CTC announces Monisha Abraham as new MD/CEO

The local unit of British American Tobacco (BAT), Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC, yesterday announced the appointment of Monisha Abraham as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, effective from December 1, 2021. 
She is replacing the outgoing MD/CEO Nedal Salem, who is taking over a new role as Managing Director of BAT Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to joining CTC, Monisha served as Managing Director of Ibecor, an operating company fully owned by Heineken International. Monisha takes over from Salem, who served as CTC’s MD and CEO since May 2019.

During a career spanning over 16 years with Heineken, she has held various senior management roles across five countries. Monisha joined Heineken Dubai in 2005, as Trade Marketing Manager and in less than two years, was appointed as Marketing Manager for the Gulf region. 

In 2009, she moved to the Netherlands as Regional Marketing Director for the Africa-Middle East region and later served as Managing Director for Almaza in Lebanon from 2014 to 2017. She then moved to Heineken Hanoi as its Managing Director from 2017 to 2019, leading the Northern area of Vietnam. During this time, Monisha was instrumental in leading the integration of the northern and southern operating entities, while ensuring the smooth integration of people and processes. In 2019, Monisha moved to Brussels, Belgium, where she took over as Managing Director of Ibecor, a 100 percent Heineken-owned company specialising in inbound logistics and transportation for Africa Middle East. At Ibecor, she was responsible for transforming the organisation by expanding its services to Asia Pacific and the Caribbean. 

Having started her career in 1995, in Abu Dhabi, with a beer/spirits and wine distributor, Monisha has gained broad and extensive experience across the FMCG sector. Over the years, she has built a reputation as a leader, who drives robust business strategies while developing people and fostering high-performing teams.  She has continuously worked towards building networks to facilitate collaboration across the company as well as externally to drive business priorities, delivering sustainable growth in volumes and profits. Monisha holds a Bachelor’s Degree and an MBA from India.