Monsoon Accessorize property director Holly Ledson is stepping down to carry out charity work in Africa, Retail Week can reveal.

Ledson, who has spent more than three years at the fashion retailer, is understood to have handed in her notice earlier this month. She will leave the business at the end of this year and move to Ethiopia.

Monsoon Accessorize said it was “currently going through a process to appoint her successor.”

Ledson joined the high street chain in September 2012 following four-and-a-half years at Inditex, where she served as real estate director for the UK and Ireland, playing a key role in expanding the Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and Bershka fascias across Britain.

Prior to that Ledson spent one year as acquisitions and development manager at John Lewis and four years at H&M. She started her career at The Disney Store in March 1996, where she occupied the role of real estate manager for Europe.

A Monsoon Accessorize spokesman said: “We’re sorry that Holly is leaving us but have enormous respect for what she is planning to do and give her all our best wishes.”