Carol Oyola began her career 17 years ago in broadcast media as a News Reporter. After eight years, she transitioned to Communications, working in strategic and Development Communications, Public Relations, Digital Media, and Policy Engagement, shaping narratives across public, private, and development sectors. Carol is passionate about impactful storytelling, which she believes can elevate an institution’s brand, profile and engagement. In her interview with us, she shares her insightful approach to communicating across borders.
Tell us about your role as Lead, Global Storytelling and Engagement at Aga Khan University.
My role is the fun and creative one within the Office of Strategic Communications at Aga Kha University (AKU). It’s a perfect fit for me because it blends my experience as journalist and communications professional. I am required to elevate storytelling and engagement across AKU.
My mandate is to advance a collective vision for the University and its teaching hospitals by cultivating and deepening strong connections to AKU through impactful, meaningful, and reciprocal stakeholder engagement.
I lead of team of five (in Nairobi and Karachi) and we harness stories on the impact and accomplishments of the organisation, resourcefully channelling them into avenues and campaigns that effectively promote AKU.
The role is still quite new in the University so helping people understand the value of storytelling in impactful communications has bee quite the journey.
How and why did you begin your career in Communications?
I started off my career in broadcast media nearly 18 years ago. I worked in local and international media houses for eight years, before I switched to communications at a pan-African research organisation. The switch was the proverbial ‘baptism by fire’ because it was science and research communications. It was both communications and policy engagement – which was new to me but I learned on the job and was successful at it for 3.5years before moving to Aga Khan University.
At AKU, I joined as the Regional Communications Manager – a position I held for four years before my promotion to a senior and global role.
I made the switch to communications because I wanted to gain new skills and grow professionally. Plus at the time, I felt I could do journalism in my sleep (laughs!)
What challenges come with managing Communications for academic programmes and donor relations?
One of the challenges is showing the value of strategic communications. Most people assume that communications is about taking photos or posting on social media – but there’s so much more to that. Also, demystifying the thin and grey line between communications and marketing. Strategic communications requires a lot of strategic thinking, planning, audience mapping, understanding audiences and how to effectively reach them – especially in an academic setting.
The other challenge is that it’s not easy to quantify the impact of communications. There are some campaigns or activities that may have tangible impact but most effective communication tactics take months, years or even decades to see ‘the fruit’ of it all. It’s a worthwhile investment that every organisation or academic institution needs to make.
How do you ensure your communication strategies are culturally sensitive and effective across different regions?
I first seek to understand the culture – even though not fully but have some understanding. AKU operates in six countries and though our team is mostly in Karachi and Nairobi, we seek to understand each other’s culture, out of respect for the audiences we serve.
We create a global strategy but also take into the different contexts we operate in, in the activities section. The goal and the objectives remain the same – but how the approach is specific to context.
We also understand that communication is a two-way street. Our media listening, data analytics and feedback from stakeholders helps us assess the effectiveness of our communication strategies. We are flexible and adaptable in our approach knowing that cultural landscapes are constantly evolving, and we must remain responsive to these changes.
Where do you see the communications industry heading, and what steps should professionals take to stay ahead of the curve?
The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is changing how we communicate, for example in content creation, data analysis, graphic design etc. We cannot run away from AI but it’s just a tool, so we should remain confident in our expertise which is strategic thinking and ethical storytelling. How to embrace AI without losing our creative juice? I still don’t know the answer to that question.
We live in a digital world where visual content is ruling. I believe the future of communications will involve exploring interactive visual content – animation, stop motion etc. We will need to upskill so that we can be comfortable with using a variety of visual platforms.
We generally need to be lifelong learners. Don’t be comfortable with what you know – learn new things, take short courses – be up to date with the evolving world of comms.
What advice would you give to your younger professional self?
It’s ok to take risks and explore new fields. You’ll be surprised at how much you can learn and be good at. Network, network, network! Build connections to grow in your field.
