Osman shares his excitement on achieving his aim of becoming the AstraZeneca MEA CFO.
CFO Awards 2018 nominee Osman Mia has been appointed as CFO of MEA at AstraZeneca.
About the role at the English-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company, Osman said:
“It’s been my dream role in my short to medium term with the company. This was the next stepping stone that I wanted to unlock my international experience.”
The appointment comes after Osman relocated to London in 2015 to take up the CFO-in-waiting role for the MEA region. In an earlier interview with CFO.co.za he explained the process:
“In 2013, I joined AstraZeneca in the role of CFO of South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, which I held from 2013 to 2015. Then I received a call from the global office in London, telling me that the Middle East and Africa CFO role was becoming available. Yet, I had only been in the company and industry for two years, and they felt I needed to expand my knowledge and network base which led me to join the global office and start networking from there.”
So, in 2015, he relocated with his family to London. At the global office, he looked after the international business, reporting to the international CFO. He described his role as “the CFO-minus-one”, looking after everything outside of North America, Japan and Europe, including Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Eurasia, Asia, China and Hong Kong from a financial perspective, doing business planning, performance and measurement.
Read more:
- Osman Mia has been appointed as AstraZeneca MEA CFO
- Osman Mia area CFO-in-waiting to a global pharmaceutical business
In his new role, he will be responsible for very diverse markets, including war-torn and challenging environments, which he says he relishes the challenge of working in.
Osman is set to work in the role for three years, within which his strategy is to set up processes to “ensure the company develops and delivers on what we call an ‘African ambition’,” and to streamline the supply chain into the export markets of Middle East and Africa. Osman also plans to set the foundation for strong double-digit growth in the short to medium term.
“Watch this space!” Osman said as he shared his hopes to guide the companies through the headwinds of expanding into new markets.
