Toyota Ghana Limited has appointed Mr Kohji Yanaka as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

The appointment was announced in a statement.

His appointment took effect on 1 March 2021.

Until his elevation, Mr Yanaka was the Deputy Managing Director of the company.

Profile

Born in the USA, Mr Yanaka grew up with an international background which led him to study and graduate from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan. Through his work experiences with international companies such as Bridgestone Corporation and Marubeni Corporation, he acquired specialities in trade finance, procurement, automobile sales and business management.

In 2003, Mr Yanaka joined the procurement division of Bridgestone Corporation in Japan. Whiles working in Bridgestone Corporation, he was transferred to Mexico as part of a team to assemble a raw material plant for tire production.

In 2008, Mr Yanaka took up an appointment with Marubeni Corporation (the stakeholders of Toyota Ghana Co.Ltd) in Japan. After being in charge of various markets, he was assigned as General Manager, Automotive section 3 which includes Toyota Ghana as a business concentration of the section in Japan.

Mr Yanka’s work experience includes overseas expatriation to Chile where he assumed the role of Director of Marubeni’s subsidiary for vehicle distributorship that annually sold over 20,000 vehicles.