China: Ma Mingliang, the chairman and president of Sinoma Energy Conservation, has died at the age of 57. He was reportedly taken ill whilst on a business trip to Zhaotong City in Yunnan Province. Ma Mingliang was a trained engineer who worked for China Triumph International Engineering from 1997 to 2006 before later becoming the chief engineer of the foreign department of China National Building Material (CNBM) International Engineering from 2006 to 2007. Subsequently he held a number of senior positions within CNBM group eventually leading Sinoma Energy Conservation, the subsidiary of CNBM responsible for manufacturing waste heat recovery (WHR) systems.

Mexico: Corporación Moctezuma has appointed Juan Mozo Gómez as its chief financial officer with effect from the start of 2022. He succeeds Luis Rauch, who has decided to leave the post after four years for personal reasons. Mozo has experience in the financial sector and held positions in companies in the cement and concrete industry. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Pompeau Fabra University in Spain.

Denmark: FLSmidth has appointed Mikko Keto as its incoming chief executive officer (CEO), with effect from the start of 2022. It follows the resignation of Thomas Schulz. He will leave the company for an external role at the end of 2021.

Keto joined FLSmidth in January 2021 as the president of the mining division. He previously worked for Metso as the president for its mineral services and pumps business area. His prior roles for Metso include Senior Vice President of Spare Parts, Senior Vice President of Performance Services, President of Automation Services and Vice President of Flow Control Services. He also served as a member of the company’s executive team. Earlier in his career, Keto was Head of Sales for the maintenance business unit at KONE Corporation and held senior management and sales positions at Nokia Networks. He holds a master’s degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics.

Outgoing CEO Schulz joined FLSmidth in 2013. The company credited him with transforming its model from a predominately capital project organisation to one with more of a focus on service and aftermarket. His tenure has also seen the engineering company pivot towards digital products and those supporting sustainability trends in the cement and mining industries.

Nigeria: Dangote Cement has reported that Alhaji Sani Dangote died on 14 November 2021. He was the brother of the company’s founder and chair Aliko Dangote.

Sani Dangote was a businessperson with over 30 years’ experience in various sectors of the Nigerian economy including manufacturing, agriculture and oil services. He was the Vice President of Dangote Industries and sat on the board of several other companies. He was also the deputy chair of the African Gum Arabic Producers Association, a fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Shipping and president of the Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association.