Mary Njoki is the CEO of Glass House PR, a PR company that positions brands across the continent through tailor-made public relations solutions.
The entrepreneur founded the company in 2012 at the age of 23.
Other than being in business, Njoki is also an influencer, technology enthusiast and trainer with a background in Mathematics, Business Information & Technology and Public Relations.
Here is her story as told by WoK.
When Njoki completed high school at the age of 16, her mother was not able to support her through university immediately.
As such, she went into acting and started doing gigs at the Kenya National Theatre (KNT) hoping to make a living out of it.
However, it didn’t last but her mother managed to procure loans and enrolled her at Graffins College for a higher diploma in software development.
She graduated from the college and went on to join Daystar University for a communication course on public relations.
However, Njoki quit school midway and worked with different firms before registering her own company that earned her Ksh 500 only in a whole year.
“The course I was enrolled in was not aligned to my goals. There is little about financial education in our school system
“The few courses that come close to this teach a lot of theory. There are no real case studies or real life experiences from those who have succeeded in business,” she said.
Two years later, she founded Glass House PR with an initial capital of Ksh 6,000.
“I learnt how little I knew about the business. I was learning on the go. Fortunately, a service such as public relations required little overheads or a need for much capital investment
“I had no office or staff to pay when I started since I was a one-woman show for close to two years,” Njoki further explained.
The breakthrough of her company happened over six years later when it started competing with big companies in the game.
Glads House PR has consulted for international firms such as Facebook, Viber and the Ethiopian Government.
As a mentor, Njoki runs A Billion Startups, a free mentorship platform that brings together entrepreneurs across Africa to learn on brand visibility and sustainable growth.
Recognitions
In 2016, Njoki was recognized by FOYA Awards as the Founder of the Year, Under 30 and In Charge by Daily Nation and featured on the Destiny Magazine in South Africa as a top PR professional in Africa.
She also won the Young African women leadership excellence Award by center of Economics and Development during the 2017 African Women Leadership Summit held in Durban, South Africa.
She was also recognized by Amazon watch magazine in 2017 as Top 40 under 40 women in Leadership across Africa.
