Takealot shakeup

Takealot Group has announced that Frederik Zietsman will replace Mamongae Mahlare as its new chief executive.

At the same time, Mahlare will replace Takealot founder and former CEO Kim Reid as the group’s chairman.

Takealot appointed Mahlare as its new group chief executive officer on 1 October 2021 following Reid’s resignation.

Mahlare joined Takealot from Illovo Sugar South Africa, where she was managing director. She also previously worked at SABMiller, Unilever and Coca-Cola.

Reid, in turn, has been with the group since 2009, when he partnered with Tiger Global Management to acquire Take2 and built a South African eCommerce giant.

He served as Takealot CEO for over a decade. Under his leadership, Takealot grew into the dominant eCommerce retailer in South Africa.

He was behind many big deals, including the merger between Takealot and Kalahari.com and the acquisition of Mr Delivery and Superbalist.com.

Reid was appointed as the CEO of Blue Lake Ventures Group (BLV Group), which owns BetKing, on 1 August 2022.

He will continue to serve as a director on the Takealot board and be available as an advisor to Mahlare and Zietsman.

Zietsman, who served as Takealot.com CEO since April 2021, has been with the eCommerce group for over eight years.

He joined Takealot in 2015 as a profitability analyst and took on the role of head of marketplace in 2017. His role expanded to head of retail and marketplace in 2020.

“The leadership changes reflect the consolidation of the takealot.com and Group CEO role,” the company said.

“Streamlining the leadership between the group and takealot.com will reinforce resources around its flagship online retail and marketplace platform.”