Eshikena Succeeds Steetskamp As MD Of Frieslandcampina

With effect from 1 September, 2012, Peter Eshikena (52) will assume office as Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. In this capacity, he will also be responsible for FrieslandCampina’s operations in West Africa.

Peter Eshikena takes over from Bob Steetskamp who moves up as Director, Business Development, FrieslandCampina worldwide, with responsibility for accelerated growth across the world.  Steetskamp who remains a non-executive director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO, will report directly to Cees’t Hart, the global CEO of FrieslandCampina, and will be based in Amersfoort, The Netherlands.

Steetskamp has led FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc since August, 2009. Prior to this role, he served as Managing Director of FrieslandCampina in Russia. Under his leadership, FrieslandCampina WAMCO continued a steady growth, driving a strong brand market share growth with its flagship brand, Peak milk.

Eshikena will be based in Lagos, Nigeria. Before his recent appointment, he was the Sales Director and Deputy Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO. He joined FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc in 1985 as shift production manager in Can Factory Department before moving up as logistics manager in the Logistics Department in 1991.  He later became the project manager, Total Quality Management in the Quality Assurance Department in 1996.

Eshikena later moved to the Commercial Department as sales admin & logistics manager in 1999.  Between 2003 and 2004, he was the distribution manager in the Supply Chain Department and in 2005, he  moved to the Sales Department as sales manager and later sales director and deputy managing director until his recent appointment as managing director.

Eshikena is by profession a Mechanical Engineer and has an Executive MBA from the International School of Management, University of Navarra in Spain. He is an alumnus of the Lagos Business School. He has attended several management developmental courses in Nigeria and abroad, including the High Performance Leadership training at the International Institute of Management  Development, Lausanne in Switzerland.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc is affiliated to Royal FrieslandCampina of The Netherlands and is a major player in the Nigerian dairy industry with popular brands as Peak, Three Crowns and Friso.

By Henry Ojelu