BlackBerry manufacturers Research in Motion (RIM) announced today that the company has appointed Alexandra Zagury as the managing director of South Africa and Southern Africa, overseeing all operations as well as sales and marketing drives.
“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” said Zagury. ” 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.”
Alexandra Zagury was previously the MD of RIM in Turkey, the first person to be appointed in that position. Her four-year tenure with the company includes being based in the UK where she oversaw regional strategic planning and business operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Robert Bose, regional managing director at RIM for Africa and the Middle East 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.”
South Africa is one market where RIM’s influence is growing. According to GfK Retail and Technology data RIM accounted for 7 out of the ten best-selling smartphones in the country in May this year. The data also showed that BlackBerry has been the leading smartphone vendor in SA for the past 20 months.