Companies

Millicent Onyonyi appointed to head BOC Gases

BOC

A BOC worker cleans cylinders at the Industrial Area plant, Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE

Listed Industrial gases producer BOC has appointed former Oil Libya retail coordinator Millicent Onyonyi as its new managing director, replacing Maria Msiska who left in January.

Ms Onyonyi comes into the gas company at a time when it is facing headwinds due to competition from oxygen and nitrogen imports, leading to a profit warning saying the firm expects to earn no more than Sh172.2 million this year, compared to Sh229.63 million in 2014.

READ: BOC Gases’ half year net profit down 24 per cent

“The chairman and board of BOC Kenya announce the appointment of Millicent Onyonyi as managing director with effect from April 1, 2016,” said BOC in a statement.

Ms Onyonyi was also named to the board of the Kenya National Trading Corporation in October last year. In her role at Oil Libya, she was responsible for coordinating retail activities in 18 African countries.

Her predecessor at BOC, Ms Msiska, had been at the helm for five-and-a-half-years, having been hired in 2010 from the Africa office of BOC’s parent firm Linde Group, where she was the head of finance.

READ: CFC Stanbic, BOC Kenya chief executives resign

BOC finance director Arthur Kamau has been holding the position of acting managing director of the company in the interim period between Ms Msiska’s departure and the hiring of Ms Onyonyi.