East African Breweries appoints new group Managing Director

The board of East African Breweries Limited (EABL) has announced that Jane Karuku will be taking over as the new group Managing Director for EABL.

Mrs. Karuku, who has been a member of the EABL board and the current Managing Director for Kenya Breweries Limited will replace Andrew Cowan who has been in the EABL business for four and a half years.

Cowan is now taking up a new role in Diageo’s global business as Managing Director for Africa Regional Markets.

In a statement released on Thursday, EABL described Karuku as a dynamic business leader, with strong management experience spanning over 25 years in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and non-governmental organisations.

“A consummate leader, her expansive experience straddles strategy development, operational management, marketing as well as organisational change management,” the beer company noted.

“We are delighted to have Mrs. Jane Karuku take over the role of Group Managing Director at EABL. She brings with her remarkable wealth of experience having served within the board and also managing the Kenya business. I am very confident that her depth of expertise and knowledge of the business will lead the group to future growth in line with our strategy,” said Dr.Martin Oduor- Otieno, the EABL group board chairman.

About Kakuru

Prior to joining KBL,  Karuku was the president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), where she was responsible for one of Africa’s largest grant-making organisations in the food security and agricultural development sector.

Previously, she has held a host of senior positions in various other organisations including Cadbury’s East & Central Africa as Managing Director before joining Telkom Kenya, as Deputy Chief Executive and Secretary-General.

Before Cadbury’s Karuku worked with Farmer’s Choice Kenya and Kenya  Co-operative Creameries, now known as New KCC.

She has also served on several boards including Barclays Bank and is currently a Trustee of Precious Sisters, an organisation that empowers bright and underprivileged girls through education.

She is the current Chairperson of Kenya Vision 2030 Board and recently led the Kenya Covid-19 Fund Board that was created by President Uhuru Kenyatta to marshal funds for combating the Coronavirus disease.

Karuku will be replaced in the role of Managing Director, Kenya Breweries by John Musunga who joins EABL from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) where he began his career as a sales representative and progressed through roles of increasing responsibility including that of Managing Director and General Manager of their Kenya and East Africa Business.

He has most recently been responsible for leading GSK’s vaccines business in Sub- Saharan Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe. He has previously worked in regional and global roles and lived in Belgium and South Africa.

The appointments of  Karuku and Cowan will take effect from  January 1, 2021 and Musunga’s appointment will take effect by  March,1, 2021.