Morrisons has appointed Maz Ahmed as its new managing director for convenience and wholesale.
Having spent more than 18 years with the retailer, Ahmed has been promoted to succeed Matt Heslop, who stepped down in February after less than a year in the role.
Reporting directly into CEO Rami Baitiéh, Ahmed will take ownership for the continued expansion of Morrisons Daily convenience business.
Dubbed its ‘Fofo and Coco’ strategy, it is “a critical element” of Baitiéh’s turnaround growth plan, with Morrisons looking to expand the number of franchise owned Morrisons Daily stores.
Ahmed will also work to improve performance at Morrisons’ remaining company-owned Daily stores, the supermarket said.
The Grocer understands that Ahmed has been handling the strategy since the spring following a restructure of Morrisons’ convenience commercial team. He has now been appointed permanently.
Morrisons convenience and franchise director Paul Dobson will also leave the business after 15 years.
“Maz has demonstrated strong leadership skills in his previous roles and is already bringing new focus and drive to the management of our convenience operations,” Baitiéh said, confirming the appointment.
“I look forward to his further contribution to the development of this important business.”
Morrisons plans to open hundreds of new Daily stores
Ahmed joined Morrisons in 2008. The majority of his time has been spent in commercial and finance roles. However, he spent three years as an operations director within Morrisons’ manufacturing arm Myton, looking after produce and horticulture.
Despite the closure of more than 100 company-owned former McColl’s Morrisons Daily sites earlier this year, Morrisons has set the long-term aim of opening at least 300 new Morrisons Daily stores. The vast majority of these will be franchises.
Last week The Grocer revealed that Morrisons had doubled referral bonuses and introduced a £2,000 switching incentive in a bid to entice new franchisees. The supermarket also wants to sell some of its existing company-owned sites to franchise partners.
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