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. This year, BSD Group was awarded a SABRE Certificate of Excellence for the strategic execution and awareness creation of the study. SABRE Awards is the world’s biggest PR awards competition where companies demonstrate credentials in different areas. The Awards put a spotlight on the industry’s most compelling work, focusing on programs and initiatives that drive real business impact.
She serves as a Director, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) managing both the Gender and SME 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.