Unilever has announced the appointment of Uchenna Nwakanma as the new executive director effective 13 November 2025.
The multinational consumer goods firm made this announcement via a press document seen by BusinessDay.
Nwakanma is an industrial chemist with an MBA in General Management and a member of the Chartered Institute of Chemist Nigeria.
Read also: Unilever Nigeria doubles nine-month profit to N21.9bn on rising demand
He is also an accomplished Research & Development (R&D) business leader with over 20 years of experience driving innovation, product excellence, and strategic growth across Africa’s fast-moving consumer goods industry.
Nwakanma currently serves as Research & Development Director for Unilever in personal care Category across the Africa Cluster, where he leads the regional R&D strategy, ensuring the successful delivery of innovation projects that meet evolving consumer needs across diverse markets.
His expertise spans across Home Care, Personal Care, Baby Care, Pesticides, Lavatory Care, and Over-the-Counter Pharmaceuticals, with a consistent track record of leading cross-functional teams to deliver high-impact innovations that balance technical rigor, consumer insight, and regulatory compliance.
Prior to this role, he was Head of R&D at PZ Cussons and Reckitt Benkiser, at various times, where he led the end-to-end innovation pipeline and capability development programs that strengthened the company’s footprint and competitiveness across Africa.
Read also: Unilever’s profit jumps over three times to N14.4bn in H1
A strong advocate for sustainable manufacturing and local value creation, Uchenna has worked closely with key industry bodies such as SON (Standard Organization of Nigeria as Technical Review Member of standards and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to champion initiatives that promote local sourcing, quality excellence, and talent development in Nigeria’s manufacturing ecosystem.
He has contributed his expertise in different Forum across African cosmetic bodies/Associations, Medical Association and the Federal Ministry of Science, Nigeria as public Speaker on topic bothering Innovation as a panacea for country development.