Guinness Nigeria Strengthens Its Leadership Team As Olusegun Akinyemiju Heads White Spirits (MSS) Category.

Guinness Nigeria appoints Olusegun Akinyemiju as Head of White Spirits (MSS Category), marking a strategic addition to the company’s senior leadership team.

Olusegun is a seasoned brand and marketing executive with over 13 years of experience building, scaling, and transforming some of West Africa’s most recognisable consumer brands across FMCG, alcoholic beverages, telecommunications, retail, and wellness sectors.

In his new role, Olusegun will be expected to oversee one of Guinness Nigeria’s largest and most commercially critical portfolios, which accounts for the majority of the company’s spirits business by volume and value. He will lead the end-to-end portfolio strategy, covering brand positioning, innovation, pricing, communications, media investment, and market execution within Nigeria’s highly competitive and regulated alcohol industry.

Before joining Guinness Nigeria, he served as Senior Brand Manager for Lord’s Dry Gin at Nigerian Distilleries Limited (NDL), where he delivered one of the most notable brand turnarounds in the category. Under his leadership, the brand achieved double-digit growth across sales and equity metrics, successfully re-established its premium positioning, and launched Nigeria’s first ready-to-drink (RTD) extensions within the portfolio. These initiatives drove incremental revenue while repositioning the brand for modern consumers.

He also held the role of Category Manager for Gin and Liqueurs at NDL, where he led portfolio-wide strategy, managed innovation pipelines, executed go-to-market plans, and optimised commercial performance across multiple brands.

Beyond the alcohol category, Olusegun previously served as Head of Marketing, West Africa, at i-Fitness, the region’s largest fitness chain. In this role, he spearheaded business expansion efforts that delivered 120% revenue growth within one year, pioneered corporate wellness initiatives, and established strategic partnerships with public institutions and multinational organisations.

Earlier in his career, he was Marketing & Strategy Director at Deqube Agency, where he transformed the firm into a growth-driven powerhouse. He restructured client delivery teams, strengthened the agency’s strategic proposition, and led multimillion-naira accounts across FMCG, fintech, financial services, and the public sector.

Olusegun has also held senior leadership roles at Noah’s Ark Communications and Rock Thompson Nigeria, playing key roles in repositioning major Nigerian brands such as Airtel, Coca-Cola, Peak Milk, Access Bank, Hypo, and Guinness through award-winning integrated campaigns spanning brand strategy, experiential marketing, performance marketing, and storytelling.

He holds multiple professional certifications and affiliations, including: Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK, Digital Marketing Institute, Ireland, National Institute of Management, Nigeria, and Chartered Institute of Business Analysts

As Head of White Spirits (MSS Category), Olusegun is expected to play a key role in shaping the future of Guinness Nigeria’s spirits portfolio, delivering value across consumers, partners, and shareholders.