Diageo Africa

Our business has a rich heritage across Africa, producing local brands with locally sourced materials.

Overview

Since the 1820s when the first crates of Guinness arrived ashore, we have worked to produce exceptional brands locally in Africa while empowering the communities around us. Africa is a hugely exciting region for our company. Spanning all price points and categories, our strategy is to grow our beer portfolio fast and our spirits brands faster.

We produce a range of mainstream spirits at the mid-level price range that are tailored to local tastes and flavours. We drive smart investments through local manufacturing, innovation and partnerships to unlock growth. Local sourcing is very important to our strategy, currently at 86%, directly supporting our commercial operations whilst bringing wider economic benefits to local communities, agricultural development and farmers.

While we nurture our global brands, we are committed to developing new ones that resonate with the African market. This has given rise to local legends such as Serengeti, Tanzania’s number one beer, and Orijin Marula, an African gin made with African fruits.

Find out how we build brands

9 %

of all Diageo net sales are generated in Africa

5

breweries

86 %

of our ingredients are locally sourced

Our markets

East Africa: East African Breweries PLC (EABL) is the leading branded alcohol beverage business in East Africa and operates an extensive network of breweries, distilleries, and distribution facilities, especially concentrated in the three core markets of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Find out more

Diageo South, West and Central Africa (SWC) is a newly formed market within Diageo Africa reflecting the company’s new ambition and strategy for the region. The commercial region spans four sub-regions straddling South, West and Central Africa (SWC) where we are executing our strategy through wholly-, partially owned businesses or trade partnerships. These sub-regions include:

Diageo West & Central Africa, covering Nigeria (focusing on International Premium Spirits) and regional Africa Partner Markets including Ghana, Cameroon, Angola, DR Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia. In Africa Partner Markets, we work with 15 partners in various markets across Africa to drive growth in the region. These markets are managed through third parties who manufacture, distribute, and commercialise our beer, RTDs and mainstream spirits brands.
Diageo South Africa, headquartered in Johannesburg, and Southern Africa Emerging Markets (SAEM) including Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe and Indian Ocean Islands

Our brands

With more than 100 brands on offer, consumers in Africa can choose from a variety of drinks for all drinking occasions. While beer has always been a bastion of our offering, spirits and other locally produced drinks are ever-growing in popularity.

See our brand portfolio

ESG

Spirit of Progress

Spirit of Progress is our ten-year action plan to help create a more inclusive and sustainable world. As part of this plan, we're committed to having a positive impact on Africa. On the people, on the environment, and in the future.

Performance

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33%

percentage of female employees

9,517

people (51% women) trained through our Learning for Life programme

33%

reduction in Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions

Promote positive drinking

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Responsible consumption is paramount to who we are and how we sell. We encourage people to enjoy alcohol safely, providing them with the information and tools they need to make more informed choices.

Our initiatives

We have various initiatives in place to help promote positive drinking:

DRINKiQ is a hugely versatile online educational tool for Africa. It hosts e-learning for consumers and partners like the DVLA in Kenya and Ghana.
SMASHED goes to schools to stop underage drinking, educating future consumers about alcohol.
Together with UNITAR, we launched Wrong side of the road, an educational programme designed to help people understand the consequences of drink driving through speaking to people who made the decision to get behind the wheel after drinking. This was launched in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

Our results in 2022

188,000 - people were educated through SMASHED
+88,000 - people in South Africa were reached through Wrong Side of The Road

Learn more about how we promote positive drinking

Pioneer grain-to-glass sustainability

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To cut our carbon emissions and boost water efficiency, we are investing in renewable energy sources such as solar and biomass. We're also trying to reduce our water consumption and replenish local sources. In 2021, we replenished 385,000 cubic metres of water across the region.

To facilitate waste management and recycling in Ghana, we're investing in local infrastructure. Partnering with GRIPE, a recycling alliance, and Coliba we have funded ten new bottle buyback centres.

Learn more about how we are pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability

Investment and growth

We operate across 8 sites in Africa including 5 breweries, blending and malting facilities. With such a large and ever-growing presence, we've become a significant employer. In fact, our supply chain comprises more than 100,000 people including our own employees as well as suppliers, farmers and contractors. By developing local talent, we're helping to create an inclusive culture that recognises the power of diversity.

We source 86% of our raw materials locally. Not only does this enhance the authenticity of our products, but it helps to create employment opportunities and revenue in local communities.

To support our supplier network, we have created various farming initiatives ranging from agricultural training to financial schemes that help build resilience. In 2024, our regenerative agriculture programmes worked with over 90,000 farmers.

As an employer, we seek out the very best local talent, giving them the tools, skills and opportunities they need to thrive. Having a diverse team of all genders, ethnicities and backgrounds is a priority for us. Diageo has embraced inclusion and diversity with rigor and decisiveness for the last two decades.

Supply operations

We have 5 breweries and 7 licensed Third-Party Operators (TPOs) with brewing, malting, blending and bottling capabilities. Our beer and spirits brands are also distributed through our operations, as well as through several third-party relationships across the region.

Building advantaged and diverse talent in Africa

In Africa, we have seen our leadership transform, with 80% of roles occupied by local talent versus 44% ten years ago, a result of intentional talent planning, strong employer brand and structured development programmes. In 2024, women constituted about 40% of senior leadership roles versus 6% 10 years ago, and 37% gender representation across all levels. Our external recruitment efforts ensure that 50% of hires are female to drive and sustain gender representation.

Latest

stories

06 Mar 2025 AfricaESG

Helping our smallholder farmers tackle the impacts of climate change and gender inequality

21 Jan 2025 EuropeAfricaLatin America and CaribbeanAsia PacificNorth AmericaInnovationOur BrandsBeerGinLow and No AlcoholLiqueurRumOther Whisk(e)yTequilaScotch WhiskyVodka

Behind the science of Distilled