Kentice Tikolo registered Impact Africa Limited, now known as Cause Impact Limited, in Nairobi in 2010, transitioning into consultancy after leading corporate communications at the Kenya Wildlife Service. The firm has since built a research-driven practice spanning public health, road safety, and environmental communication for government agencies and international organizations.
Who is Kentice Tikolo?
Kentice Libutsuli Tikolo attended Loreto High School in Limuru and Alliance Girls High School in the late 1970s and early 1980s before studying at the University of Nairobi. Her entry into communications came unexpectedly: while serving as Dean of Students at the Aga Khan Academy, a colleague who admired how she handled parents suggested she would excel in public relations, a suggestion Tikolo initially resisted before it proved to be the turning point in her career.
She went on to spend years as Head of Corporate Communication at the Kenya Wildlife Service, developing its first communication strategy from 2008 to 2012 and producing an innovative 2007 annual report that won the top prize at the Public Relations Society of Kenya's annual awards. She founded Cause Impact Limited as she moved from that public-sector role into independent consultancy, registering the company in 2010 while completing her transition out of government service.
How did Cause Impact Limited build its research-driven model?
Tikolo's firm has worked on communication strategy for Kenya's Highway Code and a new drivers' curriculum and handbooks with the National Transport Safety Authority, aflatoxin management communication with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, and public-health campaigns with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, alongside integrated coastal zone management communication and support for the first Africa Green Revolution Forum in Arusha. The firm applies research tools including Net-Map stakeholder analysis, an economist's tool for mapping influence networks, and the Balanced Scorecard method for developing communication strategy, blending scientific rigor with creative execution across its client sectors.
She has also completed doctoral coursework in Climate Change and Adaptation with a focus on communication and policy, and previously taught public relations at the University of Nairobi, work she has described as highly fulfilling. That academic grounding feeds directly into Cause Impact's approach, positioning research and evidence ahead of pure creative execution in the firm's client work.
What is Tikolo's current status?
Tikolo remains Founder and Managing Director of Cause Impact Limited, alongside a growing set of public-interest commitments. She is in the process of establishing the Kusudi Cause Communication Trust, a nonprofit built to communicate social causes through several named initiatives: Sexuality Education and Mentorship for Adolescents (SEMA), Adopt A School Kenya, which rallies alumni to upgrade their former schools, Rada Barabarani for road safety, and Kataa Taka for environmental conservation and waste management.
She has chaired the Public Relations Society of Kenya, where she introduced a continuous professional development program the Society has since built into a path toward legal accreditation for the profession. As Africa's delegate-at-large on the board of the Global Alliance for PR and Communication Management, she helped secure Kenya the right to host the World Conference for Public Relations in Emerging Economies, work she has described as bringing the global PR world to Kenya's doorstep.
How has Tikolo extended her profile into sports governance?
Tikolo became the first Kenyan woman to oversee a football election in the country, chairing the Football Kenya Federation's Electoral Board. She previously chaired Wazito Football Club, where she said she experienced firsthand the financial precarity clubs face, watching a team she had helped professionalize on limited personal funds struggle at the Kenyan Premier League level for lack of financial backing. She is married to Tom Tikolo, the first African captain of the Kenyan national cricket team, giving the family a dual footprint across Kenyan sport and communications.
How does her firm compare to Kenya's other founder-led agencies?
Unlike the acquisition exit at Gina Din-Kariuki's Gina Din Corporate Communications, Tikolo has kept Cause Impact independently owned and operated since founding it, building a narrower, research- and cause-driven specialization rather than the broad corporate PR practice Din-Kariuki's firm pursued before its Edelman acquisition. That distinction places Tikolo among a smaller group of Kenyan founders who have prioritized long-term independent ownership over scale through acquisition.
Gina Din-Kariuki — Gina Din Communications (Kenya)
Ayeni Adekunle — Black House Media (Nigeria)
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
