Beatrice Karanja
Advisor
Beatrice has over 15 years of experience working in communications settings in Africa. For five years Beatrice covered East, Central and the Horn of Africa for BBC and Reuters as a TV journalist and as a radio and TV producer. During this time she covered a varied selection of stories, including prolonged droughts in South Sudan, land relocation in Zimbabwe, the war in Democratic Republic of Congo and the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
After leaving journalism, Beatrice joined the development sector as a public information officer. She designed and implemented the communications components of advocacy campaigns and humanitarian responses for UNICEF, Oxfam GB and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
For the last two years, Beatrice has run the Nairobi office of Portland Communications. In this role, she has provided strategic communications advice to senior staff at the Kofi Annan Foundation, Mo Ibrahim and other notable African advocates such as Graca Machel and the Foreign Affairs Minister of Rwanda, Louise Mushikiwabo.
Beatrice has traveled extensively across the continent throughout her working career and continues to maintain strong contact with many of the individuals and community members that she has interacted with along the way. She serves on the Advisory Panel of Kenya Women and Children's Wellness Centre—set up by Mrs. Deloris Jordan, mother of NBA player Michael Jordan—and on the Kenyan Board of We The Change Foundation, which was set up by Soiya Gecaga, granddaughter of Kenya's first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
Beatrice holds a Communications degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She speaks Swahili and Italian, and has a basic working knowledge of both French and Arabic. She is the last-born child of the late Dr. Josephat Karanja, Kenya's first High Commissioner to the Court of St. James (UK) and Kenya’s 5th Vice President.