BUA Cement has announced the appointment of Jacques Piekarski as its new Chief Financial Officer effective October 2.
Prior to his current appointment, Jacques was Group CFO at TGI Group. This was revealed in a statement by Ahmed Aliyu, the Company Secretary.
Abdul Samad Rabiu, Chairman, BUA Cement Plc, said: “The Board is confident that Jacques’ broad experience, strong leadership capabilities and understanding of the industry will ensure that BUA Cement is well-positioned to take advantage of available opportunities to drive improved operational performance and sustain our profitable growth trajectory.”
Engr. Yusuf Binji, Managing Director/CEO of BUA Cement Plc, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Jacques Piekarski to BUA Cement.
“Jacques brings a wealth of experience to this role— both in the Nigerian cement industry and the African region as a whole.
“I am certain his skills and experience will make a significant contribution and continue to drive the company forward.”
Prior to joining BUA Cement, Jacques held several C-suite finance roles across Europe and Africa in FMCG, Cement, Trading, and Mining.
He has had significant achievements in setting up or re-organising finance departments, financing (loans, bond, rights issue, debt restructuring and re-financing), revenue and cost optimization programs, various expansion and projects including ERP implementations, and controlling.
He is known as a charismatic, results-driven and dynamic leader, with strong business acumen.
Prior to joining BUA Cement, Jacques was Group CFO for TGI Group Nigeria — one of the largest food and agric privately-owned conglomerate in the country.
He joined this role from Flour Mills of Nigeria where he was also Group CFO. Jacques has also garnered extensive knowledge of the cement industry from his time as the CFO for Holcim (today LafargeHolcim) in Egypt with a joint venture with the Orascom Group.
In this role, he has actively involved in building-up the finance department, financing the plant expansion and monitoring its budget, implementing Holcim financial standards and a vast cost reduction programme.
During his tenure, the plant was the second largest single plant in the world with 8mt capacity.
A Swiss and French national, Jacques was born in Switzerland. He is a graduate from the Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, and holds an MBA from the Robert Kennedy College, Zurich, Switzerland.
Jacques is the President of the Swiss-Nigerian Business Council in Lagos and speaks fluent English and French, and conversational German.
BUA Cement is the second-largest manufacturing company by market capitalisation on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The company currently has its plants in Sokoto and Edo states with a total installed capacity of 8million metric tonnes per annum.
The company is expected to complete the construction of an additional 3million metric tonnes per annum plant in Sokoto by 2021.
