Marketer of the month
Who is CAROLINE NDUNGU ?
Caroline is a marketing and finance professional with over 20 years of extensive work experience gained in multinational organizations across a diverse range of sectors and geographies. She has extensive experience in developing and delivering marketing and business plans and in evaluating and defining opportunities in a competitive environment, consequently developing value generating strategies to all stakeholders.
The experience of CAROLINE NDUNGU
Currently serving as Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Jubilee Holdings, her core responsibilities encompass Steering Leadership and Strategy, Branding, Communications, Digital Transformation, Public Relations (PR), and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) initiatives.
Caroline’s key areas of expertise include business development, audit and finances, portfolio management, budget and profit/loss, customer service, project and program management, account management, training and development and brand management
Prior to joining Absa Bank Kenya, Caroline was the marketing director at EABL and Serengeti Breweries before then where she managed a portfolio of beer, spirits and adult non-alcoholic drinks providing marketing and innovation direction and strategy.
Before this, Caroline was the regional manager with Diageo, where she is credited with the implementation of the Tusker Strategy to deliver the brand vision of becoming Africa’s number one beer brand by value and volume.
As a leader in business development, Caroline is also credited with accelerating growth in the premium and mainstream segments by delivering a quality proposition with Tusker Malt Lager through great packaging and engineering product quality.
In terms of offering value for money in the lower end market, Caroline’s tenure saw the rolling out of Tusker Draught to drive accessibility in the lower mainstream by providing a price point versus serve benefit on top of leading the regional agenda on Tusker core market of Eastern Africa and driving synergies on development work and budgets.
As Marketing and Corporate Relations Director, at Barclays Bank of Kenya (now rebranded as ABSA Bank Kenya, Caroline utilized her immense communications/citizenship/marketing strategies to enhance the brand image.
At ABSA Bank Kenya, Caroline defined annual plans, outlines content in alignment with business needs, exceeds customer expectations and prepares reports for senior management. She acquires funding, assures staff engagement, and oversees compliance and regulations.
Key achievements at ABSA Bank Kenya include the introduction proposition Zidisha bonus account resulting in major cost savings of KES 8b within 12 months. She also secured over 3 million new customers using Timiza mobile application.
Within a very short span of time, Caroline led her team to successfully initiated the ABSA brand into Kenyan market resulting in seventy-two (72) per cent awareness.
The successful and impactful transitioning of the Barclays brand to Absa whilst maintaining stakeholder/current client engagement and growing the customer base is one of her major achievements. Caroline also supported the bank’s top management team to showcase Kenya as a golfing tourism destination through the sustained sponsorship of Barclays Bank, now rebranded as ABSA.
Additional Information
She has been named among Top 25 Most Impactful Women in Corporate Communications in 2021 and 2024
Academic Qualifications
Among her various qualifications, Caroline attended the IESE Business School for the Advanced Management Programme and the Strathmore University College and Business School where she qualified as a CPA-K, graduating in 1997. She holds a BA degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi.