East African Breweries Limited (EABL) is set to make significant leadership changes at two of its key subsidiaries, with Andrew Kilonzo, the current Managing Director of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), tipped to take over as the new Managing Director of Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), replacing Mark Ocitti, reliable sources have revealed.
The transition is expected to take effect at the end of the third quarter of 2025.
Kilonzo, a seasoned FMCG executive with over 25 years of experience spanning retail energy, beverages, and entertainment, is an EABL veteran. He took over at Uganda Breweries in April 2022, having previously served as Managing Director of Meta Abo Brewery in Ethiopia and held various senior commercial roles within East African Breweries.
Under his leadership, Uganda Breweries has experienced strong performance, with notable strides in talent development, community engagement, and commercial expansion.
A Familiar Face Returns to Nairobi
Kilonzo’s move to KBL marks a homecoming of sorts. Between 2013 and 2016, he served as Sales Director – Premium Trade for Kenya Breweries and later as Commercial Director for the EABL Group. His deep understanding of the Kenyan market, consumer behaviour, and the Diageo ecosystem positions him as a steady hand to steer KBL through the next phase of growth and competitive market dynamics.
Since his appointment in April 2022, Andrew Kilonzo has overseen a period of resilient and adaptive growth at Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), even amidst rising inflation, volatile exchange rates, and economic pressures across East Africa. While UBL does not publish standalone financial statements, its performance can be assessed through extrapolated data from East African Breweries PLC (EABL), the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed parent company. Under Kilonzo’s stewardship, Uganda solidified its place as the Group’s second-largest market—after Kenya—and increasingly stood out as its most stable and consistently growing unit.
Between FY2022 and FY2024, UBL’s contribution to EABL’s group revenue steadily rose from 19% to 20%, amounting to approximately KES 21.9 billion in FY2024—a 5.3% year-on-year increase, outpacing Kenya’s 3% and Tanzania’s 4% growth. In FY2023, Uganda delivered an even stronger performance with 17% revenue growth, the highest in the EABL portfolio, while Kenya declined by -4%. UBL also posted a 15.2% operating margin in FY2024, the highest among the three markets, pointing to robust cost control and efficient operations. These outcomes were driven by Kilonzo’s focus on route-to-market transformation, product mix optimisation, and pricing discipline—critical levers in a period when cost-of-living crises affected demand across the region.
Beyond the numbers, Kilonzo presided over strategic capital investments, including a new spirits packaging line, a biomass steam plant, and a water recovery system—all of which enhanced UBL’s production capacity, sustainability, and operational efficiency. He championed the growth of both mainstream and premium spirits, expanded value beer brands like Ngule and Senator, and scaled digital route-to-market strategies that deepened customer access and loyalty. Internally, his leadership strengthened employee engagement, boosted gender diversity in management, and expanded local sourcing to over 35,000 farmers. In every sense, Kilonzo’s tenure reflected purpose-led, performance-driven leadership—quiet, consistent, and transformational.
Mark Ocitti Confirms Departure from EABL After 11 Years of Service
His predecessor, Mark Ocitti, has had a long and successful run across the EABL network. Since March 2023, Ocitti has led Kenya Breweries after earlier stints as Managing Director of Serengeti Breweries Limited in Tanzania (2019–2023) and Uganda Breweries (2016–2019). During his tenure, he helped reinforce KBL’s market leadership, strengthen the spirits portfolio, and embed a culture of brand-centric innovation and inclusive leadership.
A consummate strategist and people-first leader, Ocitti is widely respected for his passion for growing brands “for present and future generations” and for building purpose-driven teams across markets.
In a brief phone conversation with the CEO East Africa Magazine Executive Editor Muhereza Kyamutetera, Mark Ocitti confirmed his exit from the Diageo Group and his role as Managing Director of Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL).
“Yes, I will be leaving KBL and the Diageo Group after 11 fulfilling years of service,” Ocitti said. “It’s time for me to pursue a new opportunity. This transition is something I have personally decided on.”
He described his decision as a natural career progression after over three decades of working in large corporate environments across the East African region.
“I’ve spent 31 years in corporate, 11 of those within EABL and Diageo, serving in Uganda, Tanzania, and now Kenya. I’m grateful to the organisation for the incredible experience and exposure it has given me,” he added.
Ocitti emphasised that he will continue serving through the end of September 2025, ensuring a smooth leadership transition at KBL.
While he chose to keep details of his next chapter confidential for now, he hinted at leveraging his vast regional knowledge and corporate experience to explore new frontiers.
“It’s the right time. It will be something within the East African Region. I know this region well, and I’m looking forward to using that experience in a different capacity.”
Irene Mwoyogwona: Beyond the Numbers – How Pride Bank's Award-Winning CFO Combines Profitability and Social ImpactOcitti’s departure marks the close of a significant leadership chapter at EABL, where he is credited with strengthening market leadership, deepening brand equity, and fostering inclusive, purpose-driven teams across three key markets: Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.
Why KBL Matters: The Anchor in EABL’s Portfolio
Kenya Breweries Limited is the largest and most strategic business unit in the EABL portfolio, contributing approximately 64% of the Group’s total revenues—more than triple the share from Uganda (21%) and more than four times that of Tanzania (15%).
KBL plays a pivotal role not only in volume but also in innovation, premium brand development, and cross-border distribution. It is home to some of the region’s most iconic brands such as Tusker, Senator, Chrome, and Johnnie Walker, and serves as a hub for new product rollouts and route-to-market excellence.
While Kenya’s performance dipped by 4% in FY23 due to macroeconomic pressures and regulatory impacts, the unit bounced back in FY24 and contributed significantly to a 20% year-on-year growth in EABL Group profit before tax in H1 FY25. Recovery was driven by improved pricing, premiumization, and disciplined cost management—even amidst FX and commodity volatility, the EABL Group reported.
Cameroonian Executive to Take Over at Uganda Breweries
In a related development, Felicite Nson, the current Managing Director of Guinness Ghana Breweries, is expected to replace Andrew Kilonzo at Uganda Breweries. A Cameroonian national, Nson brings a stellar pan-African leadership track record, having previously held senior roles at Guinness Cameroon, Meta Abo (Ethiopia), Coca-Cola, and MTN.
At Guinness Ghana, she led one of Diageo’s fastest-growing African markets and was recently named Female Executive of the Year at the 2024 Ghana Executive Awards. Her leadership is credited with boosting shareholder value, expanding margins, and elevating employee engagement through a culture transformation agenda.
Her appointment is seen as a strong statement of intent by EABL to continue strengthening its leadership bench across the region and deepen diversity in its top executive ranks.
Leadership Transitions Amid Strategic Group Realignments
The upcoming leadership transitions come at a time when the EABL Group is recalibrating its long-term strategy to tap into shifting consumer trends, optimize operational synergies across subsidiaries, and unlock sustainable shareholder value. While formal announcements from Diageo or EABL are yet to be made public, multiple sources close to the matter suggest that confirmations could be issued before the end of Q3 2025.
These developments also unfold against the backdrop of mounting speculation over a potential Diageo retreat from parts of the East African market, following similar strategic exits in West Africa, notably Ghana and Nigeria. The timing has intensified boardroom conversations around succession planning, asset consolidation, and regional autonomy. In this context, the leadership changes may represent more than routine rotations—they could signal a broader reconfiguration of Diageo’s executive footprint across Africa.
One notable shift is the redeployment of Felicite Nson, the outgoing Managing Director of Guinness Ghana—a unit that Diageo has largely divested—who is now expected to take over at Uganda Breweries. This move is widely interpreted as part of Diageo’s effort to reposition key talent ahead of potential divestiture or decentralization. Likewise, the departure of Mark Ocitti after 11 years of service across three markets may be viewed as a proactive step amid uncertainty, possibly signaling a desire to explore opportunities beyond the evolving structure of the Group.
Further fueling this narrative is the recent creation of an East African Spirits Business Unit, to be led by Alvin Mbugua, a respected Diageo executive who formerly served as Managing Director of Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL) and most recently as Managing Director for Diageo’s Caribbean and Central America (CCA) operations. The formation of this unit signals Diageo’s strategic pivot towards high-margin premium spirits, a category that has demonstrated consistent strength within EABL’s portfolio.
Between FY2022 and FY2024, spirits contributed between 35% and 38% of EABL’s revenue, with Uganda and Tanzania showing particularly strong growth in this segment. After a 4% dip in FY2023 due to macroeconomic shocks, spirits rebounded with 6% growth in FY2024, driven by innovation and increased consumer demand in mainstream and premium categories such as Kane Extra, Uganda Waragi, Johnnie Walker, and Chrome.
This renewed focus on spirits suggests a strategic reshaping of Diageo’s Africa portfolio. By concentrating leadership and investment around its more profitable, globally-scalable spirits brands, Diageo may be positioning itself to retain control of the region’s most lucrative alcohol segments, even in markets where it may scale back manufacturing or direct market presence.
In totality, these leadership transitions, market realignments, and emerging unit consolidations appear to be early signals of a post-Diageo Africa—leaner, more focused, and potentially shaped by new regional shareholders or localised management models.
