TANZANIA – Diageo, multinational alcoholic beverages company, has undertaken executive reshuffling at its operations in Africa, appointing Anitha Msangi Rwehumbiza, as the Marketing Director of Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL).

Anitha’s appointment will take effect from 1st July 2022, taking over the role from Mark Mugisha Kivuna who will be moving to Guinness Nigeria as the new Marketing and Innovations Director.

With the appointment, Anitha is making a comeback to SBL after a short stint of nearly a year at the company’s sister entity, Uganda Breweries Limited (UBL), where she was Head of Customer Marketing.

Anitha has been instrumental in running the customer marketing function in Uganda where she set a formidable team.

While in UBL she streamlined the internal controls in the function, deploying phase 1 of the national visibility drive in trade that’s grown UBL brands presence and execution of divisional activities that have delivered market share growth across Beer and Spirits consistently.

During her tenure at SBL, since June 2012 to May 2021, she delivered outstanding performance through the brands she drove such as Tusker lager, Tusker lite, Pilsner, and the Serengeti trademark.

“Anitha will no doubt build our already strong marketing team into an even stronger one in this new role,” said Mark Ocitti Ongom Managing Director SBL.

Meanwhile, Mark Mugisha Kivuna, in his new role as Marketing and Innovations Director at Guinness Nigeria will be in charge of ensuring customers’ needs are satisfied with its existent portfolio through innovations aimed at satisfying evolving tastes.

The range of products including Guinness, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Orijin, Singleton, Ciroc among others.

Diageo’s subsidiaries rake in huge investments

Both Serengeti Breweries and Guinness Nigeria have recently undertaken investments aimed to beef up production capacities and heighten their competitive edge in their market of operations.

Late last year, SBL commissioned its first spirits production plant worth Tsh15.6 billion (US$6.7m) at its facility in Moshi.

The move is aimed to shift Tanzania from being a net importer of spirit drinks to a local producer.

Marking its debut, the company has started by production of a local brand known as Bongo Don, which SBL described as being a truly local product of world-class quality.

Meanwhile, Guinness Nigeria commissioned a new Spirits production line at its Ogba brewery in Lagos in November 2021.

The new line, part of the brewer’s Mainstream Spirit Capacity expansion programme with a cost of £2.0m (US$2.2m), avails an additional cube packaging line to meet increased demand for the company’s mainstream spirits portfolio.

The facility is expected to produce about 600,000 EUs of the company’s iconic spirits brands including Orijin Bitters per year, in different sizes and formats desired by consumers.

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