In the complex and fast-evolving world of consumer marketing in Africa, few professionals command the level of credibility, versatility, and performance consistency that Maureen Omotuemen Ifada does.

With over 20 years of strategic and commercial leadership in Nigeria’s most competitive FMCG space, Ifada has not only mastered the science of brand growth, but she has also helped redefine it.

Today, as Marketing Director at FrieslandCampina’s Sub-Saharan Africa Cluster, she drives a multi- market strategy that merges commercial ambition with deep consumer insight. But her rise has been anything but accidental. It is a study in clarity, commitment, and calculated career moves.

Maureen’s journey began in 2003 when she joined FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc as a Management Trainee in Consumer Marketing. It didn’t take long for her to make an impression. She would go on to lead two of Nigeria’s most iconic dairy brands, Three Crowns Milk and Peak Milk, guiding them through periods of fierce competition and market transformation.

Her leadership on Peak Milk, Nigeria’s number one dairy brand, was particularly telling. Maureen didn’t just maintain market shares, she sharpened relevance, expanded equity, and championed consumer-focused innovations that helped keep the brand culturally resonant and commercially dominant.

In 2019, Maureen made a rare but strategic pivot, shifting from core brand management to the more nuanced arena of shopper marketing and channel development. As Shopper Marketing Lead, she took in a broader lens, balancing brand aspirations with in-store realities, channel-specific behaviour, and trade dynamics across Modern Trade, E-commerce, Food Service, and Alternative Channels.

It was a smart move. The shift expanded her influence from driving brand love to engineering conversion at scale. This cross-functional depth would later prove pivotal as she climbed into broader leadership roles.

In 2022, Maureen was appointed Head of Channel & Category Development for FrieslandCampina’s Sub-Saharan Africa Cluster. In that role, she led regional strategies across multiple markets, designing and executing category growth blueprints that married data with cultural insight.

Her appointment as Marketing Director was a natural progression. Today, she sits at the helm of brand planning and execution across West and Central Africa. She is responsible for category strategy, brand portfolio architecture, media and communications planning, financial optimisation, ROI tracking, and go-to-market alignment across channels.

It’s a role that demands both analytical firepower and emotional intelligence, and she brings both in equal measure.

Maureen’s academic track is as impressive as her performance in the boardroom. She holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School (Heriot-Watt University, UK) and a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Ambrose Alli University. She also earned a Professional Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK).

In recognition of her contributions to the marketing profession, she has been conferred the Fellowship of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (FNIMN). She holds the designation of MCIM (Member, Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK).

Despite the demands of her role, Maureen brings a grounded elegance to leadership. She is known for developing talent as fiercely as she manages P&Ls, mentoring the next generation of marketers while driving performance and results.

Outside of work, she is a proud lover of family, travel, music, and literature. A reminder that outstanding leadership is not just about metrics, but about balance and meaning.

Maureen Ifada is more than a success story. She represents a new wave of African marketing leadership, global in mindset, local in execution, and unshakable in integrity. In an industry crowded

with noise, her career stands out for one reason: the results she delivers with discipline, empathy, and vision.

She is, without question, a marketer’s marketer and one of the most influential brand architects in Sub-Saharan Africa today.

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