British drinks giant Diageo Plc has promoted Kenyan executive John Musunga to managing director for Africa, placing him in charge of the company\u2019s continental business.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The appointment, which takes effect on Wednesday, comes months after Diageo agreed to sell its 65 percent stake in East African Breweries Plc (EABL)for $2.3 billion (Sh296 billion) and its 53.68 percent interest in UDV Kenya for $646 million (Sh83.6 billion) to Japan\u2019s Asahi Group Holdings in a deal due to close later this year.<\/p>\n
Mr Musunga will relocate from London to Nairobi to oversee Diageo\u2019s operations across Africa, underscoring the company\u2019s decision to retain a regional management presence in Kenya despite divesting from one of its biggest African markets.<\/p>\n
\nStrategic portfolio changes <\/p>\n
\u201cHis appointment underscores Diageo\u2019s confidence in Kenya\u2019s position as a leading regional business and financial hub, and its importance in supporting the company\u2019s long-term ambitions across the continent,\u201d said Diageo in a statement.<\/p>\n
Mr Musunga\u2019s promotion also comes as Diageo restructures its African business following a series of strategic portfolio changes aimed at reducing debt and sharpening focus on core operations globally.<\/p>\n
The appointee takes the new role after serving as managing director for Diageo\u2019s South, West and Central Africa business, where he oversaw operations across more than 30 African markets.<\/p>\n
He previously served as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria, one of Diageo\u2019s largest businesses on the continent.<\/p>\n
\nSenior leadership positions <\/p>\n
Before moving to Nigeria, Musunga headed Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) after joining Diageo in March 2021 at a time when the brewer was recovering from Covid-19 disruptions.<\/p>\n
His tenure at KBL coincided with a rebound in consumer demand as bars, restaurants and entertainment venues reopened after easing of restrictions.<\/p>\n
Prior to joining Diageo, Mr Musunga built much of his corporate career at GlaxoSmithKline, serving in senior leadership positions across Africa, Europe and Asia.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His career has included assignments in Kenya, Nigeria, Belgium and South Africa, giving him experience in managing businesses across both developed and emerging markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British drinks giant Diageo Plc has promoted Kenyan executive John Musunga to managing director for Africa, placing him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21250],"tags":[4110,4242,33520],"class_list":["post-73701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-diageo","tag-diageo","tag-diageo-plc","tag-john-musunga"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116840969206116787","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}