Yohannes Taye has been appointed Brand Manager, Premium at Nigerian Breweries Plc, moving over from Heineken Ethiopia after more than four years across trainee, junior brand manager and brand manager roles. He announced the appointment on LinkedIn this week, describing it as a new chapter following his most recent stretch leading campaigns for the Harar beer brand in Ethiopia.
His outgoing role centred on Harar, one of Heineken Ethiopia’s flagship brands alongside Bedele and Walia. Heineken entered the Ethiopian market in 2011 when it acquired the state-owned Harar and Bedele breweries, later building the Kilinto brewery near Addis Ababa as part of a wider investment push in the country. Taye’s post credited work on the Harar 40th Anniversary campaign, a Bedele Regular packaging refresh and the Harar 2018 New Year campaign among his highlights.
Nigerian Breweries, where Taye now moves, is majority owned by Heineken and remains Nigeria’s largest brewer by volume. The company has faced pressure on both margins and consumption in recent years. Heineken reported a steep drop in Nigerian beer volumes in 2023, and Nigerian Breweries temporarily suspended production at two of its nine plants that same year. The premium segment, where Taye will now work, is one of the categories the group has leaned on to offset weaker mainstream sales.
The move also fits a wider pattern inside Heineken’s African business, where brand talent regularly shifts between markets facing similar consumer pressure. Just last month, Heineken Ethiopia’s Harar brand ran a promotional campaign built around social connection rather than price cuts, responding to shrinking household budgets. Nigeria’s beverage market carries its own version of that pressure, with currency depreciation and fragmented retail shaping how premium brands compete for shelf space there.
Taye studied marketing at Admas University and completed a separate degree in construction engineering technology at Adama Science and Technology University, finishing both in 2020. He joined Heineken Ethiopia as a graduate trainee in January 2022, before moving into junior and senior brand management roles based in Addis Ababa. He summed up the move on LinkedIn: “New market. New challenges. Bigger ambitions. Same passion.”
Read more:
