Eva Muraya, serial entrepreneur, brand innovator, and women’s champion — Lionesses of Africa

Lioness Weekender spoke to the inspirational Eva Muraya to learn more about her journey to becoming a market leader and brand innovator.

So, how did Eva get here? In her own words, she says that the journey has not been easy over the last 20 years but she has kept going through both ‘mountain and valley’ experiences. That said, she is often referred to as a “serial entrepreneur” by her peers. She is celebrating 20 years in business.

Eva’s knack for business dates back to 2001 when she set up a merchandising production company, Taurus Afrika Ltd, which later merged with another company, Color Creations. She led the new entity for nine years growing both its top and bottom line and building a solid regional footprint into South Sudan, DRC and Uganda. At its pinnacle, the company had a staff compliment of 130 permanent staff. This company was the first advertising firm in Sub-saharan Africa to secure the coveted ISO 9001 quality standard certification. In 2007, Eva led the company’s transition into full automation increasing its production capacity by more than 240% per an 8 hour shift, which led to the company’s recognition under the Legatum sponsored Pioneers of Africa’s Legatum Awards hosted in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 2010, she started Brand Strategy Design (BSD) Ltd out of which arose Avid Public Relations Ltd, Whiteboard Advertising Limited and Brandquad Africa, a knowledge sharing, training and talent development consultancy which has offered diverse business and brand advisory and communications support to private companies, public agencies, governments, inter-governmental and non-government organizations. 

Her business has been a proving ground for novices and young professionals who soon bud into experts in marketing, brand communication and the creative world. Over the years, many of them have successfully transitioned into larger firms and corporations, whilst others have opted for self-employment, motivated by the entrepreneurial learnings gained. BSD Group has significantly contributed to the development of the skill set and competencies of the industry in Kenya. It has remained a celebrated business as a brand advisory and communication agency which delivers strategic thinking and direction for corporate, product and cause-led brands, effectively positioning them through well-articulated and clear business messaging. The main tools of engagement have been using Public Relations and Reputation Management, Creative and design thinking tools including Executive training and coaching.  

The creation of BSD Group opened a whole new chapter for Eva. The business initially kicked off with one member of staff with whom they formulated strategy and responded to client briefs around her dining table at her home. Soon after, the business grew to employ 5 more and before too long, about 48 people were the full compliment. 

In the ups and downs of business in Africa, challenges abound in the form of regulatory issues, prejudicial considerations, political uncertainty, economic disruptions, and most recently, Covid-19. To insulate the business from these shocks, she has had to reorganize the business, rethink its model and reimagine new territories and client propositions amongst emerging opportunities. 

Beyond entrepreneurship, Eva has had a deep passion around growing women led enterprises and creating opportunities for women in business. Growing in the shadow of a strong mother and grandmother, and herself raising two adult daughters, Eva has a succinct understanding of the odds that are faced by most women in Africa. She has been an articulate advocate of growing Kenya’s GDP by increasing the economic participation of women at all levels. She has promoted disruptive thinking in creating a more enabling environment for women entrepreneurs and constantly challenged large corporations to diversify and open up their supply chains to women. This insight led BSD Group at 10, to focus on becoming a specialist on women markets by determining on a regular basis, the underlying motivations that drive their consumer choices amongst all available brands.

In 2018, nearly ten years after the formation of BSD, Eva conceived an idea that would redefine its ten year milestone of building brands. She strongly believed that this was how the business would move forward into its next ten-year future in a differentiated and credible manner. She was looking for a unique aspect for which BSD would be known for and succinctly differentiated in the market. For years, BSD has built brands for clients in banking and financial markets, manufacturing and automotive industry, public agencies and inter-governmental organizations, not-for-profit endeavours, and governments among others. The company created new brands, retired some, rebranded many more, whilst in some instances opening up to new markets. 

Both through her business and external platforms, Eva has led the gender and inclusivity initiative from the front. This culminated in March this year in the launch of the “Top 100 Most Loved Brands by Women in Kenya”, the first ever study of its kind about women consumers in Kenya; capturing their anxieties, fears, needs, wants, aspirations, persuasions and desires, whilst also sharing insights about the brands they most love. Through a partnership between BSD and Ipsos, the 3rd largest market research company, the study has elicited the interest of corporates, investors, media and policy makers in government, alike.

When asked about entrepreneurship as a woman, Eva speaks with a deep reflection in her eyes… “I learnt very early in the journey that the playing field in business was not equal and especially so for women”, she says. 

“Access to basic things like financial instruments, market linkages, technical skills, legal platforms, opportunities to do business and even to pitch your business were tough to crack.” said Eva.

Introspectively she decided the next ten years would be dedicated to providing advocacy through the work BSD was doing. The strategy is creating more benefit and opportunities for women, irrespective of their lot. To get more companies, brands, investors, and policy makers to make women core to boardroom decisions around the creation of products, services and causes, so that these decisions bring into consideration a key focus on women’s aspirations, needs, desires and preferences across Africa. 

The “Top 100 Most Loved Brands by Women study, launched as a curtain raiser to this year’s International Women’s Day in March 2021, captures the essence of who the Kenyan woman consumer is. It provides succinct insight and data for the inclusion of women consumers in their boardroom considerations. 

According to Eva, the business has started a very exciting and differentiated journey which aims to provide data and analytics, which is today’s biggest business and economic currency for business and brand owners, investors, policy makers and consumers.

In the relationships she has built over the years, Eva has had a front row seat in entrepreneurship engaging with dynamic and creative, forward thinking men and women in the business. She says her team is a cocktail of strategic thinkers, creative art directors, journalists, writers and content generators, public policy specialists, economic advocates and digital innovators. There is a large number of young people and a few older chaps to keep the ship steady, she laughs. “Our employees have an amazing entrepreneurship energy which they apply in the solutions we offer to brands whether government, NGOs, corporates or intergovernmental agencies. This has often differentiated us from many of our competitors” she proudly says.

Eva is energized by the people she works with and says she is indebted to them for all the success the business has enjoyed and credentials it has built over the years.  “We embrace a culture of togetherness… more like family and encourage personal growth and development. We will continue to encourage them as this has been the culture. The past and current teams have also won us industry awards and I am proud of them for their dedication and commitment to our mission and brand values,” she says.

The entrepreneurship bug bit her in 2001 although she comes from a family who were mostly employed all their lives. Her grandfather, the late Richard Njoroge Kabaa, worked for the British High Commission as a messenger and then Norfolk Hotel and the East African Railways as waiting staff. An ardent soccer player then, he represented the British Army as a member of the first eleven team that played in India in the early 20s. A progressive man, her grandfather ensured that he educated both his sons and daughters without any consideration of gender. “The socialization of my family for three generations has been to work for an organization because that was the exposure from our early years,” says Eva. 

After working for twelve years in a corporate organization, Eva got married to an entrepreneur husband, Mike Muraya and quickly caught the bug. Her late husband encouraged her and supported her to step out of her corporate comfort zone by mentoring her in entrepreneurship and taught her a lot of life lessons. She shadowed him in business learning both from observation and engagement and animatedly contributing then to his business brand differentiation and sustenance.

“One can be trained and can learn about entrepreneurship, but you must have some inherent drive and a bit of a “crazy zeal” in you. Character, passion and some degree of clarity of what you can see at the end of the dream. I have also always maintained a morbid fear of naysayers; they really can kill your dreams. Keep far away from them! You also don’t always need money to start. You just do…and then money will follow your dream. That said though, it isn’t easy doing business in Africa” she avers. 

Lessons learnt in her 20 year entrepreneurship journey? 

One needs to have a number of attributes that are very useful in the journey. You must hold strong to them and solidly stay guided by them through the seasons that your journey takes you.

Courage 

In her own words, Eva says the environment in many African countries does not always set one up to win, especially as a woman entrepreneur. This includes things like access to credit, access to justice and fairness, access to local, regional and global markets and good talent, access to technical skills… and the skill and ability to balance both family and business. These constraints can be a big draw back. There are prejudices today that discourage many women from being in business, and some societies will see men as the business people and women as more suited only to micro and small enterprises. With all these probable distractors, women need to shore up more courage every morning to face different challenges in business that will inevitably present themselves. 

Commitment 

Eva urges women to be committed to the passion or craft they identify and to invest their time, energy and resources to these enterprises. They must remain committed to their customers; their aspirations and strategies, committed to their employees, committed to their suppliers and business partners, but at the same time be frugal and apply the right sensibilities to grow their businesses.

Capability 

Other than commitment, one has to build the capacity to run an enterprise.  Learn management skills, finance, human resource management, operations and others that will make the business run.  Eva is an alumnus of the Columbia Business School’s Entrepreneurship Excellence Centre and Harvard Business School SEPA Program. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Marketing from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, a Diploma in Advanced Business Management from the IESE (University of Navarra) and Strathmore Business Schools. She is also a graduate of the global Stanford SEED Entrepreneurship Program. 

On integrity, she advises women not to get caught in vices that plague most of Africa including corruption, greed and dishonesty. Our generation, she argues, can begin a revolution of new thinking and approaches on how to start and build differentiated businesses across the continent that address real societal issues by providing progressive solutions. She cautions that businesses will often fail – for many reasons – and challenges will be part of life, but what matters most is rising from the failure. “We have been through many challenges and made some hard decisions, especially the last two years, but we can start again and pick up and move forward” she encourages. One can always start over, no matter what.

On humanity, entrepreneurs are in it to make money but that is not all she says. There is a need and place for compassion and in the way one drives their enterprise. By wearing a lens of compassion, one can always identify something that your enterprise can innovate around and can run sustainably. “For example at BSD we have chosen to be a change agent by amplifying the gaps that exist within women markets. We have and will continue to use data intelligently to champion widening of the space for women so that we can shrink the inequities that currently exist,” she says. 

What has she done that gives her satisfaction? 

Seeing the young people who have joined BSD Group and started their careers and have found larger more challenging roles later in life and are doing extremely well. She takes pride in having watched some of the younger ones gain confidence, start earning a living and even meet their life partners whilst at BSD. “I have enjoyed being part of dowry paying parties, receiving new born babies into the BSD Group fold…and watching livelihoods transform because of both the values and opportunities that have been created within our business. 

Eva’s advice to women looking to start up today is that, the space is much wider and there are many more opportunities than when she started off. Today, there is a lot to learn and do online. She says she has stood on the shoulders of great women who blazed the trail and became her role models and mentors. She points to Mary Okello, first ever African woman bank Manager in Kenya and former proprietor of the Makini Schools; Esther Wahome of Esther Wahome Bureau, an innovative business model in the 80s and 90s that provided most of the private sector with qualified and well trained secretarial support through a pipeline of talent; Hon. Beth Mugo of Gems International, an exporter of precious stones and high quality crafts; Nalina Rupani of Adelphi, Zora Baraka of Mohazo Art Gallery, Evelyn Mungai of Evelyn School of Design, and Dr. Eddah Gachukia of Riara Schools, among others. “These women have been prolific entrepreneurs and their trailblazing characteristics have been such motivation for me over many years.”

“The women starting today should know and have confidence that others started and have done it despite a myriad of challenges” she advises. 

Eva tells fellow women to listen to their conscience, employ their passion and apply sensibility. “Do not be reckless. There are many resources online and a lot you can learn. Don’t be distracted. Be courageous. Do not be afraid of failure,” she poses. 

Eva’s mentors have not only been women. Dr Manu Chandaria, a renowned industrialist, philanthropist and founder of the MRM Group that is spread across Africa from Kenya, has walked the entrepreneurship journey with her. “He has always told me to go with the fire in my belly and never give up,” she remembers with nostalgia. “The recent launch of the Top 100 Most Loved Brands by Women in Kenya has been a real passion developed over time but definitely a clear expression and indication of ‘fire in my belly!’”

Eva cautions women to look keenly at the risks in their desired ventures, surround themselves with a good team, think about resources needed, find a good coach and mentor. They must also learn to be frugal. This will get you there. Start small and grow. That is the way life goes,” she advises. “There is a huge misconception that in entrepreneurship you make lots of  money in just a short while. The truth is that it will often take a lot longer than is understood. Entrepreneurship is one area in which the Harvest Principal best applies. You will often only reap what you sow: planting hard and innovative thinking, nurturing, sprinkling of diligent care and processes, nurturing business relationships internally with team and externally with partners…sprinkling more management skill and evaluation…growing the opportunities that emerge…then hopefully harvesting the returns on the investments of resources made…even though this may take as long as 3 – 5 years to achieve. “When asked at our 10th birthday celebrations what it has taken to grow BSD from the start-up on my dining table, 11 years ago, my reflective response was, ‘it takes GRIT to deliver the value we have secured today.”

“Find good talent always look for people smarter than and more capable than you. Create a platform where good talent and competence can thrive; energetic people who share a common vision and mission with you; knowledgeable teams. You must then lead objectively from a place of care, inclusion and diversity and you will definitely win,” Eva says with great conviction. 

What about failure? 

“Should you fall, rise up and try again. My rallying call has always been, fall seven times, rise eight. Do not be afraid of what the future holds. The future often responds to hard and smart work that has been guided by a clear focus. God’s word promises to bless the work of our hands so we must also keep that ace card close,” says Eva. 

To all women planning to start and grow businesses in Africa, Eva advises them to take advantage of the diversity and inclusion in the various levels of enterprise – whether in agriculture, technology, infrastructure, retail, media, education, hospitality, healthcare and the like, they must find their niche and plug. 

“Women are the catalyst for economic transformation in Africa at a family level and also in corporate and government spheres. We are the change agents this continent needs, in order to grow our respective national indices so as to move our nations into middle income levels.” she says.

Eva calls upon governments and leaders to ensure the right policies are in place, technical skills are disseminated and that the relevant information and cultural practices are made available to create a more enabling environment and level playing field for posterity.

Eva says the goal of BSD is to leverage brands across markets in Africa. Transpose the company’s skill, knowledge competence and experience to other markets across the region. 

“We are negotiating with suitable partners to build that footprint in Africa. We have excellent solutions to offer and that gives us a lot of confidence that our growth trajectory is safe.”

Looking at what the future holds, Eva advises women to build their businesses in a way that they can be scaled. 

“I would like many more women to be uncomfortable about running micro and small businesses and seek new skills to drive scale; we need quantum leap growth so that we can create jobs for our young men and women across Africa. We must create training platforms so that we increase our competitive set as a continent; our enterprises can provide this. We need to build much larger enterprises. Do not just stop at the micro level because when you scale you are generating more jobs and creating opportunities for others to participate in the growth of the value chain, including suppliers, employees, business partners and the like.” says Eva. “If what I have done in business through the years of my life can motivate just one more woman to start up and grow, then I have done my lot in life. I have seen what being in business can do to grow a family, contribute to society and ultimately the exchequer. Let’s get women to start and grow more businesses.”

Eva has always been a champion of seeing one among her generation raise the first woman led business to list at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).  This would be a crowning moment for Eva, seeing investors invited to be part of a listed entity, giving good returns and which is also owned and led by a woman. Asked if that is one of her dreams she says “And why not? If we can convince investors to bet on our proficiency and expertise, our audacious and radical business thinking that is beneficial to our clients and ensure that they get superior returns from BSD Group, now wouldn’t that be awesome?”.

Eva Muraya Biography

Eva Muraya is the Founder and CEO of BSD Group, a regional award-winning brand strategy and communications company. It comprises four companies: Brand Strategy & Design Limited, Avid Public Relations Ltd, Whiteboard Advertising Limited and Brandquad Africa Limited, a knowledge sharing and talent development consultancy. 

Eva, a serial entrepreneur, also co-founded Color Creations Ltd, the first advertising and branding business to gain the global quality management systems standards ISO 9001:2001 Certification, in Sub-Saharan Africa, in 2007. Eva has more than 20 years industry experience in brand communications, having managed the brand development, refresh and launch programs for local, regional, and global companies. Her expertise is in Brand Repositioning & Alignment, Brand Sustainability, Capital Markets Communications, Crisis Communications, Internal Brand Engagement, Customer Centricity, Media Relations Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Corporate and Product PR and Entrepreneurship. She has been recognized both nationally and internationally for her business innovation and leadership. 

In March, 2021, BSD Group, in partnership with Ipsos Ltd, the world’s 3rd largest market research company, launched the inaugural Top 100 Most Loved Brands by Women in Kenya study (www.top100brands.africa) in an effort to present the Kenyan woman consumer’s needs, wants, aspirations, desires, fears and aspirations and articulate the fiery force that she is in driving household consumer buying decisions and the need for Kenyan boardrooms to prioritise her in every product, service and cause-driven decision. This study, which will be expanded further into the region, has continued to receive validation from government agencies, media, policy makers, development partners, the private sector including investors and brand owners. 

She serves as a Director, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) managing both Gender and SMEs and is a co-founder and former Chairperson of the Kenya Association of Women Business Owners (KAWBO). Her achievements at the helm of KAWBO include securing strategic partnerships with Vital Voices Global Partnership and ExxonMobil Foundation, the Kenya Hub for the Africa Businesswomen’s Network (ABWN) and championing advocacy for supplier diversity in Government agencies, the private and development sectors as critical inroads to market linkages for women entrepreneurs. 

Eva is the past Chairperson of the Zawadi Africa Education Fund, an organization that provides mentorship, leadership development, and scholarship opportunities to academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in select African countries to pursue higher education in the United States, Canada and leading African universities.

An Aspen Fellow, her business leadership has earned her a variety of awards and prestigious appointments, including the Eve Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2007, Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) Warrior award 2007, Goldman Sachs Fortune Global Leaders Award, 2008, and The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference 100 Award. She has also participated in many Vital Voices Global Partnership programs, including the 2006 Vital Voices/U.S. State Department/Fortune Global Mentoring Program, Levelling the Playing Field, and was a Vital Voices/Gates Leadership and Advocacy Fund grantee for her project to engage businesswomen in economic policy advocacy. In 2013, Eva was nominated in the WIE (Women, Inspiration and Enterprise Network) Power List as one of the 60 most Prominent and Influential Women in Africa and is one of CEO Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government. She was also a mentee in the inaugural Vital Voices Global Partnership ‘Invest in Your Idea’ Johnson & Johnson sponsored program to promote public sector policy formulation in supplier diversity amongst 50 corporates in Kenya. 

An alumnus of the Columbia Business School’s Entrepreneurship Excellence Centre and Harvard Business School SEPA Program, Eva holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Marketing from the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, a Diploma in Advanced Business Management from the IESE (University of Navarra) and Strathmore Business Schools. She is also a graduate of the global Stanford SEED Entrepreneurship Program. Eva is a mother to two adult daughters, Stephanie and Zawadi.

Learn more: www.bsd.co.ke