Greystone Global Strategies
Local Solutions. Global Impact.
Greystone Global Strategies advises governments, political campaigns, and companies investing in emerging markets. We work with select clients to customize solutions that are fit for purpose. Our team has decades of experience successfully navigating some of the most challenging environments to provide value at the national, regional, and international levels.
Expertise
Campaigns
We have extensive experience advising political campaigns on grassroots mobilization, digital strategy, messaging, third-party outreach, election observation, and fundraising. Our team brings lessons learned from numerous presidential and parliamentary campaigns all over the world. We work with candidates and parties that we believe in, and we know how to win.
Market Entry & Political Risk Mitigation
Greystone knows how to position companies in new markets, whether it's a Fortune 100 company seeking to enter an emerging market or a startup going global. We work with companies to build positive brand recognition, engage key stakeholders, and mitigate political risk, in some of the most complex markets. We also know how to help companies protect their assets when they come under threat.
Government Relations
We work with our clients to develop and implement government relations strategies that mitigate political risk, facilitate cross border relationships, identify areas of support from donor organizations, and educate policymakers and influencers on key issues. From Washington to Ouagadougou, our team knows how to navigate the halls of local, state, and federal governments, as well as regional and multilateral institutions.
Strategic Communications
Greystone works with clients to design communication strategies that are fit for purpose. Whether it is to elevate an issue or respond to a crisis, we know how to build a compelling argument, identify the key audiences, draft the messaging, and utilize various platforms and tactics to influence the public debate.
Leadership
Chris Beatty
Eric Chinje
Senior Director
Eric Chinje currently advises African governments on communications and development issues, and serves as the Deputy Dean in charge of Media Research at the Dortmund-based Africa Institute for Media, Migration, and Development. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the African Media Initiative (AMI) in Nairobi until December 2017 and remains a Board Director and Senior Advisor at the organization.
Eric held multiple senior management positions at the World Bank and the African Development Bank between 1992 and 2012 and became Director of Strategic Communication and Adviser at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in London from 2012 to 2013. In 2014, he accepted his role with the African Media Initiative.
Eric studied at the universities of Yaounde (Cameroon), Syracuse (New York) and Harvard (Cambridge, Massachusetts). He was Editor in Chief of Cameroon Television and a contributing correspondent for CNN World Report, and also reported for the BBC World Service, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle Radio. Eric is an Officer of the Cameroon Order of Merit and an Officer of the Dutch Order of Orange Nassau. He is fluent in English and French.
Richard Uku
Senior Director
Richard Uku is a public policy and strategic communications professional who has worked in public relations and international development for over 30 years. He has advised governments and created and executed strategic communications programs to inform behavior change for many clients. He is an experienced writer, editor, and executive media trainer.
Richard was previously Director of Communications & Public Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat and Official Spokesperson of the Commonwealth Secretary-General. He was also Head of Communications at the African Development Bank, Head of Communications for Africa at the World Bank, and Speechwriter to the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. He has consulted for the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) as Strategic Communications Adviser to the Government of The Gambia, and he currently advises the African Natural Resources Center of the African Development Bank on its strategic communications.
Previous experience includes leading public relations for the pan-African banking group Ecobank as the company’s Group Head of Corporate Communications, and Vice President for Government & Emerging Markets at the New York-based international public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. This was preceded by many years in professional diplomacy as a career foreign service officer. Prior to this, he spent several years in television broadcasting and taught French language and literature.
Richard is a member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). He holds a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a Bachelor of Arts in French and a diploma in French from the University of Jos and the University of Grenoble, respectively. He also holds a Certificate in Executive Leadership from the Harvard Business School. He is fluent in English and French. Richard is a national of the United Kingdom, Nigeria, and Trinidad & Tobago. Outside of work, his passions include playing the tenor saxophone, practicing the oriental art of Shotokan Karate, motorcycling, and collecting art from around the world.
CEO
Chris Beatty founded Greystone Global Strategies in 2019 after a dozen years of experience with two Washington, D.C. based firms where he advised Fortune 100 companies, governments, and political campaigns. He has traveled extensively throughout the developing world and operated in some of the most challenging markets. Chris has vast experience working on the ground in post-conflict and post-disaster environments, and has played an advisory role in several peaceful democratic transitions. In addition, Chris has supported numerous companies in designing and implementing market entry and political risk mitigation strategies. He has also advised several foreign political campaigns and governments on matters related to U.S. government advocacy, political positioning, investment facilitation, and strategic communications.
Chris served as a government relations and communications advisor to the H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from 2007 to 2017, H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo from 2017 to 2018, and to the Hon. Jeanine Mabunda Lioko Mudiayi, the first woman elected President of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from her election in April 2019 to December 2020. He has also served as a strategic advisor on numerous political campaigns, including the successful 2011 re-election of President Sirleaf in Liberia and the 2016 election of President Akufo-Addo in Ghana.
During the 2014-2015 outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa, Chris worked to support the coordination of response efforts by the host governments, donors, NGOs, and the private sector, specifically through the Ebola Private Sector Mobilization Group (EPSMG), which mobilized the response of over 100 companies operating in and around the affected areas. In South Sudan from 2013-2014, before and during the civil war, Chris worked on the ground in-country and with regional partners to support efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict; efforts which were unfortunately not successful. In Haiti, both before and after the devastating 2010 earthquake, Chris worked with an American telecommunications company to support the coordination of development and relief efforts between the government, donors and the private sector.