Arla Foods appoints first Ghanaian Managing Director

Arla Foods, producers of Dano milk variants, has appointed Paul Dowuona to lead the Ghana business effective August 1, 2023.

He becomes the first Ghanaian to be appointed to head the Ghana business since the company started operations in the country in 2017.

He takes over from Vytautas Petronis, who has been appointed Head of Indonesia. 

Until his appointment, Mr Dowuona was the Head of West Africa Distributor Sales (Ex-port Sales).  

Commenting on the appointment in a release issued in Accra, the Vice President and Head of West Africa, Anna Månsson, said, Ghana is the second most populous country in West Africa, a stable democracy and a hub for many multi-national companies in Sub Sahara Africa.

As such Ghana offers great growth opportunities for Arla Foods both in traditional trade with DANO powder and EVAP milk and in modern trade and foodservice with our chilled assortment.

“With his passion for good business, extensive experience from Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) businesses in West Africa, his local knowledge from the Ghanian market, energy, and personality, I’m very happy Paul has agreed to head the Arla Foods business in Ghana and distrib-utor sales to all English-speaking countries in the region,” she said.

Ms Månsson said “After some difficult years, the Ghana team managed to deliver its first ever positive Earnings Before Interests and Taxes (EBIT) result last year despite a very difficult business environment with record high inflation and currency devaluation. 

I like to seize this opportunity to thank Vytautas Petronis for his leadership, his focus on getting the basics right and find strategic solutions for growing profitably. I wish him all the best in his new role.”

She explained that with a stable business platform in place, the company’s aim now is to grow profitably by focusing on the right consumer offering in each channel (product, taste, price and availability). 

Mr Dowuona expressed his excitement about his new role stating: “I feel truly humbled by this new opportunity to head the Arla business in Ghana. It will be a pleasure to continue the growth trajectory of this business as Ghana strives back from the tough economic period in the last years.”

He added that he looks forward to growing the Ghana team in all the necessary busi-ness areas, adding fresh thoughts, optimistic approaches, and the right mindset so we can deliver outstanding results, as a strong pillar in the West Africa business.

Background

Paul has over 14 years of sales experience, joining ARLA as the Head of Sales for the Ghana Cluster in 2022, and then Head of Distributor Sales business, West Africa in 2023. He previously worked with Nestlé in varying sales roles in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Li-beria, as well as with Upfield, also within the West African sub-region.