Bilha Ndirangu has been appointed the third CEO of the African Leadership Academy (ALA).
Her tenure has already started (as of July 1), making her the first woman CEO for the Academy.
Bilha succeeds Chris Bradford, who is also the organization’s co-founder.
Prior to her new role, Bilha was the CEO of Africa’s Talking (AT), a Pan-Africa mobile technology company that supports software developers to bring their business ideas to life and build them into sustainable ventures.
During her period at Africa’s Talking, Bilha oversaw the company’s incredible growth from a workforce of about 8 to over 100 employees and grew its presence in over 20 African markets.
Her other past roles include Senior Project Manager of Dalberg Global Development. She conceptualized and saw the initial implementation of Equity Foundation’s Wings to Fly Scholarship project that has supported more than 26,000 needy and bright Kenyan children to date access secondary and university education.
Upon her appointment, Bilha said that Africa presents a lot of opportunities and has great untapped potential encapsulated in her richest resource; her youth. She added that no nation will be able to thrive in the future without technology, so now is the right time to raise the right leaders and global shapers who will secure Africa’s place at the table.
Her appointment on June 15 came following a rigorous exercise that identified Bilha as a talented individual who embodies the academy’s values of integrity, curiosity and excellence to take that CEO role and hails as a role model for ALA student.
Bilha’s experience in building a pan-African company and working with senior leaders across the continent has uniquely prepared her to lead the African Leadership Academy – ALA Board of Trustees Chair, Khumo Shongwe.
Coming back to Africa was informed by what I saw then, that is even clearer now; the need for Africa to embrace her true identity and leverage our competitive advantage at the global stage – CEO Bilha.
