Africa in Motion: Maureen Rutabingwa
Updated: May 28
Maureen ‘Mo’ Rutabingwa shares insights on identity, innovation and telling African stories on our own terms
Article by Lesibane Mohale
Africa Month is more than a moment of celebration. It is a time to reflect on who we are, what we have built, and how far the continent has come. To mark this occasion, I’m honoured to feature Maureen “Mo” Rutabingwa, Head of Spirits Innovation (Africa) at Diageo. Maureen’s journey at Diageo began in Uganda over a decade ago where she started as Head of Innovation. Since then, she has helped shape some of the company’s most recognisable innovations across the continent.
Mo is also a talented musician, cultural thinker and a powerful voice in the conversation around African creativity. From London, she leads innovation across African markets while remaining deeply connected to Uganda, her roots, and the cultural context that continues to shape her work.
Outside the corporate world, she expresses her creativity through music, where she goes by the name MoRoots. Her latest EP, Rooted, explores motherhood, strength, and heritage, while her single Tulo reimagines a Ugandan lullaby through an electrifying, futuristic soundscape.
Beyond music, her creative voice has earned her a place among some of the world’s leading marketing thinkers, including her selection for the 2026 One Show Jury in Creative Effectiveness and her appearance at Cannes Lions as a speaker and panellist.
In this conversation, Mo reflects on what Africa Month means today, why rootedness matters, how African creativity is shaping the world, and what brands must do differently if they want to connect with African consumers in a real way.
This is a conversation about culture, ownership and the power of telling our stories on our own terms.
LM: What does Africa Month mean to you and why does it matter today?
Mo: Africa month is about the celebration of everything US. While the idea of bodies like the AU doesn’t really seem to be actively shaping or interacting with actual society (outside of trade links in a few segments), I think it’s a great time to celebrate us and all the excellent things Africans are achieving both at home and around the world. Africa Rising has been a bubbling theme that we’ve seen mostly manifest in the Arts, but it’s powerful to see how the continent is influencing beyond and strengthening our voice and representation on the global stage. From big political moves centred around decolonisation, to all the innovation happening in tech, to the vibes and joy that Amapiano is giving us daily. It’s a super time to be African.
With that being said though, this year, Africa Month is also a reminder that representation alone is no longer enough. The next wave needs to be about ownership; ownership of our stories, our intellectual property, our businesses, our platforms and our future trajectory.
LM: As a “global African” living in London, how important is it to stay rooted in your identity?
MO: Oh dear. This might get very deep…. But being rooted for me is everything. My latest EP which I released last year centres around this very theme. The idea of being Ugandan, African living in London is a sometimes contemptuous yet sultry dance I have danced for about 8 years. There’s an everlasting tension between “where home is”… and “the place you are currently living”. Ironically, distance has probably made me more intentional about my identity. Living in London forced me to interrogate what parts of myself are truly mine versus inherited from my environment, and it has afforded me the quiet time to discern between the two.
But I continue to be conscious about it. Whether that’s in the music I make, the communities I seek to build, the talent I champion and the lens through which I create more broadly. Part of my unique point of view is my innate roots. The grounding matters because it shapes your taste, your values, your instincts and ultimately the way you lead through life.
LM: You’ve built a great career at the intersection of innovation, marketing, music and culture. What drew you into this space?
MO: I think it is just who I am. I’ve always been naturally multi-disciplinary; a polymath of sorts. I have been fortunate enough to work in an industry and build a career that has allowed me to both express and also quite seamlessly benefit from my passion for the arts and marketing. As an artist, I am drawn to the challenge of a blank page with a mission to fill it with song, lyrics, beats, a picture etc. And in innovation, I am drawn by the same thing. A blank canvas of consumer opportunities and category opportunity spaces that are ripe for something new.
Also, FMCG and especially an industry like alcohol is about people. It’s social, it’s cultural, it’s about connection and celebration. My ability to be a musician and have my pulse on what’s happening across these cultural touch points only makes me a stronger and more culturally connected marketer.
There are many ways of saying the same thing… music, culture and innovation all require the same fundamental muscles.
LM: How would you define African creativity and what makes it so unique?
MO: It’s fearless and a lot of the time born from genius ingenuity. It’s seeing and sparking something from the most basic of ideas. Creating tech solutions for community problems, walking our own path and not adopting the norm. It’s brave and bombastic in its expression. And it cannot be faked!
A lot of African creativity has been shaped by having to build with less, improvise faster and find possibilities where systems often fall short. That creates a very different kind of creative muscle.
LM: If you could change one misconception about Africa, what would it be?
MO: That we are technologically backward. We aren’t. In many ways, we’ve actually been forced to innovate faster because of infrastructure gaps. Think M-PESA in Nairobi, think of the fintech boom coming out of Lagos, think about the startup ecosystem blooming in Egypt.
LM: In your 2025 Cannes Lions talk, you asked what happens when culture guides creation. What does that look like in practice?
MO: Resonance. Heat. Meaningfulness. When culture guides creation, you stop making work for people and start making work with people. The output becomes more instinctive, more emotionally resonant and ultimately more commercially effective because people can feel themselves inside it; because they are inside it.
In practice, it means involving creators, communities and cultural voices much earlier in the process rather than applying culture as decoration at the end. It means ninja-level collaboration, it means the death of corporate ego and the birth of being led by the consumer as you create. But it also means more magnetic work.
LM: What does it take to create innovation that is not just commercially viable but also culturally credible?
MO: It takes listening and observing the consumers you are creating for. Having a deep understanding of the unconscious desires they may have and being able to connect the dots of trends, human behaviour and the impact this will have on when, where and how people decide to spend their money.
LM: What are the biggest shifts you’re seeing in consumer behaviour and drinking culture across Africa?
MO: Discovery & Discernment! Consumers in Africa are becoming a lot more intentional about their experiences; from what to how to who! Micro creative communities are on the rise as people want to do more than just socialise in a bar. A rapid growth of alternative social spaces that are wholesome and rooted in experiencing something new. From a drinking culture, less is more and more is more too! Let me explain…
Less is more: We’re definitely seeing a big shift in consumers choosing to moderate across all age groups. People are choosing to drink less and are making more balanced choices. Whether that’s lower-ABV, alcohol-free options, zebra striping, and the industry is responding too with more considered choices of ingredients as just one example of how the industry starts to show up differently as a result.
More is more: People are choosing to drink better. More quality, more premium, more experience. Consumers are expressing their identity through experiences much more than before. So drinking culture too is increasingly about meaning and not just consumption.
LM: Across your corporate and creative work, which innovation are you most proud of?
MO: I’m most proud of the work that I did on the Lemon & Ginger platform for East Africa. Firstly, because it was one of those pieces of work that brought together both my uber-creative prowess as well as the commercial grounding I have as an innovator. What I loved most about it was that it wasn’t just the output and the results, but the process to get there was as innovative as the idea itself. I created a new way of working that challenged our normal (and usually quite lengthy) innovation process; as there was a frustration in the system we were feeling about every type of innovation, taking the same amount of time to deliver.
For an LTO (Limited time offer) product, I created a simple formula of ingredients, with the hypothesis that if we got these 4 things together (from process, to the right team of humans, to the right working environment to spark the high burst level of creativity that we required to create a kick-ass idea, to the choice of ingredients, to the time of the year and event we were going to launch), that we would create magic AND be able to replicate it across any brand, in any market.
Launching a locally-inspired “Lemon & Ginger” under our biggest flagship spirit brands (Uganda Waragi & Kenya Cane) and linked to one of the biggest festival experiences (Nyege Nyege in Uganda), with artwork that was created by local artists (Natasha “Kashushu” Karungi in Uganda and Ed Wainaina in Kenya).
This was culturally native. Made by us. Embraced by us. Hijacked by us. Pushed by us.
LM: Where do global brands and agencies most often miss the mark when trying to connect authentically with African markets?
MO: For as long as this has been true, Africa is not a country. Too many global brands still treat it as a Market instead of 54 distinct cultures. Now, this isn’t to say that for every global campaign, there needs to be 54 adaptations of it for relevance, but what it does mean is that there is so much hunting ground for the right and relevant insights that can truly unlock the magic of global campaigns on the continent.
We can spot performative or surface marketing immediately. But work that is rooted in local insight, built with local creators’ input, will always be harder working. There’s definitely an opportunity for that bridge to be better developed and investment to be made in understanding and unlocking cultural heat vs. broadly borrowing from it.
The brands that succeed are usually the ones willing to build relationships before campaigns. Brands that invest in local talent, local strategists and local cultural intelligence over time rather than arriving only when Africa becomes commercially interesting will make an impact.
Africa in Motion is a TIA interview series spotlighting Africa’s trailblazers in the advertising, marketing and creative industries. Visionaries who are putting African creativity on the world map and shaping culture from Lagos to London, Accra to Atlanta and Jozi to Boston. Featuring agency leaders, strategists, creatives, entrepreneurs and brand marketers, each conversation aims to unpack insights, emerging trends, shifts in culture and ideas that are redefining the African narrative.
TIA - THIS IS AFRICA
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