Dayalan Nayager

Before his appointment as President, Diageo Africa, Dayalan was Managing Director for Diageo Great Britain. In this role, he is responsible for all African Diageo markets.

Prior to this role, Dayalan was Managing Director for Diageo Travel Retail, one of the company’s key markets. Before being appointed Managing Director for Global Travel Retail, he served as Regional Director for GTME Europe. During his time in Global Travel he transformed commercial delivery across the region, developed a high performing cross-functional team and embarked on an ambitious strategy that successfully grew Diageo’s travel retail business.

Before joining the Global Travel business, Dayalan was Commercial Director of Brandhouse in Diageo South Africa where he led a bold commercial strategy with the 650-strong dedicated sales team that over-delivered performance and deepened customer partnerships.

Dayalan has extensive experience in the consumer-packaged goods industry, having previously held leadership roles across Commercial, Supply Chain, R&D and Marketing positions for Mars and Heinz in Africa.

He is passionate about developing strong talent and is known for his ability to implement a structured and disciplined approach that drives stronger performance and sustainable growth.

Dayalan holds a Bachelor of commerce in Marketing from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management from the University of South Africa and an MBA from the University of Oxford.