Muthoni Laibuta is the Southeast Asia and Taiwan Business Unit Director – Oral Care at Haleon. She boasts 15 years’ experience and plays a significant role within the company.
She is Haleon’s youngest regional business unit director in South East Asia and is the only black executive in the company’s Pacific Asia block. She made director at the age of 29. READ FULL STORY
Here’s her story as told by Eafeed.
Background & Education
Muthoni Laibuta attended Alliance Girls High School and scored an A plain in the 2006 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).
She proceeded to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Commerce in Human Resource Management degree. She had First Class Honours.
Muthoni pursued a certificate in Management; Accounting, Marketing, and Economics at Havard Business School. She also trained in Organisational Coaching, Executive and Career Coaching (L2) at the Institute of Executive Coaching and Leadership.
Career
Between September 2010 and September 2014, Muthoni Laibuta was a regional marketing officer for Unilever assigned to East and Southern Africa.
In October 2014, she joined UK Pharmaceutical company GSK as the regional marketing manager for East Africa and Islands (8 countries).
Muthoni was promoted to Senior Marketing Manager in June 2017 and reassigned to Indonesia. She reported directly to the General Manager and was strategic in making overall Business decisions.
In June 2019, she was appointed Marketing Director for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, a role she held until April 2021.
She was the Regional Marketing Manager for South East Asian and Taiwan between may 2021 and June 2022. In July theat year, she joined Haleon as the South East Asia Business Unit Director- Oral Care (South East Asia and Taiwan).
Muthoni is tasked with overseeing the PnL of the Oral Care Business for South East Asia and Taiwan, a crucial segment that contributes significantly to the company’s overall revenue.
With an extensive background in marketing and strategy spanning 15 years, Muthoni Laibuta has a track record of executing impactful marketing campaigns, fostering growth and innovation, and building brand strength and consumer loyalty in challenging markets.
In addition to her role at Haleon, she serves as a Board Member at Human Inc, a social enterprise dedicated to empowering youth to drive positive change in their communities.
She is also an Executive Coach and Speaker, guiding C-Suite executives and founders of SMEs and startups in achieving their business goals and maximizing effectiveness.
Muthoni Laibuta is passionate about creating meaningful impact and believes in the power of collaboration, empathy, and creativity to address complex challenges and deliver value for all stakeholders.
Family
After being a single mother for nine years, Muthoni Laibuta decided to get herself back out there and find love. Her friends had started to tease her and even opened a Tinder profile on her behalf.
She met her husband on Tinder and they connected. They also happened to have a mutual friend.
Muthoni had her first date at her house just before the Covid-19 restrictions. That is the firt time she introduced her daughter to another man and are now best friends, she says.
“I love that it’s cosmopolitan (Malaysia) and a melting pot for different nationalities. It is unlike Indonesia, where I didn’t know the language, it was hard for me to connect and network.
“Not so for my daughter. She thrived in school and made friends. I wanted to move to a place where we would both be comfortable,” Muthoni narrates.
