African C-Level executives are in demand by multinationals...?

Dear Africa Interested Individuals:
                                                         A country is not a person; a country is made up of people.  A country gets its identity from its people.  While people are referred to as human capital by companies, I consider people as human identity by countries.  So, how are multinational companies rating Nigerian and Ghanaian C-level executives presently?  Recent developments are ominous for Nigerian executives and those in the pipeline and blossoming for Ghanaians executives and bodes well for those in the pipeline.


Diageo appointed its first Nigerian CEO for Guinness Nigeria in 2012 (appointment took effect July 1st, 2012) since the appointment of Ralph Alabi in 1991.  He was prior to that the CEO of East African Breweries Kenya and before that Guinness Ghana.  He was removed from the position of CEO of Guinness Nigeria in October 2014 after a brief tenure that was deemed unsatisfactory.  His current professional whereabout is unclear.  He had success in  other countries but could not do same in his native homeland where he should better understand local dynamics.  It took 21 years for Diageo to appoint another Nigerian to the helm of affairs of Guinness Nigeria.  I lack the right equation to calculate when next Diageo will appoint a Nigerian to head its Nigerian subsidiary after this last opportunity for homegrown talent was unfortunately botched by a Nigerian.  

Peter Ndegwa (a Kenyan) has just been appointed the CEO of Guinness Nigeria.  He was formerly the CEO of Guinness Ghana.  He spent seven years working for Diageo in his home country/region before being appointed to head a Diageo subsidiary in Ghana and now Nigeria.  I guess the new formula for Diageo will be to ensure that its executives have bee tried and tested in their home country/region before testing foreign waters and not the other way round as was the case with Seni Adetu.     

PZ Cussons Ghana CFO is a Ghanaian lady; the CFO of PZ Cussons Nigeria is a South African.  No place for a Nigerian.   

The MD of Unilever Ghana is a Ghanaian lady while the MD of Unilever Nigeria is a Ghanaian man.   Once again, no place for a Nigerian. 

In my article on Standard Chartered Bank Ghana and Ecobank Ghana, I noted that SCB Ghana is struggling.  The CFO of Standard Chartered Bank Ghana is a Nigerian.  He will be resigning his position as the CFO of SCB Ghana effective October 2015.  Another Nigerian C-level executive bites the dust.  

It is not all doom and gloom as you will expect.  The CEO of Total Kenya (Ada Eze) is a Nigerian and the CEO for East & Central Africa for Heineken International is a Nigerian.  He actually started his Heineken career in Nigeria.  Diageo, this appears the way to go; the executive should be tried and tested at home and then taken out and not tested outside and then brought home.  The CEO & CFO for Nigerian Breweries are not Nigerians or Africans.  Interestingly enough, the last time Nigerian Breweries had a Nigerian CEO he was alleged to have gone into partisan politics and supported a third presidential term agenda.  A topic currently gaining ground in Kenya by the way.  He resigned his position soon afterwards.  Another multinational firm where a Nigerian at the helm in Nigeria in our foreseeable future is unlikely.     The CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria (Bola Adesola) and Lazarus Angbazo, the President & CEO of  General Electric (GE) Nigeria are Nigerians.  

The CEO of Nestle Nigeria is a South African and the CFO (appointed a year ago) is a Bangladeshi.  No place at the C-level top for a Nigerian at home.  

Cadbury Nigeria's (now owned by Mondelez International) CEO in 2006 (Bunmi Oni) was relieved of his duties in December 2006 after being indicted in an accounts overstatement scandal by the multinational company at the global corporate level.

SAB Miller in Nigeria (International Breweries) has a Nigerian CEO.  This was pretty much laid out during controlling stake negotiations and left them with no wiggle room in my opinion.  One of those deal breakers as we call it.  In layman's terms, he took the CEO position; SAB Miller did not give it to him.   

Overall, Africans (excluding Nigerians)  are being given C-level executive positions at home and in other African countries with increasing frequency.  Nigerians appear to only deliver when not appointed to work in Nigeria; meanwhile, other Africans are doing well at home and on the continent for the most part which will make it harder for natives of Africa's most populous nation and largest economy to make their presence felt on a multinational level.  I have to say, Nigerians have been given key opportunities, especially at home and have most of the time, failed to deliver on the job and/or off the job.  Other Africans are rising to the occasion with aplomb.  I guess the formula for multinationals should be: hire Nigerians for C-level opportunities outside of Nigeria and appoint other Africans in their home countries and other African countries including Nigeria.  Nigerians like to run away from Nigeria anyway, so, this should help them achieve this.          

                    Tell others to tell others about this Africa Research Blog; the truth is here.  

                                  Subscription is now OPEN at the top of the blog.

I appreciate the THANKS; just replace it with DOLLAR this time around.  Both words have the same number of letters.  As we say in America, "put your money where your mouth is."  Support a good cause to continue.  Regards to all.    
    

    
     

  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Earnings Quality among African companies: Recurring restatements are not welcome

Dear Africa interested professionals:                                                            When I ponder on earnings quality, it goes beyond the financial performance of the companies as provided to us by their directors.  Are the numbers provided to us possess the qualities of transparency, authenticity and longevity?  Are this year's numbers going to be adjusted (restated) next year with the reality of this already known today?  Do restatements suddenly become an annual recurring act for some companies, just the way financial reports are audited annually? Public companies that continually restate their books, change key figures significantly without any clear, detailed explanation are guilty of poor earnings quality as their audited financials are not as reliable as they should be.   I have randomly selected visible companies across different industries in Africa and reviewed their two most recent annual reports (covering three fiscal years) for restatements an
Read more

GUINNESS NIGERIA & EAST AFRICAN BREWERIES - Same Ownership - Differing Loyalties

Dear Africa interested professionals: A throwback to a thematic analysis I did looking at Diageo's subsidiaries in Kenya and Nigeria in 2015 can be found below the dotted lines.  Five years later, nothing has significantly changed for the better.  Guinness Nigeria has sold its conscience to the Nigerian environment (opaqueness and self-serving decisions take center stage) while East African Breweries still tries to hold on to transparency and proper business management and this has reflected in its performance over the years.   Guinness Nigeria's better days are behind it and current actions do not bode well for the future.  When transparency goes out the door, there is nothing left behind worth admiring.  I will pick on two simple things to reflect on. 1 . Both companies made earnings expectation announcements to their respective stock exchanges for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 of a significantly negative performance relative to a year earlier.   East African Breweries
Read more

The clamor for continued devaluation of African currencies reeks more and more of selfish interests

Dear Africa Interested Individuals:                                                         The clamor continues for commodities export dependent (especially oil) economies to further devalue their currencies.  I keep asking myself "when is enough finally enough?"  The clamor is largely driven by global economists across the spectrum loyal to economic theory and the countries they are domiciled in, portfolio managers and large commercial banks in the countries of focus with net positive (more dollar inflows expected than dollar outflows) dollar exposures.   What does devaluation do to the people in the countries that have devalued their currencies multiple times (or one devaluation of 20% or more) over a short period? 1. Inflation rises quickly and is driven by those directly and indirectly impacted which is everybody .   2. Chances are high that the Central Bank (Fed in the USA) will have to raise interest rates to stem inflationary pressures in the economy. T
Read more