Kevin Achieng
Kenyan commercial strategist Kevin Achieng has built a career on turning balance-sheet insight into frontline growth. Armed with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance from the University of Nairobi, he joined Unilever’s graduate programme, jumped from cost analyst to territory sales lead in two years, and piloted data-driven route-to-market models that lifted category share across rural Kenya. That agility caught the eye of Kimberly-Clark, which moved him to Dubai and, a year later, promoted him to Business Development Director for the Middle East & Africa. Today he orchestrates pricing, channel partnerships and innovation roll-outs in 30 countries, steering a US$500-million portfolio that spans Huggies diapers to Kleenex tissues; recent wins include a pan-Gulf e-commerce push that doubled online revenue in 18 months and a localisation scheme giving East African factories a 15 percent cost edge.
Off the P&L, Achieng hosts monthly virtual roundtables where Kenyan undergraduates grill industry veterans on career pivots, an initiative now reaching 2,000 students and mentors early-career sales managers through the Young African Leaders framework. Next, he aims to embed recycled fibre into the region’s best-selling hygiene lines and grow his mentorship platform into a scholarship fund, proving that sustainable business and talent development can rise in tandem.