At only 42 years old, Cameroonian Bertrand Mbouck has been appointed new Managing Director of the Cameroonian subsidiary of Dangote Cement, a cement production and marketing company. He took office on July 13, 2020.
An undergraduate internship in the Finance department of the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, brought him into contact with auditors from Ernst & Young. Following his graduation in 2001 from the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, the Big Four firm recruited him immediately to its team.
Over the next seven years he specialised in the telecoms and energy sectors, travelling extensively in Europe, Central and West Africa for businesses such as Orange Cameroon, Celtel Chad, Telecel Gabon, Total (Elf) and Eni, among others.
He joined Finnish power plant manufacturer Wärtsilä, which was setting up a subsidiary in central Africa, as area business controller. He realised, though, that to sit at the top table it was ‘essential’ to gain membership of a professional accountancy body. He chose ACCA. Soon after completing the qualification, he was promoted to regional business controller, and found himself controlling the finances of Wärtsilä subsidiaries in 28 countries across West and Central Africa.
Engaging in a number of strategic projects and negotiations for Wärtsilä, he realised he had a key skill. ‘It appeared I had a talent for high-level strategic negotiation for immense projects,’ he says.
Having taken himself off to Harvard Business School to supplement those strategy and management skills, at 36 he became Wärtsilä’s youngest regional CEO – for Central Africa.
Buoyed by his successes at Wärtsilä, he fantasised about a more competitive, dynamic market where he could deploy what he sees as his primary skill: competitiveness. When he joined Dangote Cement in 2018, his roadmap was straightforward: ‘contribute to developing a pan-African DNA and ensure a winning competitive position, performance and development’.
For Mbouck, it was a new industry with new challenges. ‘As one of the biggest conglomerates in sub-Saharan Africa, Dangote Cement is exposed to typical challenges, which are tackled with sound business integration,’ he says.
He replaces Abdullali Baba
