • • • • • : I had a Sales team, a software development team, and an office department who all reported into me. I was also responsible for expanding category management in the country by persuading the Retailers to use our software, and then getting the Retailers to work with the suppliers and their opposition, to grow the category within participating retailers. I was also responsible for dealing with the Retailers to get them to supply us with data that could be sold on to suppliers. I was also heavily involved in working with the various Retailers on strategic ways of developing their various stores. I also got involved in coaching and mentoring of the store personnel that enabled me to learn a lot of the best and worst aspects of developing retailing success. • I was responsible for the strategic direction of the company, the profitability, and the development of the staff. • I developed two forms of software that we were able to patent and sell to companies overseas. Employer : Tiger Brands – Tastic Rice Period : June 1995 to February 1998 Position : Category Manager Nature of Business : Although I was working for Tastic, I was responsible for the development of Category Management within the whole Tiger group. Responsibilities • • : Achieve customer volume and turnover target by category. Analysis of sales performance by account and recommendation of a recovery plan. Ensure that the customer volumes and targets are in line with the company’s category growth objectives. Implementation of business strategy by customer by category to deliver long and short term business targets. Develop and implement individual customer plans based on market trends, Page 7 of 10 • • • • • • • • customer profitability, and category goals. Account plans included a detailed co-op grid in line with company’s promotional plan. Negotiate the trading terms within brief. Agree with regional account managers fixed and additional ad-spend for the year, based on achievement of targets. Implement pricing strategies by category. Ensure that our pricing policy reflected our brand image and formulated a discounted/pricing strategy that did not comprise our brand equity. Develop a fair and responsible pricing policy between different customers in the Channel ensuring that each customer’s promotional price did not overlap with their competitors. Implement a returns policy by customer to minimize stock write-offs. Develop guidelines and procedure for the sales team, and set targets by account. External category management initiatives by customer. Define the role of our brands in the different key accounts, and implement a promotional plan to communicate the role of our brands. Partnership ECR projects with strategic customers. Promotional evaluation ensuring that the company’s promotional plan was met. Agree with account team a process to measure the effectiveness of each promotion implemented with customers. List new product within 6 weeks of launch date. Ensure that promo slots and pricing strategies communicated to account managers and key customers. Promotional estimating. Implement a demand estimating process to ensure that account managers communicated promotional quantities to category to minimize out of stocks during promotion. Development of Trade Marketing Assistants. Conduct regular appraisal meetings with account managers and assistants and help develop the required competencies and skills required by Tiger, and recommend appropriate training programs. Resource managed under my authority • • • • Co-op Budgets Trade Marketing Assistant Regional Account Manager Emerging Channel Turnover What were some of the problems faced in this job? • • • • Alignment of Tiger’s category objectives with customer objectives. Managing the cost of doing business with customers. Managing a competitive market environment. Managing new competitor entry. Page 8 of 10 Employer : Premier Foods Period : April 1991 to May 1995 Position : Branch Manager – BB Foods Nature of Business : Premier Foods is a company that produces mainly Wheat and Maize products. The Durban Branch has four Depots in different regions that reported into the Durban Branch. Responsibilities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • : Establish the business plans and budgets for the branch and the depots. Ensure that the returns on shareholder equity are always above expectation. Deliver volume target by Channel. Set up cycle planning meetings to review and measure performance against targets for the Branch. Ensure that Premier Food targets are in line with category and market growth. Develop an operational briefing book to communicate pricing, volume targets and agreed promotional activity to external sales team. Develop and implement a customer team structure that maximizes capabilities to deliver Channel objectives, based on shopper and trader behaviour with regional focus. Training and developing of Account Managers to deliver both company objectives and customer needs. Develop Channel plans in line with Category Plans. Determine and implement Point of Purchase Initiatives to maximize store Health Change Modus Operandi of Sales Team to include area marketers and a single agent nationally in order to improve service levels to the various Channels. Developing Customer Scorecards. Installed a measurement culture within the customer team by continuously measuring customer performance on KPI’s. Developing an audit trail to monitor scheduled and unscheduled advertising claims. Achieve customer volume and turnover target by category. Analysis of sales performance by account and recommendation of a recovery plan. Ensure that the customer volumes and targets are in line with the company’s growth objectives. Implementation of business strategy by customer by category to deliver long and short term business targets. Develop and implement individual customer plans based on market trends, customer profitability, and category goals. Account plans included a detailed co-op grid in line with company’s promotional plan. Negotiate the trading terms within brief. Agree with regional account managers fixed and additional ad-spend for the year, based on achievement of targets. Implement pricing strategies by category. Ensure that our pricing policy reflected our brand image and formulated a discounted/pricing strategy that did not comprise our brand equity. Develop a fair and responsible pricing policy between different customers in the Channel ensuring that each customer’s promotional price did not overlap with their competitors. Implement a returns policy by customer to minimize stock write-offs. Develop guidelines and procedure for the sales team. Set targets by account and communicate to external sales team. External category management initiatives by customer. Define the role of our brands in the different key accounts, and implement a promotional plan to communicate the role of our brands. Partnership ECR projects with strategic customers. Page 9 of 10 • • • Promotional evaluation ensuring that the company’s promotional plan was met. Agree with account team a process to measure the effectiveness of each promotion implemented with customers. List new products and ensure that promo slots and pricing strategies communicated to account managers and key customers. Promotional estimating. Implement a demand estimating process to ensure that account managers communicated promotional quantities to category to minimize out of stocks during promotion. Resource managed under my authority • • • • Co-op Budgets Trade Marketing Assistant Regional Account Manager Emerging Channel Turnover What were some of the problems faced in this job? • • • • Alignment of Premier Food’s category objectives with customer objectives. Managing the cost of doing business with customers. Managing a competitive market environment. Managing new competitor entry. Employer : Van Den Burgh and Jurgens, South Africa Period : January 1982 to March 1991 Position : 1. Regional Sales Manager (1988 to 1991) 2. Field Sales Manager (1983 to 1987) 3. Sales Representative (1982 to 1983) Nature of Business : VDB&J was the company within the Unilever stable that was responsible for the procurement, marketing and sales of edible oils and fats. Responsibilities : § Achievement of regional financial and volume targets, with recovery planning where necessary to close the gap on shortfalls. § Drive category leadership through the achievement of forward share and distribution objectives. § Control damaged and expired stock to within limits of 1.9% of gross sales. § Build employees and organization through the driving of account standard execution and smart space literacy. § Execution of all Regional account management programs. § Manage specific programs and projects as and when necessary. § Planning and execution of special theme promotions to maximize exposure and marketing support on selected brands. § Manage selling expenses i.e. functional expenses and ad-hoc budget. Page 10 of 10 § Management of 5 field sales manager. § Management of third party selling and merchandising agents.. Employer : SANDF, South Africa Period : July 1979 to June 1981 Position : National Service Nature of Business : The South African National Defense Force was compulsory for all white males to undergo two years of national service. Responsibilities : I finished my National Service with the rank of a full Lieutenant, and then started the period of camps, during which time I was promoted and eventually became Officer Commanding 12 Reception Depot with the rank of Major. Employer : A&F Trading, Middlesex, England Period : January 1976 to May 1979 Position : Cost & Management Accountant Nature of Business : The company produced safety equipment for Commercial and Military aircraft. Page Engineering was the production company and we were also responsible for administration and accounting services to other companies within the group Responsibilities : • Each component produced had to be individually costed to ensure the profitability of each project. • Each project had to expressed in the currency of the customer. Employer : Van Dyck Carpets Period : January 1975 to December 1975 Position : Assistant Product Development Manager Nature of Business : Van Dyck Carpets is a company that produces tufted and woven carpets out of their Durban factory. Responsibilities : I had worked for the company on a part time basis during my school vacations, and had shown a good aptitude for working within the product development department.