Global drinks company, Diageo Plc, will host the newly launched Africa Digital Hub in Kenya to accelerate its digital transformation ambition. The hub, which will be hosted at EABL headquarters in Garden City Office Park, Nairobi is a shared service designed to deliver rapid digital capability deployment in Africa.
The Africa Digital Hub will serve Diageo’s key markets in Africa including Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. It will be headed by Ms. Waithera Kabiru, the immediate former Head of Media Futures at EABL. The decision reinforces Kenya’s prime position as a tech leader in Africa, driven by an emerging, wealthier middle-class population.
The development comes as Kenya continues to emerge as a favourite innovation destination for global tech giants, thanks to mobile penetration, tech innovation and an emerging middle-class population. A recent white paper by Visa indicated that e-commerce across has experienced phenomenal growth rates around the world and grow to $7 trillion across the globe by 2024. In 2020, EABL launched its direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform ke.theBar.com and this will be scaled to other markets in Africa.
Making the announcement, during the launch of the Hub, Diageo’s Global Digital Transformation Lead, Susan Jones noted that the hub, the first of its kind in the region is going to serve Diageo’s digital vision, “To win the next generation celebration by engaging and delighting consumers with world-class experiences across every consumer physical and digital touch points.”