Coastal Bottlers Limited Appoints New CEO
Coastal Bottlers Ltd has appointed Seth Adu-Baah as the new CEO to be based in Mombasa. In his new role, Seth will be responsible for leading Coastal Bottler’s operations to focus on the growth and expansion of The Coca-Cola Company’s business in the region that covers the six counties of Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale, Lamu, Taita-Taveta and Tana River. As a crusader for top-line growth, he has an excellent history of growing sales volumes and market share by introducing a more effective route to market strategy for ensuring product availability.
“Along with a proven track record of turning around and optimizing organizations due to his visionary and solution-focused mindset, strong financial competences and customer centrism, Adu-Baah creates an employee culture of positivity to drive transformational growth,”
said Sachit Raja-Shah, a Board Member, Coastal Bottlers Ltd.
Seth joins Coastal Bottlers from The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Ghana Limited where he was the Managing Director between 2018 and 2020 where he is credited for high performance that led to a quick turnaround of the business within a year of being appointed.
While at Coca-Cola Ghana, Seth created a high performing team that shared his passion, commitment, and solutions-focused approach to running the business, innovated the route to market strategy and introduced a digital platform to support online sales. He achieved an 8% carbonated soft drinks market share recovery, 31% growth in sales volume, 17% growth in revenue and 18% growth in gross margin.
His commercial effectiveness has been recognized through awards such as the outstanding Beverage Manufacturing CEO of the Year 2018 by Ghana Entrepreneurs and Corporate Executives Awards, Young Industrialist of the Year 2018 and, Made in Ghana Awards 2018. The Africa Edition of Accounting and Business Magazine and HR focus magazine CISCM recognized Seth for innovative and strong leadership.
Before being promoted to lead the Ghana business, Seth had held multiple leadership positions for 20 years of increasing responsibility in the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling Company, including Country Manager roles in Gambia and Liberia, Head of Finance in Sierra Leone and Management Accountant in Ghana.
“I am delighted to be given a new role in Kenya and strongly believe there are many untapped opportunities in this market which I hope I can lead the team to venture into in the next phase of the business. I believe my experience in the other African markets will help as we lay down strategies to serve customers in this region,”
said Seth.
Understanding that the company is part of the larger society, Seth has consistently given back to the community. Among other causes, he played an instrumental leadership role in the successful Ebola amelioration in Liberia in 2014. He won The Coca-Cola Company’s Eurasia & Africa Group President’s Sustainability Award in 2015 – special recognition for Outstanding Management and Operational Endurance in the face of Ebola.
Seth holds an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (Finance option) from the University of Ghana Business School. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK and Chartered Institute of Supply Chain Management, Ghana, and an Associate Member of Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana, with various qualifications in leadership, Business Management and Entrepreneurship from London School of Economics, Cranfield University School of Management, AT EMILE Woolf College, London; San Telmo Business School, Seville-Spain; and ESADE Business School, Barcelona Spain.
He has served on many Boards in private and public organizations and government committees, including acting as The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Cup Trophy Tour. Seth is currently serving on J-Palm Liberia Ltd as a Board Chair, and Board Member, Junior Achievement Africa.