Over the past years, there has been a keen interest in empowering women and championing them to take the top leadership positions in the quest to achieve gender equality.
This has since seen a progressive rise in the number of women taking up top executive positions more so in the industries that were previously seen as male-dominated.
2022 has also been very interesting in terms of Kenyan women taking more tech leadership roles, both locally and abroad.
Here is a list of Kenyan women doing big in the Tech industry and approve that the future is very female.
Agnes Gathaiya
Agnes Gathaiya is the Country Director for East Africa at Google.
She has 20+ years of experience in strategy development and commercial leadership in sales and business development.
She is currently responsible for managing Google regional operations, developing executive growth and innovation, and building and managing strategic partnerships.
She holds a master’s in Business Administration from United States International University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Bryn Mawr College, USA.
Prior to joining Google, she held various leadership positions in Deloitte Consulting, SAP, Safaricom PLC, and Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL).
Catherine Muraga
Catherine Maraga is the Managing Director for Microsoft’s engineering hub, African Development Centre (ADC). She assumed the role following the departure of Jack Ngare, who is now at Google Kenya.
She is an IT professional with over 15 years of experience having worked in diverse industries including manufacturing, aviation ad banking.
Prior to joining Microsoft, she led the Engineering team at Stanbic Bank Kenya and South Sudan.
She is an alumnus of Columbia Business School Digital Strategies for Business, Oxford University Fintech Programme, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Africa Nazarene University.
Kendi Ntwiga
Kendi Nderitu is the global head of misrepresentation for Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, and WhatsApp.
She oversees operational protocols to scale Meta’s enforcement of community standards.
She has diverse experience in tech leadership. Most recently, she was Microsoft’s Country Director after leaving Check Point Software Technologies in 2020 as General manager.
She also held other leadership positions at Oracle, HP, and InteI.
She is the founder of She-Goes-Tech, an initiative that mentors girls in STEM careers and a recognized Emerging Leader in Innovation and Entrepreneurship by the US government TechWomen Program and has a bachelor’s degree in International Business management from Africa Nazarene University.
Hilda Moraa
Hilda Moraa is the CEO and Founder of Pezesha, a holistic digital financial enabler that empowers the underserved SMEs in Africa by connecting them with affordable access to financial services.
As a founder, she oversees the overall strategy, innovations, talent acquisition, resource management, partnership, and implementation of the organization’s mission and vision.
She previously worked as a data and innovation analyst at the multinational company Coca-Cola and led innovation and research strategy at i-Hub, where she began her entrepreneurship journey.
She holds a Business Information Technology degree from Strathmore University.
Betty Mwangi
Betty Mwangi is the CEO of the e-commerce platform Jumia Kenya, where she focuses on accelerating the company’s corporate growth.
She has 20 years of experience in the telecommunications, insurance, and pharmaceutical industries.
She previously served as Commercial Director for Britam Group PLC, Director of Financial Services for Safaricom Mpesa, and Chief marketing officer at AFSAT communications.
She holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Leicester and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Electronic, and Communications Engineering Technology from the University of Manchester.
Juliana Rotich
Juliana Rotich is an IT professional who heads the fintech unit at Safaricom PLC.
She previously was a co-founder and executive director at Ushahidi an open-source software application that uses user-generated reports to collate and map data, co-founder of the iHub, a collective tech space in Nairobi Kenya, and BRC Inc, a company that solves the lack of internet access due to blackouts.
Rotich holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and she is also an MIT Media Lab Fellow.
Rose Muturi
Rose Muturi is the Managing Director at Branch International, a fintech platform that offers loans to its customers using an algorithm-backed credit scoring system in place of paperwork.
She is an experienced digital financial service and financial technology professional.
She is in charge of the development, growth, and stability of East African businesses.
Rose has over 15yrs of experience and has held executive positions at numerous companies including Chase Bank, Trans Union, Tala, and HF group.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics and Computer Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and Executive Business Administration and Management from Strathmore University.
Sharon Karuga Kinyanjui
Sharon Karuga is the East and Central Africa Regional Head at WorldRemit, a digital payment service that provides international money transfers and remittances.
She has held various managerial positions at several multinational companies including Western Union Financial Services, Africa marketing director at Philips, and the Commercial director at Nielsen.
Karuga is passionate about financial inclusion and social impact. And holds a master’s degree in Business administration from Alliance Manchester Business School.
Sally Kimeu
Sally Kimeu is the Country Leader and Regional Manager for the East Africa operations for networking giant Cisco East Africa.
She manages the Cim to push for sales growth and market expansion while overseeing strategy, structure, budgets, people, financial outcomes, and scorecard metrics.
Prior to her current role, she served as Cisco’s Strategic Business Manager for United Nations.
She previously was an Enterprise Sales Manager for ISP organizations, Gestalt Gild LTD, and Swift global.
She holds a master of public policy management and bachelor’s degree in Management of Information systems from Strathmore University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Moi University.
Eva Ngigi
Eva Ngigi is the Country Manager for Visa, an American payment service provider.
She is the Senior Business Development Leader, and Country Manager responsible for the development and implementation of growth strategy in Kenya, and is part of the East Africa Leadership team.
She is an expert in financial services and has served in numerous roles at various banking institutions in Kenya including SC ventures, Standard Charted bank, CfC Stanbic, and the cooperative bank of Kenya.
Her team was instrumental in the launch of the virtual Visa card in partnership with telco Safaricom.
Ngigi holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Nairobi, a post-graduate diploma in digital business from EMERITUS, and a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing management from Moi University.
