Lafarge appoints Sonal Shrivastava non-executive director as Virginie Darbo resigns
By Cynthia Ezekwe
Lafarge Africa plc has notified the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public of the appointment of Sonal Shrivastava as a non-executive director of the company with effect from 25 February 2023.
The French industrial company specialising in cement, construction aggregates, and concrete disclosed this in a statement signed by Adewunmi Alode, its General Counsel & Company Secretary.
According to the statement, the appointment followed the resignation of Virginie Darbo as a director of Lafarge Africa Plc, who was appointed to the board on 11 December 2020, and served as a non-executive director of the company until her resignation, which took effect from 24 February 2023.
The company expressed their gratitude to Darbo for her immense contributions to the growth of the Company and wished her the best in her future endeavours, while anticipating the great leadership skills Shrivastava will harness to keep Lafarger running smoothly, and actualizing its goals.
Shrivastava has over 25 years of rich experience in the finance and accounting profession. She is currently the regional chief financial officer at Holcim Group – Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, based in Mumbai. At Holcim, Sonal is responsible for the Group’s overall finance, accounting and tax functions in the region.
She has held the position of chief financial officer at Ambuja Cements Limited and has also held various operational roles in ACC Limited as chief supply chain officer and head of strategy & projects.
In her vast career span of over two decades, she was associated with many reputed companies such as Hindustan Zinc Limited, Duet India Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, Suzlon Energy Ltd , infrastructure leasing & financial services Ltd and Zenith Chemicals Pvt Ltd. she has also led international cross functional teams in various fundraising, investments, mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and business audit.
Shrivastava has also been associated with Holcim Group for over a decade in which she received an opportunity to work with the Group’s various entities such as Lafarge Group SA – Paris, France and India, Lafarge India Private Limited, Ambuja Cements Limited and ACC Limited at different intervals.
Her core expertise includes finance & control, M&A, strategy & business development, capital market fundraising, purchase, audit, governance risk & compliance, shared services and more.
Shrivastava holds educational accomplishments in Masters in Management Studies, Finance (MBA) from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai University, India and Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from BIT Sindri, India. She is also a member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Financial Reporting 2021-22, and Board Member of various companies within the Holcim Group.