Uganda’s personal care manufacturing major, Movit Products Limited, has appointed Steven Mwesigwa as its incoming Group Managing Director, effective January 2025, CEO East Africa Magazine can exclusively reveal.
He has previously been the Chief Commercial Officer, since January 2024. Before that, he was between October 2022 and January 2024 the Group CFO.
In the Group Managing Director role, he will oversee Movit Group’s operations at the Uganda home base, as well as Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan and Zambia.
Between June 2015 and May 2019 he was CFO of the Uganda operation. He later took a two-year break out of the company, as an independent management consultant between June 2019 and September 2022 before bouncing back as Group CFO.
Before Movit, Mwesigwa was the VP of Finance at Barclays Bank Uganda (now Absa Bank Uganda) and prior to that, he worked at PwC Uganda as Manager, Advisory (Finance, Accounting and Operations) for nearly four years. He has also worked at the Bank of Uganda, Stanbic Bank and the World Council of Credit Unions.
On the company’s website, he is described as a “key leader with extensive experience”.
“With a masters degree in Strategic Planning from EBS Heriot-Watt, he develops and executes effective strategies for revenue growth and market share leadership in East Africa. His ability to lead and document strategic plans ensures clarity and alignment across teams, fostering a unified approach to commercial success,” the company says.
On his LinkedIn page, he describes himself as a “strategic CFO with great value chain insight with 20 years technical and managerial experience in financial services, manufacturing and financial advisory, with a record of high productivity, quality and integrity”.
More executive changes
In more executive changes, Isaac Kaweesa Sekasi was in August 2024 appointed as the Chief Commercial Officer, International Business, in charge of Kenya, Rwanda, Congo & Burundi.
With nearly eighteen years of expertise in business development and commercialization, Sekasi is a specialist in the micro, small, and medium-sized firms and fast-moving consumer goods sectors in East Africa. He is dedicated to promoting strategic innovation, financial excellence, and corporate success.
Prior to joining Movit, he worked as a Business Development and Consulting Associate at PKF Consulting Ltd, as the Commercialisation and Business Development Director at Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda, as Head of Marketing at Crown Beverages Limited, Country Head of Marketing at Nile Breweries Limited, as Internal Audit Manager at Nile Breweries.
He possesses a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and is a Certified Marketing Analyst from the Global Academy of Finance and Management.
Movit also recently recruited former Uganda Airlines CFO, Andrew Ssekamwa as its Chief Commercial Officer, International Business, in charge of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi & West DRC. His assignment started on 1 September 2024.
This is his second stint at Movit having previously worked for the company as a Head of Finance (June 2019 – May 2020). Other than Uganda Airlines, Ssekamwa has also worked with I&M Bank Uganda as CFO (June 2020 – February 2023), with Standard Chartered Bank in Uganda and Tanzania as Finance Manager, as well as with SABMiller in South Sudan, as a Financial Reporting Accountant. He has also had a 2-year stint at PwC Uganda as an Associate, and then Assitant Audit Manager.
Parliament approves UNOC’s UGX 7 trillion loan from Vitol Bahrain to fund oil refinery, Kenya pipeline shares and storage facilitiesHe holds a Bachelor of Statistics in Development Economics and International Development.
Patrick Oyuru, who recently was hired as the Chief Marketing Officer, we understand, has been let go by the business, after his appointment was not confirmed.
Change of talent strategy?
The appointment of Steven Mwesigwa, Andrew Ssekamwa and Isaac Kaweesa Sekasi, all of them Ugandans to oversee Movit Group’s consolidation of the home market and lead growth in the Great Lakes region is a departure from an earlier strategy in which Movit’s Founder and Chairman, Simpson Birungi assembled a team of foreign experts to lead his foray away from home.
Mr. Birungi, is a former cosmetics and beauty products importer and retailer. He founded Movit in 1997 in a makeshift workshop in Namasuba, a Kampala suburb with only four people, but has since shaped it into a multi-million dollar enterprise with an estimated 20-25% market share of the over USD300 million Beauty and Personal Care industry.
Having built enough muscle at home, Simpson knew that fishing in the small Ugandan pond wasn’t enough. He needed to take his fishing gear to bigger ponds in the region, especially the Kenyan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzanian markets, which are worth an estimated USD800 million, USD300 million, and USD250 million, respectively.
Thus, the company launched its export expansion agenda in 2006 with a strategic market entry in Tanzania and later Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan and Zambia. Today, Movit has spread its footprint to 8 African countries, though its products are known to be present in many more African markets.
To oil this big export machine and firm up his route-to-market strategy, Simpson made several ambitious people moves in 2022, hiring key former Unilever, GSK, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Nestle, and Godrej executives to run key components of the export business.
Movit for example in April 2022 hired Gaurav Kaushal, an ex-Godrej CEO for Southern Africa to lead and consolidate the Group’s regional agenda.
Godrej Group is an Indian multinational multibillion-dollar conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Although Gaurav left shortly after, in September 2022, he was replaced by Roni Chacko, another ex-Godrej executive who was the Ghana Managing Director.
In July 2022, Movit also hired Kudzaishe Chivige as Group Chief Product Supply Officer. Chivige brought with him over 15 years of experience in FMCG and mining industries from various countries across Southern Africa, having worked with Unilever Southern Africa, Nestle, Bindura Nickel, and Rio Tinto.
He also hired two new chief executives to run Movit’s Kenya and Tanzania operations. Viola Awiti, the Chief Executive for Movit Kenya was hired in October 2022. Her rich experience included Nestle, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and L’Oreal.
Mary Kibugi, who was appointed the Chief Executive for Movit Tanzania in November 2022, brought with her experience from Philips, the Dutch Multinational Conglomerate dealing in health, personal care, and lighting, as well as Frigoglass and Procter & Gamble.
All the foreign executives have since left the Group for various reasons, all in under two years.
