He succeeds Egidio Monteiro and will report directly to Tobias Maier, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Middle East and Africa. The role covers Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa.
Geiken began his freight forwarding career in 1995. That is more than three decades of hands-on regional experience. Most recently he served as Vice President Ocean Freight for Middle East and Africa at DHL Global Forwarding, overseeing trade-lane development, capacity, rates and sustainable transport across a geographically demanding corridor.
What does the appointment mean for DHL Global Forwarding Sub-Saharan Africa operations?
The transition signals a deliberate shift toward deeper local execution rather than a simple change of name on the door. During his ocean freight tenure, Geiken worked closely on the trade flows connecting Africa with Europe, Asia and the Middle East — precisely the corridors that define DHL Global Forwarding Sub-Saharan Africa’s commercial opportunity.
Maier set out the rationale: “Sascha knows our business and he knows this region. He has spent many years working across complex markets and understands what it takes to turn growing trade flows into reliable solutions for our customers. Sub-Saharan Africa is an important growth market for us, but it is also a market where strong local execution really matters. I am very pleased to have Sascha take on this responsibility, and I am confident he will continue to move our business forward together with our teams across the region.”
Geiken, for his part, identified end-to-end supply chain reliability as the central customer need. “Trade is growing, but our customers need more than capacity,” he said. “They need reliability across the entire supply chain, from the international leg through customs and inland transport to final delivery.”
Investment context
The leadership change sits inside a broader capital commitment. In 2025, DHL Group announced an investment of more than €300 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, spread across DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply Chain. By FurtherAfrica’s reading of the figures, the investment is distributed across three distinct business units:
- DHL Express
- DHL Global Forwarding
- DHL Supply Chain
The group employs around 389,000 people across more than 220 countries and territories.
One crisp read of the situation: DHL Global Forwarding Sub-Saharan Africa is backing infrastructure spend with an operator who has managed the region’s freight complexity from the inside — a combination that reduces execution risk at exactly the moment trade volumes are accelerating.
Geiken’s prior experience holding managing director roles across several Middle Eastern markets gives him a template for navigating multi-jurisdiction complexity, the defining challenge for any operator scaling across Sub-Saharan Africa’s fragmented customs and inland transport environment.
What to watch next
Investors and logistics counterparts should monitor how DHL Global Forwarding Sub-Saharan Africa deploys the €300M commitment operationally — specifically which corridors, port partnerships and inland networks receive priority under Geiken’s leadership through 2026 and into 2027.
Quick answers
Sascha Geiken is a freight forwarding professional with more than 30 years of industry experience, having started his career in 1995. He has been appointed CEO of DHL Global Forwarding for Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa), effective 10 November 2026, succeeding Egidio Monteiro.
In 2025, DHL Group announced an investment of more than €300 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, covering DHL Express, DHL Global Forwarding and DHL Supply Chain to expand infrastructure and services across the region.
