Oxford University Press Strengthens its Leadership to Drive Growth in the East African Region
John Mwazemba, Regional Director of Oxford University Press East Africa
Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced the reorganization of its leadership in Africa to align the company to be more responsive to the growth opportunities in the region.
Fathima Dada, Managing Director of OUP’s Oxford Education Division, announced the promotion of John Mwazemba to the role of Regional Director of Oxford University Press East Africa (OUPEA). In addition to Kenya, John will now oversee OUP’s business in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.
Hanri Pieterse has also been appointed to the new role of MD of OUP’s business in the East and Southern Africa region excluding South Africa. Both roles are effective from 1 April 2019.
Fathima Dada said, “Africa is an important part of the OUP portfolio, and a fast growing region, demographically and economically – I see a good future here for the Press. We need to align to both the growth opportunities and the market conditions in order to make us more responsive and more efficient. John and Hanriare two experienced leaders who I know will be successful in implementing OUP’s strategic vision in our African markets”.
This strategic reorganization of OUP’s business will better position the company to capitalize on the rapidly changing education industry, while aligning the business to meet the customers’ needs, optimizing the value of its published works, and improving efficiency of its operations in Africa.
Biographies
John Mwazemba, Regional Director of Oxford University Press East Africa
After starting his publishing career at Macmillan, John went on to work for an NGO, before becoming CEO at Phoenix Publishers. John is an accomplished editor, having consulted for the World Bank, the United Nations, and many other government and non-governmental organizations.Since joining OUP in June 2016 John has skilfully led the team in navigating significant challenges, winning some huge tenders along the way.
Hanri Pieterse , Managing Director for OUP’s business in East and Southern Africa
Hanri started her career at OUP South Africa where she was Publishing Director for Education, Academic, Trade, and Dictionaries. She then spent many years at CUP in a number of very senior roles, including Managing Director for their Sub-Sahara African operation, and Managing Director of Education and ELT globally (based in the UK), working extensively in Asia, Latin America, USA, and Europe. In April 2018, Hanri took the interim management role in ORBiA (Oxford Regional Business in Africa), where she has made great progress in shaping our business for future success
Fathima Dada, Managing Director, Oxford Education
Fathima joined Oxford University Press in December 2018 from Pearson where she was the Global MD for English and Schools managing the strategy and performance of Pearson’s ELT, language assessment, and school services globally within those sectors.
Fathima was born and educated in South Africa, and began her career there as a teacher in the apartheid era. She joined Pearson in 1988 as a trainee editor at its then joint-venture South African company, Maskew Miller Longman. She went on to work in ever-larger South African, regional, and global roles at Pearson, including the Chair and CEO of Pearson’s Southern, East, and Central African businesses.
She is also passionate about education, and over the years has undertaken voluntary work for governments and not-for-profit organizations in multiple countries. Examples of her voluntary work includes designing the South African primary and senior secondary curricula for the South African Education Ministry in the 2000s, to chairing Africa Ignite, a not-for-profit working with rural communities.
