The Comesa Competition Commission has announced the appointment of Mathews Chikankheni as Chairperson of its board of commissioners. Chikankheni is to be deputized by Thabisile Langa, who is the sitting Chief Executive Officer of the Swaziland Competition Commission.
The appointments were made at the first meeting of the new board which was appointed by the Comesa Council of Ministers on 26th March, 2015 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Making the announcement, the Comesa Competition Commission described Chikankheni as a person who has extensive knowledge and experience in competition and trade matters at both national and regional levels having served as the chairperson of the Competition and Fair Trading Commission of Malawi and as president of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
At the regional level, Chikankheni also served as the chairman of the Comesa Business Council in addition to being the current General Manager of BNC Packaging Limited, a position which he has held since February, 2015. Prior to this appointment, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Dulux Limited.
Prior to joining Dulux in 2002, Chikankheni served as General Manager of Mc Connell & Company. Before that, he was general manager at Press and Shire clothing Limited and assistant general manager at Maldeco Fisheries Limited, a company he joined on transfer from the operations department at Press Corporation head office.
Academically, Chikankheni holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance and a bachelor of Social Science degree with a bias in Economics. He has served in different portfolios among them as general manager of Mc Connell & Company, Press and Shire Clothing Limited and as Assistant General Manager of Maldeco Fisheries Limited.
The Comes a Competition Commission is a regional instrument which was established in January 2013 to promote competition within the Comesa region. It currently seats in Lilongwe.