Kushilla Thomas
Marketing Director Africa at Distell

Kushilla is a marketing strategist with over 20 years of commercial and brand-building experience in the Pharmaceutical and FMCG industries.

She began her career as a pharmacist specialising in the production, R&D and commercialisation of new chemical entities for Aspen and Adcock Ingram, including some of the first generic antiretroviral drugs in South Africa.  The next phase of her career saw her joining SAB, now ABInBev, where she ran Marketing Development for Africa and Asia, before filling the role of SAB’s Marketing Director for East Africa. 

Kushilla joined Distell 5 years ago and is currently the Marketing Director for Africa, with the mandate of expanding their geographic footprint across the East, West and Southern parts of the continent whilst consolidating a more deliberate and relevant portfolio across over 10 African countries.  The strategic imperative for growth is localisation and Distell wins on this front by building marketing competence and being deliberate in leveraging local insights.