Rwandan national Eugene Ubalijoro has been appointed managing director of Heineken Ethiopia.

He will begin his duties on September 10, 2018.

Ubalijoro has risen through the ranks, having joined in 1990 as international trainee for their Rwandan operations.

"He moved across different operations including Rwanda, France, La Reunion, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he learnt about our beer and soft drinks business,” reads part of the statement from the company.

In 1992 he became the Commercial Manager for Bralirwa in Rwanda. Then in 1995 he moved to the USA where he held the roles of Business Development Manager based in Washington DC, and then as regional marketing manager in La Reunion.

In 1999, he moved Amsterdam at the head office and took the role of consultant for Strategy Support Group in corporate marketing. Then in 2003, he acted as Commercial Manager for the sub Saharan region responsible for sales, marketing and export. In 2006, he became General Manager for Brasseries de Bourbon in La Reunion.

In 2010, he returned to the Americas and assumed his current role of Managing Director for Caribbean and Americas Export.

"In this capacity, he was instrumental in increasing our footprint in the Caribbean through brewery acquisitions in Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and a Coca-Cola bottler in St Lucia.

"He also reinforced our joint ventures in Trinidad, Costa Rica and Martinique through stronger collaboration and constructive partnering.”

The company statement also says Ubalijoro demonstrated a passion for local sourcing and put his African experience to good use by shaping Haiti’s current sorghum program which positively impacts the livelihood of many farmers in that country.

"He did the same in Jamaica by supporting the already existing cassava initiative.”

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