Exclusive: Guinness Nigeria Names Ram Solayappan Marketing & Innovations Director As Yinka Bakare Exits
Guinness Nigeria has appointed Ramanathan “Ram” Solayappan as its new Marketing & Innovations Director, Brand Communicator can exclusively reveal. The appointment follows the departure of Yinka Bakare, who served as Marketing Director and exited the organisation effective 31 January 2026 to pursue opportunities outside the company.
The announcement was made in an internal communication signed by Girish Sharma, Managing Director of Guinness Nigeria, and obtained exclusively by this publication. In the letter addressed to the full team, Sharma thanked Bakare for his contributions in strengthening the company’s marketing foundations and guiding the team through key milestones, while expressing confidence that the incoming director will accelerate the company’s growth agenda under its Building for More vision 2026 roadmap.
Ram Solayappan who steps into his shoes is a seasoned Sales and Marketing executive with over 15 years of experience spanning Nigeria and India. He brings deep expertise in brand management, route-to-market strategy, business intelligence, and digital transformation within the FMCG sector.
Since joining the Tolaram Group in 2015 after completing his MBA, Ram has held progressive roles across V Connect, Multipro, and Dufil. During this period, he made contributions to SME solutions, distribution optimisation, and the enterprise-wide rollout of Power BI. He later transitioned fully into Marketing, where he championed digitalisation initiatives and, most recently, led Marketing for Indomie Instant Noodles, Nigeria’s largest noodles brand.
In his new role, Ram will be responsible for driving marketing strategy, strengthening the brand portfolio, and accelerating innovation to unlock new growth opportunities. The expanded title, Marketing & Innovations Director, as opposed to simply Marketing Director, signals a deliberate broadening of mandate, with innovation now formally embedded in the brief, consistent with Diageo’s global emphasis on portfolio diversification in emerging markets.