Racey Muchilwa

Racey Muchilwa is the Head of Novartis Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), leading 46 countries. Since becoming the SSA Head in 2019, she has led a strategic business transformation, albeit during the COVID-19 pandemic, to integrate three major business divisions under one leadership and navigate a new strategic direction that focuses on patient reach, besides the traditional business metrics such as sales. SSA is home to one of the world’s largest underserved populations, hence the bold aspiration to accelerate access to healthcare and high quality medicines to over 1B people in the region. Racey has over 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical industry across different multinationals. She began her career as a Medical Representative and has held varying positions of increasing responsibility within general management, marketing and commercial functions. In her previous role, Racey was the Head of the Novartis Africa Cluster, Pharmaceuticals Division (October 2018 to October 2019) and, prior to this, Country Group Head of English East and the Horn of Africa for about three years. She is a recipient of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 2020 Leading Women Awards, for exemplary leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. Racey is also a co chair of the Women Economic Empowerment and Financial Inclusion work stream which was commissioned by the World Economic Forum (WEF) Regional Action Group on Africa in 2020. Racey is married and is a mother of two boys. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry – Zoology from Egerton University in Kenya and a Master’s in Business Administration (International Business Management) from the University of Nairobi (U.O.N.) in Kenya.