KBL MD John Musunga becomes Guinness Nigeria new CEO

Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) Managing Director John Musunga has been announced as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria PLC. Both KBL, through EABL, and Guinness Nigeria are Diageo subsidiaries.

Musunga will officially start in the new position from November 1 2022. He will take over from Baker Magunda, who has decided to take early retirement.

Mr. Musunga was appointed MD of KBL in March 2021 and has over the last 19 months led the business as it recovered from the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

John Musunga’s Career

John Musunga is the Managing Director of Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL). He joined KBL on the 1st of March 2021 from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where his last position was that of Vaccines Market Leader responsible for Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. John has worked in senior local, regional and global roles including being the Managing Director GSK Kenya & East Africa and also as the global Head of Supranationals for GSK’s Global Vaccines based in Belgium. He began his career as a sales representative and progressed into sales and marketing leadership roles in East Africa and South Africa.

Mr. Musunga has considerable strategic and leadership experience and repeatedly led his teams to exceed business targets, increase market footprint and grow market share.

During his time in GSK East Africa, he more than quadrupling the size of business and also substantially grew jobs and employment. Outside the organization he worked, John has held a number of external positions including three years as a Non-Executive Director on the Kenya Vision 2030 Board, Chaired the Kenya HIV/Aids Business Council Board and was a past Chairman of the Kenya Association of Pharmaceuticals among others.

John graduated in 2008 with an MBA in Marketing from USIU-Africa.

Commenting on his career transition, EABL Group Managing Director and CEO, Jane Karuku, said: “We are extremely pleased with Mr. Musunga’s promotion. His work over the last 19 months has been outstanding, especially his leadership in helping our Kenya business navigate and emerge stronger through the pandemic. He is passionate for driving business results through the power of strong teams and creating an environment where people can be at their best. We wish him the best in the next phase of this career journey.”

Before joining KBL, he previously held leadership roles at GSK, with senior positions in Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and Europe. He was a Non-Executive Director for the Vision 2030 Board in Kenya and chaired the Kenya Association of Pharmaceuticals Industry and the Kenya HIV/AIDS Business Council.

Musunga joins other EABL staff who have been appointed to other Diageo subsidiaries. In July last year Ednah Otieno joined Diageo in Great Britain as Human Resources Director. She was previously the Group HR Director at EABL. In October, Alvin Mbugua joined Diageo’s Caribbean and Central America region as Managing Director. Before that, he was the MD of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) and previously worked in a series of roles within the EABL having joined in May 2013 as the Group Financial Controller. In January this year, Eric Kanja, former KBL Head of Commercial Finance, joined as Finance Director in Diageo Japan.