Africa Business Communities

Codan expands to Dubai and strengthens Africa team

Codan Radio Communications, a division of Codan Limited (ASX-CDA), has made the strategic decision to grow its Sales and Customer Service team in its Dubai office. This decision strengthens the Dubai team by adding Regional Sales Managers and field support personnel to better service its Africa, Middle East and Central Asia customer base.

"Our Dubai office is geographically located in the best position to provide customer service in these regions. It has the right time zone and direct travel routes to ensure we are best able to respond to customers and provide the highest level of service and support," said Paul Sangster, Vice President of Sales and Business Development.

The Codan HF radios that are used in these regions are often the communication lifelines for humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, government agencies and military/security operations. Because of this, it was deemed critical by Codan to have a large group of experts available to provide long range communications solutions to their customers at a quick response rate.

Two new Regional Sales Managers, Karim Kherouf and Uwe Niske, have joined the Dubai team to focus on Codan's responsiveness to customer needs and provide integrated communications capability throughoutAfrica.

Mr. Kherouf, previously of RadioTrans, a Codan dealer, joins the team with a wealth of knowledge and depth of experience in two-way radio communications and infrastructure developments throughout the French speaking regions in Africa. Mr. Kherouf is leading the Codan HF solutions sales for West Africa.

Mr. Niske, joining Codan from SMD Telecommunications, has extensive expertise in communications systems and services, specialising in the marine, navigation and safety applications of VHF, UHF, HF and Satellite technologies. Mr. Niske will focus on HF solutions in East and South Africa.

Codan has also strengthened the training and customer service team inDubai, adding four team members dedicated to the Africa, Middle Eastand Central Asia regions to provide rapid and quality support for field deployments and systems integration.

Dean Booker, who has held various sales and support roles at Codan for the past 4 years, has been promoted to Director Global Training and Customer Service, managing and coordinating the Codan global training and customer service team. Having spent 18 years in the Royal Corp of Signals, Mr. Booker has had an expansive communications career, with roles in HF, VHF and UHF communications in specialist Military units,Harris Corporation, Control Risks and Kirsp. Mr. Booker specialises in HF communications, network planning and client support. Mr. Booker'sTraining and Customer Support team welcomes three new team members to Codan, David Cumming, Alan McKenna and George Sutherland.

Mr. Cumming brings to Codan a wealth of experience in the engineering field, from tactical to corporate level. He has been employed by Aegis Defence Services for the last 8 years in various positions, with his most recent position as Corporate Director of IT and Communications. Prior to Aegis, he spent 23 years in the British Army, initially as an Electronics and Communications Engineer before progressing to a Supervisor (IS) role. Mr. Cumming will be focusing on supporting HF solutions in Africaand be the Codan focal point for land mobile radio system support for the region.

Mr. McKenna joins Codan from a role with GardaWorld where he was responsible for the communications management across oilfield operations in Iraq. Previously, Mr. McKenna spent 14 years in the Royal Corps of Signals in the British Army before joining Control Risks where he managed the commissioning and monitoring of communications across mobile and base operations in Iraq. Mr. McKenna will be managing the Codan Humanitarian customer relationships, providing dedicated support and training for Humanitarian customers globally.

Mr. Sutherland joins Codan with extensive experience in telecommunications engineering and was most recently the Communication Installation Manager at Balfour Beatty Rail in Malaysia. Prior to that he was the Communications Manager for G4S, British FCO in Afghanistan, and has 23 years of service in the British Army Royal Signals. Mr. Sutherland will be managing the Codan customer base in the Middle East and Central Asia and supporting training efforts with the sales team.

www.codanradio.com

 

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