Diageo has named John Musunga Managing Director for Africa, effective July 1, relocating him from London to Nairobi to run the company’s operations across more than 30 markets on the continent.
Musunga takes the continental seat as Diageo sheds two of its largest African units. The company completed the sale of its majority Guinness Nigeria stake to Tolaram in September 2024, and it is now working through a $2.3 billion sale of its 65% East African Breweries stake, plus a $646 million UDV Kenya stake, to Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings, according to media report
His own résumé traces that retreat. Musunga ran Guinness Nigeria as chief executive before Diageo handed the business to Tolaram, then took over the company’s newly created South, West and Central Africa market in January 2024, a portfolio spanning Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia and South Africa under then Diageo Africa president Nayager. He joined Diageo in 2021 as managing director of Kenya Breweries, steering the brewer through its pandemic recovery, after an earlier career at GSK across Africa, Europe and Asia.
Guinness Nigeria has moved on without him. Under Tolaram, the business posted net profit of ₦41.2 billion for the 18 months through December 2025, a turnaround Drinkabl.media detailed after years of losses under Diageo ownership.
“[Diageo said the appointment] underscores its confidence in Kenya’s position as a leading regional business and financial hub.”
The EABL sale is not yet settled. A Machakos court injunction issued June 22 froze the transaction ahead of a July 2 hearing, the fourth legal challenge to reach a Kenyan court since April, Drinkabl.media reported. EABL has asked Chief Justice Martha Koome to consolidate the fragmented proceedings, arguing the timing threatens contractual deadlines tied to the deal’s close.
Diageo said Musunga’s move to Nairobi “underscores its confidence in Kenya’s position as a leading regional business and financial hub,” per Capital FM Kenya, even as the company sells down its stake in the country’s largest brewer. That contradiction, a continental headquarters anchored in a market Diageo no longer controls, will shape how Musunga’s Africa strategy reads to investors watching both transactions close.
Whether Koome intervenes before today’s hearing now determines whether the Asahi deal holds its 2026 timeline, or drags Musunga’s first months in the role into further litigation.
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