Susan Nsibirwa, a Marketing Communications Consultant and experienced media executive, has been appointed by the Nation Media Group, to head its Uganda unit, CEO East Africa Magazine can exclusively reveal.
She has prior to the appointment been a Board Member of the company amongst other roles.
She replaces Tony Glencross whose 9-year tenure comes to an end, on December 31st. Under Glencross, who assumed leadership in March 2015, NMG- Uganda has been restructured and turned around into a profit-making multimedia business.
She comes in at a critical time when NMG Uganda is kickstarting a 5-year digital-first strategy that will see the business transition from an analogue model to a digital and subscription-led model.
In that role, she will head NMG’s multimedia portfolio in Uganda, which includes Monitor Publications Limited which runs the Daily Monitor newspaper and KFM 93.3 FM radio; Africa Broadcasting Uganda Limited (ABUL), which runs NTV Uganda and Spark TV as well as other Group brands/products, namely The EastAfrican and Nation Courier.
Other than running her own marketing and corporate communications firm, Ayiva Consulting Solutions Managing Director, Nsibirwa is the current Board Chairperson of the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) and sits on the Boards of Uganda Marketers Society (UMS), Greenhill Academy Limited, The Innovation Village and Refactory.
Nsibirwa has previously served as the Chairperson of the Uganda Media Owners Association (UMOA) (2017-2019).
Other roles before that include Managing Partner, Urge Uganda (March 2019 – June 2022); Head of Marketing and Communications, Vision Group (February 2011 – February 2019) and Head of Marketing, DFCU Bank (November 2006 – May 2010). She has also been the Head of Marketing, at Commercial Microfinance Ltd, July 2005 – October 2006) and the Advertising/Brand Manager at MTN Uganda (2002-2005).
Energy Ministry Orders UEDCL Board to Investigate Top Management Over Performance GapsOn her LinkedIn page, she describes herself as “passionate about brands and about people. An avid team player who believes in bringing out the best in everyone.”
“My mantra is “Making a positive difference every day”. My most important future contribution to others is my time, resources and experiences. Conceptualising ideas and solutions brings out the best in me. I am a Christian who believes that as a great African, I can influence transformation on our great continent and beyond. I am a Faith Driven Entrepreneur!!,” she adds.
She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds an MBA from the University of Nicosia, Cyprus and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Makerere University, Kampala.
She is the first woman CEO for the entire Group portfolio in Uganda. Aggie Asiimwe Konde was the first woman CEO of Africa Broadcasting Uganda Limited (February 2013 – November 2019).
She has also completed various leadership courses with Franklin Covey, the CEO Summit & Strathmore Business School as well as the University of Capetown.
NMG is East and Central Africa’s largest multimedia group and was founded in 1959 by His Highness Aga Khan. Its product portfolio covers newspapers, television and radio broadcasting across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Key challenges for Susan to surmount, include a a love-hate relationship with the government especially as Uganda heads into the electoral period that kickstarts in H2 2024, all the way to the January 2026 actual voting. She will also need to address a market culture mind-shift from for-free digital content to a paid-for model. Another challenge will be plugging of newsroom talent haemorrhage into the more lucrative public relations profession, which has become an industry-wide challenge.
