Our History

Daystar was co-founded in 1964 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, by Dr. S.E. Motsoko Pheko, a political refugee from South Africa, and Dr. Donald and Mrs. Faye K. Smith, an American missionary couple.

During the next four years, they established a Christian publishing ministry under the name Daystar Publications. When Mr. Pheko moved Daystar Publications to Zambia in 1967, the Smiths launched Daystar Communications during the same year in Zimbabwe. They also incorporated the US in hope of finding possible solutions to major Christian communication problems.

The eruption of civil war in Zimbabwe in 1974 prompted the re-location of Daystar Communications' international headquarters to Nairobi, Kenya, where the organization had been incorporated as a non-profit the year before. It was also during 1974 that Daystar Communications acquired a 1.54 acre plot in downtown Nairobi and established a small campus. But with the ministry expanding rapidly, the need for larer accommodations become obvious.

Daystar's prayers were answered in 1989 when they chose a 300-acre property at Athi River (39 kilometres East of Nairobi) to set up their new university grounds. On September 19, 1992, Daystar University College - as it was then called - relocated the pioneer class of first year students to the new Athi River Campus.

The campus has since grown considerably and continues to expand both in physical facilities and in student population. The university however has not changed in its vision to develop servant leaders to serve their communities and nations.