Korzinka appoints Pedro Martinho as chief executive officer

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — 2 September 2026, Tashkent, Uzbekistan: Korzinka, Uzbekistan's leading grocery retailer, today announces the appointment of Pedro Martinho as Chief Executive Officer following an international search led by the Board. Pedro is relocating to Tashkent and will take up the role on 2 September 2026. His appointment marks the next phase of Korzinka's growth, deepening the combination of international grocery retail expertise and local market knowledge that has long defined the business.

Pedro has more than 30 years of experience gained at leading grocery retailers across Poland, Portugal, the Baltics and Azerbaijan and brings a combination of strategic leadership and operational execution that is highly relevant to Korzinka's next phase of growth. During his career he has developed deep commercial and operational expertise spanning trading, merchandising, customer engagement, supply chain, digital and store operations.

Pedro joins Korzinka following an extensive career at Eurocash Group (“Eurocash”) in Poland. Having joined the Board in 2003, Pedro was a member of the leadership team that helped scale Eurocash through the expansion of its store network, investment in logistics and technology, and the strengthening of its organisational capabilities. Most recently, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Frisco.pl, Poland's leading online grocery retailer and a division within Eurocash.

Growth in Uzbekistan's modern grocery retail sector continues to be supported by sustained GDP growth, one of the world's fastest-growing populations and rising household incomes. Already firmly established as Uzbekistan's leading supermarket chain, Korzinka operates a multi-format omnichannel model, comprising full-range supermarkets, neighbourhood convenience stores, its rapidly growing e-commerce platform called Korzinka Go as well as a B2B arm, Korzinka Biznes. In 2025, Korzinka - which remains majority owned by Founder and Chairman Zafar Khashimov - secured US$110 million of equity investment from international investors Abu Dhabi Uzbek Investment (ADUI) and Uzbek-Oman Investment Company (UzOman).

Zafar Khashimov, Founder, Chairman and majority shareholder of Korzinka, said:

"We are delighted to welcome Pedro to Korzinka. He joins an exceptional leadership team that combines outstanding Uzbek talent and local market insight with international retail expertise and best practice.

Pedro has spent more than three decades helping retailers scale in countries undergoing periods of rapid economic development. He is therefore ideally suited to lead Korzinka's next phase of growth.

His decision to join the business and relocate to Tashkent is a strong endorsement of both Korzinka's ambition and Uzbekistan's long-term potential. Together, we look forward to building on Korzinka’s strong foundations as we continue to deliver our growth plans and make modern, high-quality grocery retail accessible to more people across Uzbekistan."

Pedro Martinho, incoming Chief Executive Officer of Korzinka, added:

"I am delighted to be joining Korzinka at such an exciting moment for both the company and Uzbekistan. When I first visited the country, I immediately recognised many of the same characteristics that made Poland such an exciting place to scale modern grocery retail more than two decades ago: a dynamic economy, a fast-growing population, rising consumer expectations and tremendous long-term potential underpinned by ambitious economic reforms.

Korzinka has already established itself as the clear market leader, with the people, platform and ambition to continue to lead the next chapter of Uzbekistan's retail development. I look forward to working closely with Zafar, the Board, and people across the business to build one of the world's most admired modern grocery retailers in one of the world's most attractive growth markets."