British Multinational Company Diageo has appointed East African Breweries Limited (EABL) Marketing and Innovations Director Anne Joy Michira to the same role in South, West and Central Africa
In a statement on January 31, Diageo announced that Michira will assume the role of Marketing and Innovations Director for South, West, and Central Africa (SWC) at the firm.
“Director Anne Joy Michira has been appointed to the role of Marketing and Innovations Director SWC at Diageo.
Ms Michira will take up her new, London-based role from April 1 and will report to John Musunga, a Kenyan, who was appointed to head the newly established SWC business unit in November 2023,” read part of the statement.
Following her appointment, she becomes the second top Kenyan business executive who have been picked by Diageo.
In November last year, former Kenya Breweries Managing Director and EABL non-executive director John Musunga, was appointed the head of the SWC Africa market effective January 1st, 2024.
Musunga had been heading Diageo’s subsidiary, Guinness Nigeria, since October 2022 after being tapped from the Kenya Breweries Limited.
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Having graduated from the University of Nairobi with a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree, Michira boasts of nearly 20 years’ experience in a wide range of roles in trade and marketing.
Michira before joining Diageo SWC
She joined EABL from British American Tobacco (BAT) in September 2015 as the Marketing Manager for Mainstream Spirits.
She rose through the ranks to Head of Spirits and then Head of Marketing, Beer for East Africa before her promotion to her current role in May 2022.
Head of SWC John Musunga described Anne Joy as an experienced business executive with a strong track record of delivering tangible value to business.
“She developed and executed Kenya’s spirits portfolio strategy that has grown value share, with Kenya recording the fastest growth of Johnnie Walker globally in the last financial year,” he said after the appointment.
On the other hand, KBL Managing Director Mark Ocitti praised Michira, noting that she has been instrumental in growing and building some of the company’s biggest brands in East Africa.
“EABL is a net exporter of talent within Diageo and indeed in the corporate world. We are happy that once more, one of us has been tapped to take on a bigger role,” he added.
SWC Unit
The business unit SWC comprises two regions covering Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean and West and Central Africa.
This includes the firm’s businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Africa, Seychelles, among others.
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As part of a new operating model adopted by Diageo Africa, Musunga assumed the leadership role at Diageo SWC as the Managing Director, based in London in January 2024.
The firm reorganized its operating region into three markets, specifically Guinness Nigeria, marketing beer and mainstream spirits, the EABL, and the new SWC hub.
Also, in early 2023, Diageo through its Kenyan subsidiary acquired an additional 15 percent shareholding in EABL.
Acquired by way of a Public Tender Offer, its shareholding increased from 50.03 percent to 65 percent at the company.
