Moses Akaigwe
Thomas Schaefer, the Volkswagen top man in Africa, who two years ago signed the Memorandum of Understanding {MoU} with Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and Industry to re-start operations in Nigeria, has left Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) to join ŠKODA Auto, as the new Global CEO, effective August 3, 2020.
Schaefer was the Chairman and Managing Director of VWSA since February 2015. In 2017, his role was expanded to include the responsibility for Sub-Saharan Africa as part of Volkswagen’s expansion strategy into the region.
Since then, Volkswagen has established its presence in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana, and has signed Memorandums of Understanding with the governments of Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Under Schaefer’s leadership, VWSA has continued to maintain its dominance in the local passenger car market, with the Polo and Polo Vivo manufactured at the Uitenha factory as the best-selling passenger models as well as ramping up international exports by 30 percent.
In 2019, VWSA enjoyed a record year with the Uitenhage factory achieving its highest production volume of 161 954 units and the Volkswagen Brand reporting a record-market share of 20.4 percent, the highest since 1996.
Schaefer will be succeeded by Dr Robert Cisek (44), who is currently responsible for the Production Strategy of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand in Wolfsburg. Dr Cisek holds a doctorate degree in Industrial Management from the Technical University of Munich. He also holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technical University of Munich.
He joined Volkswagen in 2018 from BMW Group. His experience at BMW Group included Head of Industrial Engineering, Head of Press Shop and managing a company-wide performance programme aimed at securing long-term profitability targets.
Schaefer said: “My tenure as the MD of VWSA has been the highlight of my career so far. I am immensely proud to have worked for and led such an impactful and good company. Together with my team, we have moved VWSA forward with outstanding production and sales results our company recognition locally and abroad.”
With Schaefe in charge of Sub-Saharan Africa region, Volkswagen signed the MoU to expand auto-making operations on a step-by-step basis and to turn Nigeria into an automotive hub on the western coast of Africa.