EABL CEO Jane Kariuku named among top CEOs in Africa

East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) Group MD and CEO, Jane Karuku, has been enlisted in The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs, unveiled during The Definitive List Summit held on October 13, 2021.

She is part of the 50 African women who qualified from an initial list of a total of 526 women who run 355 companies as either CEO of publicly listed African corporations, division heads of publicly listed African corporations, or the Africa-region heads or Africa country heads of global corporations.

Africa.com undertook a rigorous, data-driven research project that identified not just high-profile personalities, but the women who run the largest, most complex businesses on the African continent.

This included reviewing all publicly listed companies on all of the twenty-one stock exchanges in Africa – a list of over 1400 companies.

Karuku is amongst the most senior women leaders in East Africa, steering East and Central Africa’s largest alcohol beverage business to greater heights. At the helm of the EABL business, she has been instrumental in driving innovations in the business.

“The women in the Definitive list today indeed show that Africa has made great progress in gender inclusion in the corporate space and I hope that we get to inspire young women all over the continent to arise, step forward and go for their dreams, whatever they may be. At East African Breweries PLC, we are passionate about mainstreaming inclusion and diversity both at the workplace and in our communities. We have put in place necessary policies and programs and have set ambitious targets towards having women making up 50% of our workforce and leaders by 2030, “she remarked.

In addition to revealing the names on The Africa.com Definitive List of Women CEOs, Africa.com has provided observations and trends that emerged from the research project, including key enablers that must be put in place to empower women towards successful careers.

“Part of success is choosing the right employer. Research by Harvard Business School shows that the company that a black woman works plays a very important role in determining the course and trajectory of her career,” Anthony Mayo, MBA professor at Harvard Business School shared during his presentation.

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This observation was agreed on unanimously by the African women CEOs who shared their journeys after the revealing of the Definitive List.

“My journey and success started back in my 20s when my boss believed in me and put me in charge of a big team of men in the factory. I have also greatly benefitted from working with an organization that is deliberate about attracting, retaining and developing the most diverse talent as we believe that every unique individual brings a unique talent that we can leverage on as a business. At EABL, inclusion and diversity is one of our must-dos and we have set ambitious goals in our ten-years’ action plan, the 2030 Sustainability Strategy,” said Ms. Jane Karuku said.

Mrs. Karuku was appointed Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer EABL effective January 1, 2021.

Before her appointment, she served as the Managing Director of Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) since July 2015 and a member of the EABL Board since 2013.

She also oversaw the strategic and operational transformation of the KBL business during her time at the helm of one of the largest manufacturing operations in East & Central Africa.

Mrs. Karuku has been instrumental in implementing the KBL strategy that has helped the company to improve on its route to market efficiency, costs optimisation, launch of strong innovations pipeline, talent development and enhancing the company’s reputation among its stakeholders. She has also overseen the revival of the KBL Kisumu Brewery and various capacity and operational improvements at the Nairobi plant.

Other Kenyan women CEOs named in the list are KenGen CEO, Rebecca Miano and Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) Group CEO, Naseem Devji.