Tackling massive corporate moves like EABL's $2.3 billion acquisition might intimidate most executives, but Ivy Kimori thrives when stepping into the unknown. The brewer's group head of strategy takes stock of her time in executive leadership, revealing why taking bets on people and creating safe spaces for collaboration matter far more than having all the answers upfront.
When Ivy Kimori describes her life, the word agility comes to mind. It is the descriptor she reaches for when she speaks about handling the $2.3 billion Asahi deal with Diageo, a project she took on with no prior experience in mergers and acquisitions.
“Sometimes you may not have the sense of or clarity about the beginning, but just get in and as you continue on your journey, things will become more clearer,” she says.
She was appointed in January to lead EABL’s side of the transition. Usually, the company changing hands is merely a reference point for buyer and seller, but EABL built its own governance structure instead. Ivy drew on her PwC years to set up a project office with workstreams beneath it.
“We said, let’s also set up a governance structure such that we also are not just in control of the processes that would be deferred to us but also ensure that we are contributing in the spaces where we need to contribute in a much more informed way,” she says.
The project took a Japanese name meaning ‘the future’, reflecting what is to come for the business. Three colleagues drawn from across the business work beside her in the project office. She calls them her ‘stretcher bearers’ as they go above and beyond to ensure that the bar is raised every time. Ivy describes it as an honour to learn and collaborate with them.
“I have truly benefited from the power of collaboration, which can be seen even from the onset with the project name suggested by two members of the team. I can’t say that this has been anything to do with me without those people, and I found safe spaces where I’ve been able to engage them. Through this, we’ve built really strong relationships,” Ivy says.
Budding entrepreneur
While the concepts of M&A can come easily to an experienced finance professional, execution depends on softer skills, so this experience has shown Ivy how chief executives really work.
“They’re not a jack of all trades, but they’re able to extract the best from people and drive the whole organisation towards the vision, the common vision that they have set,” she says.
As a firstborn, Ivy carried responsibility early. Her mother modelled a restless kind of enterprise. Alongside a formal job, she kept dairy cattle and dropped off milk orders on the school run.
“From early on I watched my mom. While she had a formal job she was doing many things. You come from school, she’s like, I have an order of 20 pieces of chicken broilers, put your things down,” she says.
At Catholic University, Ivy’s entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and she began to sell tea snacks with the goal of raising money to buy her first phone.
“It was a rewarding venture. Leaning on the early lessons I learnt from my mother about finding a way through difficult situations by exploring different alternatives, I developed a resourceful mindset.”
Taking a chance
Ivy had wanted to follow her father into IT until he doubted it would pay her well. After studying finance, Ivy joined PwC in 2003, where she worked for 10 years, nearly four of them as a senior manager in Birmingham, England.
“PwC really helped me to shape the key foundations of the finance leader I would become. Not only did it raise the bar with regards to my professional capabilities, but it also allowed me to experience working in different cultures and understanding how to navigate and build strong relationships in those spaces,” Ivy says. “As a minority and being one of only three black people at the office, I learned to engage and connect using the lens of the culture that I now was in. Over time, though, audit itself felt repetitive and limited, particularly when it came to adding value to our clients. I felt that insights reached clients months after they had set their priorities and I wanted to do more.”
She then joined EABL’s global internal audit team. The role took her from Singapore to Dublin and Ivy’s focus at the time was to immerse herself in the commercial and supply process with a keen focus of understanding the core of what drives business outcomes. After two and a half years, wearied by frequent travel, Ivy began to look for an opportunity that would allow her to spend more time with her young family at home.
“As part of my transition, I missed out on one job but was asked to build a supply finance function at Kenya Breweries instead. When I asked for the job description, they said, you’ll write it. You’ll write your job description. You’ll structure your team,” Ivy says.
She adds: “For me this spoke volumes, my line manager at the time took a chance on me not based on demonstrated experience in the area but evaluated my capabilities and trusted that I could deliver the job. This was a turning point for me and especially when it comes to taking a bet on people. I am grateful for the big bets and trust I have received and I take every opportunity to also pay this forward.”
Outside Nigeria, no Diageo market in Africa had the function. Faced with a role she had no experience in but was keen to make work, Ivy tapped into her entrepreneurial spirit to build her vision. She and her team would raise the bar when it came to supporting the supply function in executing its strategy.
“I moved them into the brewery and turned cost accountants into the most effective decision support managers. You can say that you’ve achieved something when your partners actually start speaking your language and you start speaking their language,” she says.
Safe spaces
Ivy later moved to Unilever, where she faced her defining test. The company was weighing a move of manufacturing to Egypt, where rebates made production look cheaper.
“Deep down in my heart I was like, we can’t close a plant and make people lose their jobs in Kenya. So that business case had to work,” she says.
Her analysis found no case to leave. Her work got the attention of the global supply chain director, and after numerous reviews and checks with the global teams, her work held up.
In time, EABL brought her back as head of finance. She later became acting finance director in Tanzania after a handover lasting a single afternoon.
“My biggest learning I think at that point in time was just to be comfortable in my own shoes. Don’t try and step into other people’s shoes,” she says.
Ivy likes to build teams in safe spaces where people can push back, and several of her former team members now lead supply finance. She credits her supervisor when she was an intern and during her early days at KBL with shaping this approach.
“At KBL, I was handed a function with no blueprint. There was nothing in my CV that said I’d run a team in a market function. I was all audits,” she says.
Ivy also leads a full life at home, where her children keep her schedule full and her sense of humour intact.
“I always say I’m in a confluence of seasons. My family members are at different milestones in their lives.
She hikes and bakes when time allows, and tends to a garden that she started whilst on maternity leave, which has yielded its first sugar cane. She is intentional about her friendships too.
“If you don’t invest enough time now, after this whole cycle, who will you have to do life with?” Ivy says.
