Diageo Appoints Kemi Longe as Portfolio Director for Southern, Western & Central

A renowned marketing and communication leader, Kemi Longe has made a return to Diageo, a multinational alcoholic beverage company, following her appointment as Portfolio Director for Southern, West, and Central Africa.

The business unit comprises two regions covering Southern Africa, the Indian Ocean, and West and Central Africa, including businesses in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Seychelles, among others.

With her new appointment, Kemi will be responsible for leading the portfolio team to build and localize brand strategies as well as standards for execution continent to transform and accelerate growth of Diageo’s international spirits in Africa, among other functions.

Before joining Diageo, Kemi was the Head of Marketing for PZ Cussons where she performed duties such as providing cross-functional leadership for the marketing team, P & L oversight, revenue growth management, innovation management, among others.

A self-starter with expertise in route-to-market excellence, sales, business development, customer management and capability development, she started her career journey at African Petroleum as Lube Oil blending plant and Testing Laboratory Trainee, she then moved to Superior Equipment Limited as Technical Sales Staff. At CP Fiberglass, she worked as Sales Manager before leaving for Diageo.

At Diageo, Kemi served as Retail Development Manager, she then ported to Unilever where she spent over 5 years in various roles including Territory Manager, Channel Manager, Manager (Supermarkets), and Modern Trade Business Development Manager.

She also worked at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as Shopper Marketing Manager & Marketing Activation Manager, and Marketing Manager – Wellness Category.

She holds a B.Sc, in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos.