ŠKODA AUTO has recently created the role of Head of North Africa Operations in response to the Czech carmaker taking on responsibility for this area as well as other growing regions. The North Africa region currently includes Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, and just as in India and Russia, ŠKODA AUTO is responsible for all Volkswagen Group activities there. Developing new markets that have growth potential for ŠKODA AUTO is one of three top priorities for the company as part of its future program ‘NEXT LEVEL ŠKODA’. The aim is to achieve profitable growth in the volume segments in these countries. Heading the INDIA 2.0 project, the Czech car manufacturer has the right expertise for this task.
Arwa Oeljeklaus brings more than 20 years of experience in the automotive industry to this role. After graduating in business studies in Paris, she went on to complete degree programmes in international trade and business development. Arwa began her career in the automotive industry in 2000 with the PSA Group, where she was in charge of product management for Peugeot’s A-SUV and MPV models. In 2011, she joined ŠKODA AUTO to run product management for the brand’s A-SUV range. This role also included responsibility for international coordination of an important SUV model in Europe, China, India and Russia.
In 2014, she took over as ŠKODA AUTO’s Head of Business Development & Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for the Czech Republic. In this management role, she has been working on the strategic development of the Czech importer organisation and set up systems and processes for building and managing customer relations.
In addition to speaking her mother tongue, Oeljeklaus is fluent in English, Arabic and German and, on a conversational level, also speaks Czech.