The Board of Guinnesss Nigeria PLC is very pleased and proud to announce a change in the leadership of Guinness Nigeria PLC with the appointment of Mr. Adebayo Alli (Bayo) as the incoming Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Company with effect from 1st January 2024.
This appointment by the Board follows the imminent move of Mr. John Musunga (John), the current MD/CEO into another exciting role within Diageo as the first Managing Director for Southern, West and Centra Africa (SWC). John will remain in role as MD/CEO of Guinness Nigeria till end of 2023 to ensure a smooth hand-over to Bayo in furtherance of the orderly leadership change and succession planning strategy of the business.
The Board thanks Mr Musunga for his brief but impactful stint as Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria Plc. In his time as Managing Director, the business delivered a stellar perfomance under difficult conditions, reshaped its strategy while also achieving high employee engagement. The Board wishes Mr Musunga all the very best in his new role.
Adebayo Alli (Bayo), the incoming Managing Director/CEO, joined Diageo in 2005 as a Packaging Operations Support Manager and has worked in several senior leadership roles across manufacturing, supply and commercial. He is a well-rounded executive with almost two decades of broad experience and leadership across supply chain, manufacturing, program management and sales. He has a proven track record of transforming business units, optimising end to end supply chains, leading commercial organisations to breakthrough and delivering results through a diverse and inclusive team in complex, uncertain and disruptive environments.
In 2013 Bayo moved to Ethiopia on International Assignment to join Diageo’s Meta Abo Brewery Limited’s leadership team as the project lead for a business transformation project. He was subsequently promoted to Plant Manager in 2014 and appointed Supply Chain Director in 2015. Bayo brought a unique style of leadership displaying a heightened sense of cultural awareness, an inclusive leadership, and a mission mindset to unlock many breakthroughs while working in Ethiopia.
He returned to Nigeria in 2017 as Operations Director and in pursuit of his general management ambition, he transitioned to commercial taking up several senior commercial sales roles in Guinness Nigeria PLC. Between 2019 and 2020, Bayo was appointed and served briefly as the as the Director for IPS, Reserve & Modern Trade. In 2020, Bayo was appointed as the Commercial Director Guinness Nigeria.
In his current role as the Commercial Director, he has led the delivery of outstanding NSV growth, doubled Gross Profits, unlocked significant improvement in gross margins, grown, or held value share across priority categories and partnered with Guinness Nigeria’s distributors to deliver mutually profitable growth despite significant head winds. Bayo also transformed the commercial team in Guinness Nigeria to one with a digital focused mindset and has successfully leveraged technological solutions to drive incremental growth, deliver productivity, embed operational safety, and sustain market share growth.
Bayo is known for his deliberate focus on people and his many bold bets across supply and commercial has helped unlock business and personal growth for many of his colleagues thereby ensuring robust succession plans. His purpose is to add value to the world by inspiring others especially Africans to cause the transformations he wants to see and leave everything better than he met it.
Bayo is a commercially astute leader with a transformative and collaborative leadership style. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan; and an MSc in Advanced Process Engineering from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.
The Board warmly welcomes Mr Adebayo Alli and also wishes him all the very best in his new role.
Speaking on the leadership changes, the Chair of the Board of Guinness Nigeria, Dr. Omobola Johnson said “ the appointment of Bayo Alli, a member of Guinness Nigeria’s Executive Leadership Team as the incoming MD/CEO speaks to the commitment of Guinness Nigeria and Diageo to nurturing great talent and developing a deep leadership bench in the business. The Board is excited at this appointment and looks forward to working closely with Bayo as he takes on this leadership role at a very important time for the business. The Board also specially appreciates and thanks John for the contributions made during his brief but remarkably impactful time as the MD of Guinness Nigeria and wish him success in his new and well deserved role.”
Also speaking about the imminent leadership change, Mr John Musunga, the outgoing MD/CEO said “Even as I look forward with excitement to my new role in Diageo Africa as the first Managing Director for Southern, West & Central Africa (SWC), I am thrilled for the business of Guinness Nigeria which I will be leaving in the very capable hands of a strong and committed executive management team now to be led by Bayo, a truly exceptional and visionary business leader. I am confident that Bayo and the management team will take the business of Guinness Nigeria to even greater heights in the coming years”.
As a business, Guinness Nigeria Plc. will continue to deliver value to our stakeholders. We are excited to embark on the next phase of our journey, and we are confident that our commitment to Nigeria and our resilience will help us to achieve even greater success in the coming years.
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