ZAMBEEF PLC co-founder Carl Irwin has retired from his position as Joint Chief Executive Officer and Board member after working with the Company for nearly 24 years.

Announcing the retirement in a statement yesterday, Irwin’s co-Chief Executive Officer Francis Grogan disclosed that his counterpart’s retirement was effective from 31 March 2018.

Grogan described Irwin as the one of the company’s success stories, who presided over key milestones that had helped grow the company into the region’s great success story, with 195 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa.

“Mr Irwin has been Joint Chief Executive Officer of the Company since 1994 and the Board has greatly appreciated the experience and support he has contributed to the development of the Company. In addition to overseeing the stock exchange listings in both Zambia and London, he was instrumental in driving investment of more than US$100 million to develop the company into one of the largest agribusinesses in Zambia and the surrounding region in the last five years. Mr Irwin presided over key milestones that have helped grow the Company into one of the region’s great success stories, with 195 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa and more than 7,000 employees,” Grogan stated.

He further disclosed that Tim Pollock, a non-executive director who joined the company late 2016, was going to replace Irwin, as Joint Chief Executive Officer alongside himself.

“As also announced on 15 November 2017, Mr Tim Pollock, who joined Zambeef as a Non Executive Director in September 2016 and then as Group Managing Director from 1 January 2018, takes over from Mr Irwin, as Joint Chief Executive Officer alongside Francis Grogan. Mr Pollock has over 35 years of experience across the food and agribusiness sectors in operational, leadership and strategic roles in businesses operating in both developed and frontier markets, including Cargill, Grainfamers, Armajaro and Lallemand,” stated Grogan.

And Zambeef Chairman, Dr Jacob Mwanza said in his remarks that it was through Grogan and Irwin’s vision, leadership and entrepreneurial drive that Zambeef has grown to become a market-leading and respected agribusiness in Zambia.

“We cannot speak of Zambeef’s journey without the mention of Carl Irwin. He, along with Francis Grogan, co-founded the business and it has been through their vision, entrepreneurial drive and leadership that Zambeef has grown to become a market-leading and respected agribusiness and food retailer. On behalf of everyone at Zambeef, I would like to thank him for his leadership and outstanding contribution to Zambeef over the past 23 years and we wish him a happy and healthy retirement. We are delighted to have been able to appoint Tim Pollock to the role of Joint Chief Executive Officer and look forward to his and Francis Grogan’s ongoing contribution to the Group over the coming years,” said Dr Mwanza.