Executive business leader, Adebayo Alli, has been elevated to the expanded role of General Manager for Diageo West & Central Africa (Beer and Spirits).
Adebayo Alli is a seasoned Diageo leader with an impressive 20-year track record of driving growth and transformation across some of our most dynamic markets. He steps into this role from his previous position as General Manager for Africa Partner Markets and the Indian Ocean Islands, where he demonstrated exceptional strategic leadership.
His extensive career with Diageo is a testament to his versatile expertise. Having held pivotal roles across Supply Chain, Sales, and Commercial leadership, Adebayo has consistently delivered outstanding results, from leading multi-million-pound expansion projects to shaping market-winning strategies in Nigeria and Ethiopia.
Commenting on Adebayo’s expanded role, Diageo wrote on its LinkedIn page, “ Bayo’s deep understanding of our business, combined with his proven ability to build capable teams and lead through transformation, makes him the ideal leader to steer our West & Central Beer and Spirits portfolio into its next chapter of growth.”
He joined Diageo in 2005 as a Packaging Operations Support Manager and has held several senior leadership roles across manufacturing, supply, and commercial.
In 2013, Bayo moved to Ethiopia on an International Assignment to join the leadership team of Diageo’s Meta Abo Breweries Limited as the lead for a business transformation project. He was subsequently promoted to Plant Manager in 2014 and appointed Supply Chain Director in 2015. Bayo brought a unique style of leadership, displaying a heightened sense of cultural awareness, inclusive leadership, and a mission mindset to unlock many breakthroughs while working in Ethiopia.
He returned to Nigeria as Operations Director and, in pursuit of his general management ambition, he transitioned to commercial, taking up several senior commercial sales roles in the company.
Between 2019 and 2020, Bayo was appointed and served briefly as the Director for IPS, Reserve & Modern Trade. In 2020, Bayo was appointed as the Commercial Director of Guinness Nigeria.
Bayo also transformed the commercial team in Guinness Nigeria into one with a digital-focused mindset and has successfully leveraged technological solutions to drive incremental growth, deliver productivity, embed operational safety, and sustain market share growth.
He is known for his deliberate focus on people and his many bold vets across supply and commercial have helped unlock business growth for many of his colleagues, thereby ensuring robust succession plans. His purpose is to add value to the world by inspiring others, especially Africans, to cause the transformations he wants to see and leave everything better than he found it.
Bayo holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ibadan and an MSc in Advanced Process Engineering from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.