David Afflu, CEO of GBFoods has been crowned with the prestigious award, Marketing Man of the Year by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) last Saturday 30th September 2023 at the plush Labadi Beach hotel. The event had the theme, “Marketing: A Tool for Economic Recovery”. The guests of honor were the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies (UPS) and the Minister of Education, Hon Yaw Osei Adutwum.
After a very competitive selection process, the CEO of GBFoods Ghana, David Afflu emerged as the winner of the coveted Marketing Man of the Year award. David’s citation that was read said among other things, “Your outstanding transformational leadership, strategic vision, and significant contribution to the FMCG sector has been taken to another level even as our team of assessors single you out to be celebrated. Your leadership has led to the tremendous rise of your institution in the FMCG industry in Ghana. Today, you and your team have made household names out of your brands such as Gino and Pomo in the Tomato Mix category. Gino for eg. enjoyed a total brand communication awareness increase from 97 percent to 99 percent, Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) increasing from 28 percent to 33 percent and spontaneous awareness from 84 percent to 91 percent”.
David, a Biochemist by training, quickly abandoned his training after 2 years to pursue a career in marketing, sales and general management. Over the period of over 25 years, he has built a very successful career in various multinationals in FMCG, Petroleum, Telecoms in Ghana. He has built a track record of turning companies he leads around from decline to sustainable profitable growth.
In his speech after receiving the award, David thanked God, acknowledged the support he received from the GBFoods Ghana team and his family, and singled out resilience as one key trait that had propelled him to this feat.
David is the recipient of several other prestigious awards including winning the CIMG Marketing Practitioner for 2017, and more recently, CEO of the Year, Food Category at the CEO Summit 2023, Top Transformational Business Leadership award at the National Governance & Leadership Awards 2023 and Ultimate Man of the Year (Gold Category) at the FMCG National Summit 2023 to name a few.
GBFoods is a multinational company with Headquarters in Spain and a presence in several countries in Africa and Europe. In Ghana, GBFoods continues to lead in the Tomato Mix category with its brands Gino, Pomo and Brisk Farm. The company is highly committed to its growth agenda in Africa. Last year alone the company spent in excess of 10 million US dollars expanding the factory in Ghana and launching a new tin line for its tomato mix products.