Patricia Ithau is a Kenyan business executive renowned for her leadership in multimillion companies within East and Southern Africa. She has held the managing director roles at prestigious organizations such as Unilever, East African Breweries Limited (EABL) and L’Oréal East Africa.
Her market knowledge has earned her seats on boards of companies like Vivo Activewear, Absa Bank Kenya and Vodafone among others, establishing her as a formidable force in the business world.
With a Masters in Strategic Management from the United States International University(USIU), she is highly respected for her expertise in brand management and business strategy. Throughout her career, she has made substantial contributions to both the business and corporate landscapes in Kenya and beyond.
It is no surprise that during her tenure as Marketing Director at EABL in 2006, she conceptualized Tusker Project Fame, a groundbreaking game-cum-reality show aimed at boosting the sales of Tusker beer, the company’s flagship product, which was struggling in the market.
Ithau was speaking on a Cleaning The Airwaves interview, where she shared how her vision came to be, birthing one of Kenya’s most adored shows.
A marketing campaign of this magnitude was no small feat, with her ambitious plan costing a staggering Kshs 100 million—an amount that left her bosses stunned, given the market challenges. Additionally, the project was set to be executed within just three months, sparking confusion over how such a grand vision could be realized in such a short time.
“That was actually the biggest challenge, more than anything else,” she said. “I had been doing marketing for very lovable products(at Unilever), and now I had to switch to a brewery. One of the biggest tasks was driving a responsible drinking agenda.”
Determined to shift perceptions, Patricia led the charge in self-regulating the industry while also bringing Tusker Project Fame to fruition.
“At the time, TPF was my last project as a marketing director before I transitioned to General Management. The board gave me one challenge—to make Tusker the number one beer,” she narrated.
The biggest challenge was rebranding Tusker as an iconic brand, and Patricia believed the best approach was to tap into the booming world of reality television. Having seen the mass appeal of shows like Big Brother and Idols, she recognized that this was the direction to take.
“I met with the key players behind these shows and told them, ‘We want to create a property.’ We needed to find ways to showcase who the brand is, what it stands for, its values, and its impact,” she explained.
Ithau had the concept in mind, and to actualize it, she set out to discover and nurture the next big star in music.
“I was very clear about it. The future was going to be music. Why couldn’t we create a music industry? Why couldn’t we build everything around it?” she posed.
Gathering a team of videographers and DJs, she began building the foundation for Tusker Project Fame. Upon advice to bring in a South African production company, she agreed, but only on the condition that Kenyan understudies would be included.
This was to ensure that if the show succeeded, they could phase out the need to outsource crew.
With everything set, she made her way to the Group CEO to make her pitch, revealing that the project would cost Kshs 100 million, leaving the board stunned. When she mentioned the short amount of time to have the project running, their shock was palpable.
“They didn’t burst a gasket—but you can imagine their shock. They asked, ‘Maybe for a year?’ and I said, ‘No, no—three months.’ The cost was justified by the incredible scale of the production,” the executive humorously recalled.
This marked the beginning of a show that ran for five seasons, revolutionizing both the entertainment and music scenes, while elevating Tusker into a brand that would forever be cherished by Kenyans.
Ithau is the current CEO of WPP-Scangroup, a multimedia, information technology and advertising conglomerate, whose stock of shares are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
