“Ukiweza, Itaweza.” It was the Swahili rallying call that Strathmore University’s team carried into this year’s Africa University PR Challenge, held at Aga Khan University in Nairobi. The phrase was meant to hook the audience. It did much more than that.

By the end of the competition, the six Bachelor of Arts in Communication students had not only captured the room but also won two trophies: Crowd Favourite Overall and Most Inspiring Narrative.

Ukiweza, Itaweza became the heartbeat of Strathmore’s campaign: a reminder of Kenya’s immense potential, its creativity and the possibilities available to its people. Loosely translated, the message was simple: If you can do it, it can be done. It was a call for Kenyans to see possibility not as something distant, but as something within reach.

The Africa University PR Challenge is the brainchild of Glasshouse PR and was first launched in 2025. This year’s competition brought together students from 11 African institutions: Strathmore University, the University of Johannesburg, United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa), the University of Nairobi, Daystar University, Riara University, Zetech University, KCA University, St. Paul’s University, Multimedia University and Mount Kenya University.

Held on August 25, 2026, during Africa PR Week, the challenge asked each university team to select an African country and develop a branding and communication strategy for it.

At the centre of the competition were two questions: How can we tell Africa’s story differently? And how can we redefine Africa? For the young communicators, it was an opportunity to move beyond conversations about changing the African narrative and actually put theory, creativity and strategic thinking to the test.

Representing Strathmore University were Maclenny Waithaka, Linda Rerimoi, Alicia Ng’ang’a, Ian Nderitu, Natalia Buhasio and Tshaka Mba, all students in the Bachelor of Arts in Communication programme in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Their two wins were the culmination of months of research, debate, strategic thinking, late nights and more revisions than they would probably care to count. The team was mentored by Dr Esther King’ori, Head of the Bachelor of Arts in Communication programme. “She walked us through the conceptualising, writing and rehearsing journey, constantly challenging us to interrogate our choices, sharpen our thinking and produce work we could confidently stand behind,” Alicia says.

Seeing Kenya Differently

Kenya already has a powerful story. Breathtaking landscapes? Check. mWildlife? Absolutely. World-class athletes? We could probably write another article about that alone. But the team kept returning to a different question: Is that the whole Kenyan story? What about what Kenya creates, designs, builds, innovates, performs and dares to pursue? And perhaps more importantly: How do Kenyans see themselves? That question became the strategic insight behind Unscripted Kenya, the campaign the Strathmore team developed.

Rather than presenting Kenyan excellence simply as something to admire, Unscripted Kenya sought to use it as a source of possibility. The idea was straightforward: when Kenyans see other Kenyans achieving extraordinary things, the extraordinary begins to feel a little more attainable. The thought shifts from, “Look what they can do,” to, “Maybe I can do it too.”

From that belief came the campaign message: Ukiweza, Itaweza. If you can do it, it can be done.

What Excellence Looked Like Before the Stage

The campaign presented on August 25 had begun months earlier. Behind the polished 25-minute presentation were countless hours of research, conflicting ideas, laughter, difficult conversations, strategic thinking and repeated revisions.

Then, just 48 hours before the competition, the team made a bold decision: they changed the trajectory of the campaign. The purpose remained the same. So did the strategic insight.

But the team realised there was a stronger way to bring the idea to life. Two days before a continental competition is perhaps not the most relaxing time to come to that conclusion.

Still, those final hours taught the team something important: excellence is not always about getting it right the first time. Sometimes, it is about having the humility to listen, the courage to rethink and the discipline to keep refining when settling for “good enough” would be easier.

The process also brought the team closer together. Three fourth-year students and three third-year students stopped being students from different classes and became one team with one goal. The full story of those final 48 hours? Perhaps that is one for another day.

The Presentation

At 8:50 a.m., Team Strathmore walked onto the stage as the first of the 11 teams to present. Going first comes with its own kind of pressure. The opening presentation sets the bar. And once it is over, the first presenters have the rest of the day to sit through everyone else’s work and wonder whether the audience still remembers theirs.

Team SU had 25 minutes to make an impression. They made them count. They presented their insight, their strategy and the Kenya they wanted people in the room to see. Then came ten more universities, each bringing its own creativity, perspective and approach to the challenge. By the time the final team presented at around 4:30 p.m., nearly eight hours had passed. But Unscripted Kenya had stayed in the room. The idea had connected. The message had resonated. Then came the results.

Most Inspiring Narrative. Crowd Favourite Overall. Two awards. Two trophies coming home to Strathmore. For the team, however, the trophies represented far more than victory. They represented what can happen when classroom learning meets real-world application; when creativity is anchored in strategy; and when students are given opportunities to test their thinking beyond the classroom.

They also represented everything the audience never saw: the research, the difficult choices, the feedback, the disagreements, the teamwork and the decision to keep pushing when settling would have been easier.

That is what made bringing the trophies home special.

A Win Built by a Community

Six students stood on the competition stage, but they did not get there alone. Dr King’ori’s belief in the team was reflected in her determination to keep pushing them towards excellence. Maria Kamau, who competed in the previous year’s PR Challenge, also stepped in to help the team visually map its thinking and translate its ideas into a compelling presentation.

The School of Humanities and Social Sciences created an environment in which learning could extend beyond lectures and assignments into practical, high-pressure experiences such as the PR Challenge.

And then there was the wider Bachelor of Arts in Communication family. Students showed up for rehearsals, listened to presentations, offered critiques and helped the team strengthen the campaign. On competition day, classmates came to cheer the six presenters on.

Seeing familiar faces in the room reminded the team of something special about the BAC community: in moments like these, there is no first year, second year, third year or fourth year.

There is simply a community that shows up for one another.

The team also extends its appreciation to Glasshouse PR and the other organisers of the Africa University PR Challenge for creating a platform where aspiring communicators from across the continent can meet, compete, exchange ideas and actively shape new narratives about Africa.

When the Message Became Personal

The team entered the competition with a campaign asking Kenyans to recognise excellence in one another and to believe a little more deeply in what they, too, could achieve. They set out to tell a different story about Kenya. Along the way, they wrote a small piece of their own. By the end of the journey, it had become the team’s story. They had researched, questioned, revised, doubted, rehearsed and pushed themselves to produce something they believed in. Then they walked onto a continental stage and proved their own message true.

And so, the final line almost writes itself: Ukiweza, Itaweza. If you can do it, it can be done.

Article by Linda Rerimoi, fourth-year Bachelor of Arts in Communication student.