Starting July 1, 2026, John Musunga takes over as Managing Director for Africa at Diageo, moving from London to Nairobi for the role.
It’s a homecoming of sorts, and it puts him in charge of operations across the continent at a company that has steadily grown its footprint there over the past two decades.
Musunga isn’t new to Diageo or to Africa. He’s spent more than 25 years working across the continent, Europe, and Asia, with close to 20 of those years in chief executive or senior leadership positions.
His most recent job was running Diageo’s South, West and Central Africa business, a sprawling portfolio covering more than 30 markets.
Before that, he led Guinness Nigeria as CEO and Managing Director, where he was credited with turning the business around after a rough patch and getting growth back on track.
His connection to Kenya specifically goes back to 2021, when he joined Diageo as Managing Director of Kenya Breweries Limited. That was a tough moment to take the job.
The COVID-19 pandemic had hammered the beverage industry, and Musunga’s task was to rebuild momentum at KBL as restrictions eased and consumer habits shifted. He managed it, and that track record appears to be a big part of why he’s now stepping into the bigger continental role.
Before Diageo, John Musunga built his career at GSK, the pharmaceutical giant, where he held leadership positions spanning Africa, Europe, and Asia.
That stretch gave him experience in public health partnerships and large-scale commercial operations, a somewhat different world from spirits and beer but one that clearly shaped how he approaches running complex, multi-market businesses.
Basing him in Nairobi is also a signal about how Diageo views the city. Kenya has increasingly positioned itself as a regional hub for multinational companies operating across East and Central Africa, and having a Managing Director for the entire continent headquartered there adds weight to that reputation.
What this means practically is that John Musunga will now oversee Diageo’s strategy across dozens of African markets, from how the company manufactures and distributes its drinks to how it expands and adapts its brands for local tastes.
Africa has been one of Diageo’s priority growth regions for years, and the company has been investing in local production and distribution networks to match. Musunga inherits that momentum, along with the job of keeping it going.
