New appointments at Smollan Group

David Smollan has been appointed executive director responsible for group services, strategy, and mergers and acquisitions at Smollan Group.

He is a CA and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Before joining the group, he was a founding member of Young Business for South Africa, a non-profit organisation that aims to promote networking and understanding between young, economically active South Africans.

In 1998, he co-founded i capital, a corporate finance advisory and private equity fund management business, where he was an executive director for 10 years. Prior to i capital, he was a consultant at Grant Thornton Kessel Feinstein's corporate finance division after completing his articles with the same firm.

The group offers a set of core services: route to market; brand activation; market intelligence; and people solutions, as well as call centre and mobile technology support services. It was founded in 1931 and represents top brands, employing just short of 17 000 people in Africa and Asia.

Know Market Intelligence appointment

Know Market Intelligence specialises in consumer, brand and stakeholder insights, working with clients to ensure that their business decisions are actuality-based. The company employs leading-edge technology to access data rapidly, ensure critical data integrity and convert that data into actionable information and relevant insights. It is one of South Africa's largest research houses and services a wide spectrum of clients across various industries, from consumer goods to services, in South Africa and increasingly beyond its borders.

“Smollan is a business that can truly deliver growth and competitive advantage for clients though winning at the point of purchase and in-store activation,” says Eyres. “We have strategic partnerships with FMCG multinationals and marketing communications company WPP, which ensures the business offering is aligned to global best practice and great opportunities.”

Eyres came to Smollan Group from Hindustan Unilever where he was VP Modern Trade and managing the entry of retail chains such as Wal-Mart, Reliance and Tesco in India's burgeoning retail market. Prior to India, he spent seven years as customer director of Unilever SA Foods in South Africa, from 1999 to 2006. He has also had assignments in Australia, where he spent two years developing Unilever's Trade Category Management function.

Eyres started his career as a management trainee with Unilever after graduating from University of Natal. "I have spent my entire career in the consumer goods industry and have been fortunate to work in some overseas markets, which broadens one's perspective of both retailer and brand owner requirements," he says.