Big G! Do you know that this favourite Kenyan chewing gum is named after this man, George Owino.
George, also known as Big G, was the first Kenyan employee when this Chicago firm, Wrigley’s East Africa, opened its doors in Nairobi in 1971.
He was then employed as a sales supervisor before he was promoted to a field manager in 1971.
The rise of Big G is now credited to him – as a marketer – for he wanted a big sized chewing gum – rather than the pellets that were offered by the market. Big G also had a unique taste and it was fancy.
Children loved it and would make bubbles out it. It was now competing with the likes of Orbit, then an established brand in the market, and which was also owned by Wriggley.
Wrigley are the makers of the popular Big G, PK, Double-mint, Juicy Fruit and Orbit chewing gum.
Kenya hosts The Wrigley Company’s only manufacturing plant in Africa, from which it serves markets like Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
George marketed his Big G with zeal. There were national competitions around Big G and this gave the brand some top of the mind presence.
It not only earned the company a place in East Africa but by 1983 Big G, the man, was promoted to be the chairman of Wrigley’s East Africa.
Through the success of the Big G, which was the first gum in such a size in the world, the mother company got convinced that setting up a factory to cater for East African market.
George held this chairmanship position till his retirement in 1998 to concentrate his energies on Orbit Distributors, the firm he set up in 1977 to solely distribute Wrigley products in East African Market.
He passed on in July 2004. A great man indeed.
By John Kamau
