Directors

"100% of customers are people. 100% of employees are people. If you don't understand people, you don't understand business." - Simon Sinek

Joined in July 2010

Francois Olivier

Managing Director

Francois started in 1994 as production supervisor at a sugar factory and was responsible for production, procurement and logistics. In 1996, he furthered his career as Depot Manager at a fuel depot and oversaw the total management of the depot, including Sales & Marketing. His first encounter at Hangana was in 1998 when he was appointed as Cold Store Superintendent. He became Assistant Sales & Marketing Manager in 2001 and was promoted to Sales & Marketing Manager the following year. In 2004, he enjoyed a bit of time away and joined a company in Cape town as Product Manager and was responsible for all whole fish (fresh & frozen) in South Africa, including the fresh fish counters in the Western Cape. In July 2010, he returned to Namibia and resumed work at Hangana as Sales & Marketing Manager. He was promoted to Sales & Marketing Director in January 2012 and in February 2022 was appointed as Managing Director of Hangana Seafood (Pty) Ltd.

Joined in July 2006

Amanda Pick

Financial Director

Amanda graduated from the University of Stellenbosch obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Whilst busy with her articles at Deloitte, Amanda obtained her CTA qualification from the University of South Africa. In 2005, Amanda passed her First Board Exam. She worked for a short while at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a Senior Tax Consultant, and thereafter embarked on her professional journey in the Fishing Industry as Financial Manager at Hangana Seafood. Shortly after she started her career at Hangana, she wrote her qualifying exams in November 2006. In February 2007, Amanda achieved her Chartered Accountant qualification and was registered as a member at ICAN. During the 3 years at Hangana she showed great leadership and was appointed to the Board of Directors in December 2009 as Financial Director. In the almost fifteen years that followed she gained experience in aspects of the business ranging from financial reporting to compliance, procurement, treasury, strategy development and Corporate Governance, to name a few. She was recently also appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of Namibia Ports Authority (NAMPORT) as a Non-Executive Director and will serve on NAMPORT’s Audit Committee, effective 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2024.

Senior Leadership
Joined in May 1996

Hermann Volkmann

Manager Operational Excellence

Hermann is a qualified Mathematics and Physical Science teacher and was a School Principal of the Deutsche Oberschule Swakopmund (now Namib High School) before being appointed as Production Planner at Foodcon in 1996. In 2001 he became Manager of Planning & IT and furthered his career in 2005 as Hangana’s Operational Planning Manager. In 2012 the position was redefined as that of a Strategic Planning and Decision Support Manager. With more than 25 years of experience in the fishing industry, he now holds the title of Manager Operational Excellence.

Joined in February 1997

Eugene Louw

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR

Eugene joined Hangana in 1997 as a Marine Fitter and steadily climbed the ranks, becoming Marine Maintenance Foreman in 2002. Over the years, he took on various leadership roles, including Fleet Manager. Eugene holds a trade diploma in Diesel Mechanic, an N3 certificate in Electrical, and has earned various certificates in Business, Safety, Quality Improvements, Leadership, and Management. In 2018, he became Managing Director at Kraatz Marine. His passion for the fishing industry led him back to Hangana in 2023 as Operations Director, where he continues to contribute to the company's success.

Joined in March 1999

Christie Sitzer

Fleet Manager

Christie has been in the fishing industry since 1999 and has been working for Hangana for more than 20 years. He started in 2004 as a qualified Marine Fitter and was promoted in 2007 to Technical Foreman. In 2011, he was promoted to Fleet Superintendent and in 2015 became Fleet Technical Manager. He then took up the position as Fleet Operations Manager in 2018 and is now serving on the Senior Leadership Team. Christie leads by example, enjoys challenges, is a motivated person and enjoys new technologies and taking his team to the next level by inspiring them to do their best in all that they do.

Joined in October 2014

Francois de Wit

Factory Manager

After finishing his studies in ManagementAccounting in 2007, Francois started his career in the fishing industry with a group of companies situated in Lüderitz. In 2010, he was appointed as a Management Accountant overlooking all the factories in the group, in both Lüderitz and Walvis Bay. In 2012, he was appointed as the Group Management Accountant and oversaw all the activities in the group up to September 2014. In October 2014, he commenced his career at Hangana Seafood as a Management Accountant and was appointed as Senior Management Accountant in August 2015, a position held until he was appointed to the Senior Leadership Team in November 2018 with a new title: Factory Manager.