SOUTH AFRICA – Edgars Stores Limited, a clothing retailer, has appointed Ms Tjeludo Ndlovu as its chief executive officer effective July 1, 2020 taking over from Mrs Linda Masterson who has retired.

A chartered accountant, Ms Ndlovu joined Edgars eight years ago as group financial accountant, a role in which she doubled as company secretary. She was elevated to managing director for the Jet chain before becoming managing director for the Edgars chain.

Ms Ndlovu takes reigns of the business at a time of great economic difficulty in the country, compounded by the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The board is confident that she will be equal to the task at hand,” said the group in a notice to shareholders.

Meanwhile, the group also appointed Bright Ndlovu as chief finance officer with effect from June 1, 2020.

A qualified chartered accountant, Mr Ndlovu is also an associate chartered management accountant (CIMA) and a holder of a Master of Business Leadership with the University of South Africa (UNISA).

He joined the group in 2011 as the group credit executive and led management of the group’s micro-finance unit – Club Plus, which has experienced significant growth.

Of recent, Mr Ndlovu led the transformation of the group credit info a financial services division.

“He is therefore well versed with the group’s management systems and will provide a significant measure of continuity in the department,” said Edgars.

Mr Ndlovu later led management effort in the creation of Club Plus, Edgars’ microfinance unit, which has been witnessing significant growth.

“Recently, he has led the transformation of group credit into the financial services division. He is therefore well versed with the group’s management systems and will provide a significant measure of continuity in the department.

“We wish him well in his new responsibilities during a time of very difficult economic conditions,” said Edgars.

This comes a week after Retailability, owner of Legit and Beaver Canoe and Style stores made an offer for parts of Edgars, the business rescue practitioners.

Retailability bought Legit clothing stores from Edgars for R637 million (US$38.17m) in 2016 and runs over 460 clothing stores across SA, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini (Swaziland).

The Edcon business rescue practitioners said they had signed a “heads of agreement” to sell parts of Edgars to Retailability, but the sale “will be subject to various conditions precedent and regulatory approvals, including the competition authorities”.

Edcon, owner of Jet and Edgars, and employer of 17,200 staff, was placed in business rescue at the end of April after it could not pay suppliers following weak January sales and a loss of R2 billion (US$0.12bn) in trade when stores were closed during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Edcon owes secured and unsecured suppliers more than R8 billion (US40.48bn).

Liked this article? Subscribe to DealStreet Africa News, our regular email newsletter with the latest news, deals and insights from Africa’s business, economy and more. SUBSCRIBE HERE