SMarketing Solutions

About

Motunrayo Babalola

Founder and Principal Consultant, SMarketing Solutions

Senior consumer goods commercial leader with more than 15 years at multinational brands, across sales, key accounts, trade marketing, brand management, innovation and P&L.

  • 15+years in multinational consumer goods
  • 5global consumer goods companies
  • 4professional awards
Portrait of Motunrayo Babalola in a white blazer

Biography

From sales and trade into brand and wider commercial leadership

I'm the founder of SMarketing Solutions. I have spent more than 15 years in consumer goods at Guinness/Diageo, Unilever, Lipton Teas and Infusions, Philip Morris International and Nestlé, across Nigeria, West Africa and North America.

I started in sales and trade before moving into brand management, and I have led teams on both sides. That breadth lets me treat execution as one connected commercial system, from the brand plan to the shelf.

Today I help consumer goods companies build the commercial capability to deliver their plans in market, and I advise a small number of beauty and personal-care brands.

Functional breadth

Sales and trade

  • Frontline sales
  • Key accounts
  • Route to market
  • Trade and shopper marketing

Brand and marketing

  • Beauty category leadership
  • Brand and innovation
  • Country marketing
  • Product marketing

Across both

  • Commercial planning
  • Portfolio P&L ownership

Employers and markets

  • Guinness/Diageo
  • Unilever
  • Lipton Teas and Infusions
  • Philip Morris International
  • Nestlé

Markets: Nigeria, West Africa and North America.

See the results from these roles

Delivery experience

Speaking, facilitation and team development

  • Spoke at the BrandSpark Best New Product Awards on the impact of award branding on salesJune 2026
  • Speaker, SWIS EmpowHER, Industry Track
  • Guest speaker, Covenant University Town and Gown series
  • Delivered a training session for female entrepreneurs on Building a Memorable BrandMarch 2023
  • Facilitated an industry workshop on Marketing in the 21st Century for postgraduate marketing students at Covenant University2022
  • Facilitated High Performers training for Lipton Nigeria employees
  • Championed Gallup employee engagement for Lipton Africa2022 and 2023
Motunrayo Babalola speaking into a microphone on a panel
Speaking on a panel

Recognition

Awards

  • Top 50 Women in Management Africa2023
  • Peak Performing Woman of the Year2023
  • Top 50 Most Influential Women in Marketing and Communications2022
  • Top 35 Under 35 Women in Marketing
Motunrayo Babalola receiving an award on stage at the Women in Management Africa Awards 2023
Women in Management Africa Awards, 2023
Motunrayo Babalola holding her certificate of recognition at the Women in Marketing and Communications awards
Women in Marketing and Communications, 2022

Education

Education and professional qualifications

  1. 2008BSc Marketing, Covenant UniversityJune
  2. 2014Professional Diploma in Communications, Advertising & Marketing, CIM UKFebruary
  3. 2020Master of Business Administration (MBA), Business School NetherlandsNovember
  4. 2022Certified Digital Marketing Professional, Digital Marketing Institute, IrelandOctober
  5. 2024Strategic Relationship Marketing, George Brown College, TorontoDecember

I also advise a small number of established beauty and personal-care brands. Beauty Advisory

Next step

Book a conversation with your commercial leadership team.

Tell me about the commercial problem you need to solve. Every engagement starts with a conversation and is scoped by proposal.

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