Uber Eats Kenya appoints Wangui Mbugua as General Manager to steer its growth
KENYA – Online food ordering and delivery platform Uber Eats has appointed Wangui Mbugua as the General Manager for its Kenya operations, to steer growth of its services in the country.
A legal graduate with an undergraduate degree in law and a Master’s degree in International Business and Commercial Law from the University of Manchester, Wangui started her career as a legal intern for leading African law firm Bowmans and later moved to McKinsey and Co. as a management consultant.
She has also had a stint at Koko Networks, an international technology company dedicated to bringing clean and affordable energy to low and middle-income households in Nairobi.
She joined Uber in 2019 as Strategy and Planning Lead for Uber Eats Sub-Saharan Africa, to earning a promotion to her current position.
“I’m excited to take on this new role as I have seen the rapid growth of food delivery in Kenya and the growth that the business brings to the digital economy. The impact of convenience and on-demand commerce on the market is evident,” Wangui said.
With over 700 eateries on the app, consumers have access to food and drink to suit all tastes, occasions and location at a touch of a button, but more importantly, it allows restaurants to reach their customers via delivery, and provide economic opportunities for couriers.
Over the past two years, as people changed how they shopped for their daily essentials, groceries and ordered food, Uber Eats has pivoted its business model to leverage these trends and has seen growth as a result.
While the company’s business model was originally built with food delivery services top of mind, it has quickly and seamlessly positioned itself to meet the changing consumer needs such as undertaking grocery deliver that have rapidly developed over the past two years.
According to Wangui, the increasing demand for a diversity of delivery services points to a trend that, she believes, is set to continue expanding into the future, irrespective of the trajectory of Covid-19.
“While there can be no doubt that the stellar growth in demand for diverse on-demand delivery services has been catalyzed by the pandemic and the challenges of a protracted national lockdown, we believe the pandemic merely accelerated a consumer trend that was already developing,” she said.
On his part, General Manager of Uber Eats Sub-Saharan Africa, Nakampe Molewa said, “Wangui has been an asset to the team since her arrival. We are excited about her new leadership role. We are looking forward to seeing how the business will flourish under her leadership.”
Uber Eats in Kenya, operates in a market dominated by other player such as Jumia Foods, Glovo, Bolt Foods, among others, all eyeing the lucrative market.
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