This year Muthoni Likimani and the whole extended family celebrated their matriarch’s 100th birthday. What a gift to the Public Relations world, that the first African to establish a PR firm — Kenya’s own Muthoni Likimani — is still alive and kicking. If you thought history was dusty, meet the woman who made it happen.
Early Life & Many Firsts
Muthoni Gachanja Likimani was born in 1926 in the Kahuhia Mission, Murang’a District, Kenya.
She holds a unique place in Kenyan history: the first Kenyan beauty queen, the first African to set up a public relations firm in Kenya, one of the country’s earliest female authors and one of the first female producers at what was then the Voice of Kenya (now the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation).
Founding of Noni’s Publicity
In the 1970s she founded her own firm, Noni’s Publicity, which became a landmark in Kenyan media and PR history. According to sources, her company handled public relations work and also publishing — including the periodical Women of Kenya.
Achievements, Awards & Recognition
She has had a career spanning broadcasting, publishing, activism and PR. Here are some highlights:
- She was awarded the Golden Honour Award by the Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK) in 2005 for “outstanding leadership for service to the public relations profession”.
- She received the World YWCA Council Award in 2007 for dedication to women’s rights activism.
- In 2014, she was appointed Peace Ambassador by the International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace (IFLAC) in Kenya.
- Her written works: They Shall Be Chastised (1974), What Does a Man Want? (1974), Passbook Number F. 47927: Women and Mau Mau in Kenya (1985) — the last one dramatizing women’s roles in Kenya’s liberation struggle.
Why This Matters to You (and to PR)
For anyone in media, communications, middle-class entrepreneurship or influence, Muthoni Likimani offers a powerful example. She did not wait for permission. She picked a space (public relations and publishing) when few women or Africans were in it. She built a firm. She used it to publish, influence, elevate women’s voices, shape public dialogue. She’s a model of resilience, foresight, and social impact.
Final Thoughts
Celebrating 100 years is more than a birthday. For Muthoni Likimani it is a marker of a lifetime of breaking ceilings, mentoring others, building structures, and leaving a legacy. If you are in PR, media, activism or simply trying to shift the culture, her story gives hope — that one person can light a spark and build a legacy.