The role of the Corporate Relations function is to take action to ensure Diageo’s license to operate, improve our license to grow and unlock our license to celebrate. Through making progress in these areas, the function will help Diageo to deliver on our performance ambition to be the most respected and trusted business in Africa.

We will play a leading role in addressing the challenges ahead such as the harmful use of alcohol, water scarcity, climate change, and contributing to reducing inequality and building skills in communities as well as empowering women and other underrepresented groups. Through these actions, we will help build a more sustainable future and ensure our business is able to thrive over the longer term.

This role will require:

• Proven leadership skills, in particular the ability to influence others in order to deliver the CR strategy across cultures, working both with internal and external collaborators, at different levels of seniority.
• A combination of both very strong strategic capabilities and a strong operational track record- commercial foresight is a must.
• Proven CR functional capabilities (particularly experience in the areas of regulatory and reporting)
• The ability to operate in multifaceted and sophisticated environments, combining in-depth CR expertise and an understanding of the commercial environment
• Delivery of objectives will also require focus on priority opportunities and the successful engagement of our local management teams, commercial partners and key external collaborators (government, media, communities).

Diageo Africa has the scale, depth, infrastructure and brands to take advantage of the many opportunities the continent has to offer.

Our success in Africa is built on a rich heritage. Since the 1820s, when Guinness first shipped to Sierra Leone, we have grown through our brands. In the 1890s Johnnie Walker arrived in Kenya and in 1962 the first Guinness brewery outside the British Isles was built in Nigeria. Over the years we have expanded both organically and through acquisitions such as Meta Abo in Ethiopia. Our strategy is to participate across all price points and to grow our beer portfolio fast and our spirits brands faster.

Our company is sustained through innovation. We constantly look to build new experiences such as Dubic Malt, an affordable addition to the non-alcoholic malt market, and Orijin Bitters, which blends

the popular bitters flavour with fruits and herbs to build a unique bittersweet taste. Above all, we want to have a positive impact across Africa as an employer and manufacturer. We source locally and invest in local agriculture. We are careful stewards of water, and our Water of Life programme has provided 10 million people with access to clean water since 2007. We also want our products to be enjoyed responsibly and campaign to ensure we all #drinkpositive.

Illicit Consumption:

Illicit alcohol is a major public health issue across Africa. According to the World Health Organization, about half of all the alcohol drunk in sub-Saharan Africa is produced illegally, with the informal brewing market believed to be three to five times the value of the beer market. In Africa we play a role in reducing the consumption of dangerous illicit brews by producing quality, affordable alternatives that also offer employment and economic benefit. Senator Keg, which was introduced to Kenya in 2004, demonstrates how we are doing this. This was done through a range of measures including a lower tax regime, which increased affordability, and regulatory concessions.

Furthermore, governments are seeking to control the scale of illicit by application of misguided policies, like application of excise strip stamps. Diageo recognizes the intent to combat illicit is positive but the application of stamps, especially on beer and soft drinks is in error. The costs of application of stamps especially on beer is high, the disruption to production costly and the impact negligible- leaving the revenue in the hands of international operators.

Accountabilities & Capabilities

• Act as a regional champion for Diageo Africa internally and externally, by building and raising Diageo’s profile and leadership on key issues across multiple markets.
• Consolidation of reporting internally for public affairs, regulatory and DIS.
• Regulatory and Illicit plan and execution. Licensing for trade, excise relief, marketing and sales of our brands are a priority.
• Comprehensively study the illicit challenges and resolve in collaboration the very real threat of illicit consumption- broadening revenue for govt, improving quality of consumption and maintaining affordability for our brands.
• Analytical approach to problem solving- key link between Global and IMC’s for reporting and execution regulatory relief.

Experience Required

• Commercial acumen- understanding the P&L and our impact to it.
• Excel experience for reporting and management.
• Demonstrable experience in Sustainability, Corporate Responsibility and or Policy roles.
• Experienced in project management developing and implementing new programs in markets.
• Experience in government or civil society engagement on sustainability and community/social issues.
• Fluent English languages both spoken and written communication, local language skills preferable.

Enablers of Success in Role:

• Translate a multi-disciplinary global strategy into specific local actions that get results
• Determine the best approach to successfully partner with external stakeholders and deliver on Diageo’s strategy
• Take a project through to completion, anticipating barriers and pitfalls, and formulating ways to overcome these
• Work across a global, multi-market role with markets operating within a wide variety of conditions and capacity in terms of implementation of programs and responsibilities.

Diversity statement:

Celebrating our inclusive and diverse culture is core to Diageo’s purpose of “celebrating life every day everywhere”. This purpose is, in itself, inclusive in nature, as it values everybody irrespective of background, disability, religion, gender identity, sexuality or ethnicity. We know that for our business to thrive and for Diageo to realize its ambition, we depend on having diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which we operate and to reflect our broad consumer base. We view diversity as one of the key enablers that helps our business to grow and our values, purpose and standards set the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution each person brings.

Flexibility is key to success in our business and many of our staff work flexibly in many different ways, including part-time, compressed hours, flexible location. Please talk to us about what flexibility means to you and don’t let anything stop you from applying.