Nigerian Breweries Plc- Nigeria’s foremost brewing company, has announced the appointment of Uzodinma Odenigbo as the Corporate Affairs Director of the company. Odenigbo succeeds Sade Morgan who has been elevated to a global role as Heineken’s Corporate Affairs Director, Africa, Middle East and Africa.
The appointment, which takes effect from May 1, 2025, was recently announced by the Managing Director of the company, Hans Essaadi.
Since joining NB in 2017, Odenigbo has been responsible for Public, External & Government Affairs, first as Public Affairs Manager for the South of Nigeria. He has subsequently led the critical public affairs agenda pan-Nigeria while also providing strategic direction for the Regional Corporate Affairs Managers.
Significantly, he delivered a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and communications framework as part of the project team for implementation of the 2024 Nigerian Breweries business recovery plan, achieving zero business disruption and negative media coverage amongst other critical outcomes.
As part of his personal development plan, he was in July 2024 selected for an important Short Term Assignment (STA) as Corporate Affairs Director, Brarudi, where he joined the local Management Team. Between July 2024 and March 2025, he successfully led the Corporate Affairs agenda for Brarudi, driving the launch of a reputation campaign anchored on sustainability, elevated internal communications with positive impact on climate scores, championed the Optimal Business Climate agenda with concrete results on export, local sourcing and the ongoing advocacy to avoid negative excise impacts from tax harmonization in the EAC region.
Over the period in Burundi, he further enhanced the CA team capabilities and operationalized the 2025 CA playbook to position the team to meet critical deliverables even after his return to Nigeria.
Uzo holds an MBA and a PhD in Mass Communications with a passion for building emotional connections, discovering new frontiers and leading an active lifestyle.
A member of the HEINEKEN Group, Nigerian Breweries Plc is Nigeria’s pioneer and largest brewing company. Incorporated in 1946 as “Nigerian Brewery Limited,” the company made history in June 1949 when the first bottle of STAR lager beer rolled out of its Lagos brewery bottling line. Today, it has a rich portfolio of 19 high-quality brands (Heineken, Desperados, Maltina, Life, Amstel Malta, Gulder, Fayrouz, and Legend) produced from nine breweries and two malting plants distributed nationwide.
Nigerian Breweries Plc is also the recipient of several awards and recognition in other areas of its operations, including product quality, marketing excellence, productivity and innovation, health and safety, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability.
