Johannesburg – SA’s largest pharmacy chain Clicks announced on Thursday that CEO Vikesh Ramsunder had resigned and accepted an offer in Australia, where he is expected to head a publicly listed company.
Ramsunder will be joining a growing number of wealthy individuals leaving South Africa.
While the government does not keep or publish official annual figures on emigration, anecdotal evidence from companies that help people with the visa application process and research on why individuals sell their properties indicates skilled people are leaving in increasing numbers.
Bertina Engelbrecht, currently the group corporate affairs director, has been appointed as CEO from 1 January 2022. Engelbrecht joined the Clicks Group in 2006 as group human resources director and was appointed as executive director in 2008. In December 2020, her portfolio was expanded to include strategic stakeholder engagement.
“Vikesh has demonstrated outstanding leadership as CEO over the past three years and has led the group through several challenges in recent times, most notably through the Covid-19 pandemic. Vikesh has built a strong executive leadership team and we are confident in their ability to maintain the current momentum in the business. We are sorry to say goodbye to Vikesh and wish him well as he makes this international career move,” said Clicks Group chairman, David Nurek.
“We are pleased to appoint Bertina as the first black female to lead a listed retail group in South Africa. She has been part of the executive leadership team for the past 15 years and been integrally involved in the development of the group’s strategy and growth of the business over this time. Appointing an internal successor of Bertina’s calibre highlights the depth of talent and commitment to sustainable transformation and human capital development within the company.”
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