The Fast Mover
Pepsi’s chief of North African operations speaks out on the challenge of maintaining a 70% market share in the fast-moving consumer goods industry
On a rare rainy Cairo afternoon, minutes before rush-hour madness kicks in, Tarek Kabil signals he’s ready for his interview. The Pepsico president’s immaculate North African office, located in the Chipsy building in Dokki, headquarters of the company’s Egyptian snack foods division, has the atmosphere of a rarely used conference room, most likely due to his once-weekly presence in the building.
Kabil is calm, relaxed but professional and above all confident a man who thrives as a center of calm in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry.
A mechanical engineering grad from Alexandria University, Kabil arrived at Pepsico 10 years ago from Proctor & Gamble, moving up through the ranks to become president of the company’s North African operations a year ago.
What brought him to Pepsi in the first place? “The challenge,” he says. “Pepsi is a great company. It is a strong and fast consumer goods company,” he says. “Extremely fast. Fast in the way we do business. Fast in the way we create product, our positioning, how we compete.”
As president, Kabil runs the company’s beverage and snack-food divisions in all North African countries, including Mauritania, Ethiopia and Sudan. It’s a broad territory that has pushed Pepsico to adopt marketing and sales approaches tailored to each individual culture and economy.
“You will see differences in packaging and pricing, which is linked to the gross domestic product, consumer habits and many other things,” Kabil muses.
After Egypt, Sudan is North Africa’s second-largest beverages market, where weather conditions and ...