Drinks boss toasts Africa as the land of post-Brexit opportunities
THE head of Guinness-to-Johnnie Walker giant Diageo’s African business today urged London businesses to explore opportunities in the continent in the aftermath of Brexit.
Speaking at Government’s UK-Africa Investment Summit today, Diageo Africa president John O’Keeffe said that, with Britain’s departure from the EU, it was vital that it “sets out its stall” with Africa. He added that was particularly key now as the continent rolls out its African Continental Free Trade Agreement, making it easier to trade between countries there.
“The opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa are tremendous. You have a population growth which will see 200 million more Africans turn 18 by 2030. That’s really exciting for a company like ours. Currently they have low per capita consumption and a lot of the alcohol is illicit or home-brewed, but as rural populations move to cities they will be moving towards formal alcohol consumption.”
Diageo has a range of brands specifically for African markets at various prices, from premium African-brewed Guinness to cheaper Harp in Nigeria.
O’Keeffe acknowledged there had been many false dawns for Africa’s economies, most recently before the 2014 commodities markets crash hit countries like Nigeria where oil and mining had fuelled economic growth.
“It’s true, it can be one of the most volatile regions. You have to have resilience and the stomach to overcome that. We took the view in 2014 that we should stay but adapt to the changing situation, making spirits from locally sourced raw materials so we could make our products more affordable. That allowed us to ride the wave of volatility and stay in the game.”
He said Diageo had recently invested £180 million in African infrastructure, installing solar and biomass energy initiatives at its breweries there. It spent around £100 million on a new brewery in western Kenya that has created “tens of thousands of local jobs”, he said.