Tolaram Takes Over Guinness Nigeria, Appoints New Board Members

By Dipo Olowookere

One of the leading brewers in the country, Guinness Nigeria Plc, is now in the hands of another owner, N Seven Nigeria Limited, owned by Tolaram, makers of the popular instant noodle brand, Indomie.

Tolaram took control of the brewery company after it acquired the majority shares of Guinness Nigeria from Guinness Overseas Limited and Atalantaf Limited, operated by Diageo.

As a result of this transaction, Tolaram has changed members of the board of Guinness Nigeria, appointing some executives to represent its interest in the firm’s apex governing organ.

In a statement to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, Guinness Nigeria said Mr Adebayo Alli has resigned his position as the Managing Director and his place is to be taken over by Mr Girish Sharma.

Mr Harkishin Aswani has been brought into the organisation as the new Vice Chair and Non-Executive Director, replacing Ms Joan Hodgins.

In addition, Mr Deepak Singhal and Mr John Musunga have been appointed to the board as non-executive directors to replace the duo of Mrs Grainne Wafer and Mr Leo Breen.

The other five members from the previous board, Ms Omobola Johnson, the chairman and independent non-executive director; Mr Emmanuel Difom, the Executive Director for Finance and Strategy Director; Prof Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), the independent non-executive director; Ms Ngozi Edozien, an independent non-executive director; and Mrs Vivien Shobo, an independent non-executive director, were left unchanged.

Business Post reports that the new leader of the management team, Mr Sharma, holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in India.

He also holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Kent and has attended executive training programmes at Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the University of Cambridge focusing on leadership, sustainability, and business management.

He is the chief executive of Tolaram’s joint venture with Colgate-Palmolive, in which role he has delivered a remarkable 70 per cent compound annual growth rate in top-line revenue year-on-year in the 5-year period since the inception of the Colgate-Palmolive Tolaram joint venture.

A seasoned business leader with over 20 years of experience in the consumer goods sector, he was previously Chief Operating Officer of the Tolaram company, Dufil, in which capacity he oversaw the growth of Tolaram’s flagship Indomie to a household name and market leader in Nigeria and Ghana.