Mark Kaigwa is an African entrepreneur, author and professional speaker. He is the Founder of Nendo, a consultancy delivering solutions in research, training and strategy across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Career

He is the publisher and co-author of respected digital trends & insights annual, The Nendo Social Media Trend Report. Moreover, he is also Partner and Digital Strategist at African Digital Art – the web’s leading resource for creative inspiration in animation, illustration, photography and design from Africa which is an award-winning African showcase for Digital Art and Design.

As an author, he is a contributing author in books such as Doing Ideas, ON! The Future of Now (with Seth Godin, Jonah Perreti et al.), Africa & China: How Africans and their Governments are Shaping Relations with China and most recently Digital Kenya – An Entrepreneurial Revolution in the Making the country’s first management book set for release in August 2016.

Mark Kaigwa

As a speaker he’s built up a repertoire speaking to a combined audience of tens of thousands in over 35 countries to date. Kaigwa has found acclaim in sharing stories on the reframing of Africa’s narrative thanks to technology, connectivity & the impact of the continent’s youth population. Mark Kaigwa was feted among Forbes Africa’s inaugural 30 under 30 Best Young Entrepreneurs in Africa in 2013.

Awards and Achievements

Mark Kaigwa’s repertoire earned him the accolade as a Forbes 30 under 30 Best Young Entrepreneur in Africa of 2013. In addition, mark is the First African Ambassador of the Sandbox Network in Africa – the world’s leading global network of innovators under 30 – since July 2011 and Kaigwa has participated in the leadership and representation of the African continent.

Mark has been featured on BBC, CNN, El Paìs, Deutsche Welle, CCTV, Al Jazeera and The Guardian not to mention publications such as Fast Company, WIRED, The Atlantic among others.

Video

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Martin Oduor-Otieno was the former KCB chief executive. He rejoined East African Breweries as a non-executive director, a position he quit after a short stint in 2013 following his appointment as a partner at Deloitte East Africa, which posed a potential conflict of interest.

Martin Oduor-Otieno Education

Mr Oduor-Otieno holds a BCom degree from the University of Nairobi, an Executive MBA degree from the ESAMI/Maastritch Business School, and is a fellow of both the Kenya Institute of Bankers and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.

Career

Mr Oduor-Otieno, who is best known in corporate Kenya for his role as the KCB Group chief executive between 2007 and 2012, took up the EABL position on Tuesday.
“The Board of EABL is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Oduor-Otieno as a non-executive director of the board effective May 24,” said the brewer’s chairman Charles Muchene in a statement.

The former banker was first appointed an EABL director in February 2013, but he quit after six months when Deloitte enlisted him as a partner to offer advisory services in the financial sector.

Mr Oduor-Otieno early this year exited Deloitte to take up a new position as a non-executive director of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, the largest lender on the continent by assets.
This move has now allowed EABL to engage him afresh in the regional brewer as they seek to tap his managerial experience in both the public and private sectors.

This appointment is the third change that EABL is making to its 12-member board over the past year. The brewer is 50.02 per cent owned by UK multinational Diageo.

On April 27 the regional brewer announced that Joyce Menene had replaced Ruth Ngobi as its company secretary, a position the latter had held for three years.

Martin Oduor-Otieno

Carol Musyoka, a financial consultant and columnist with the Business Daily, was last September appointed to the brewer’s board alongside György Geiszl, the EABL’s group finance director.

Nick Blazquez, the former Diageo president for Africa, is slated to leave the EABL board at the end of June. He will be exiting the UK brewer altogether after serving for 27 years. This is the vacancy that Mr Oduor-Otieno will essentially fill.

Mr Oduor-Otieno has previously worked with Barclays Bank of Kenya, British American Tobacco and also as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance. He joined Standard Bank Group’s Board on Jan 1.

Since Deloitte South Africa, an affiliate of the local consultancy firm, offers some business advisory services to Standard Bank the banker quit the local position once again due to the potential for conflict of interest.

He remains an independent adviser of Deloitte East Africa.

Martin Oduor-Otieno Twitter

https://twitter.com/OduorMartinO

Video

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Mike Macharia: Michael Macharia, also known as Mike, founded Seven Seas Technologies Ltd and serves as its Group Chief Executive Officer and Director.He is a member of YPO (Young President Organization, Kenya Chapter) and also serves as the founding curator for the Kenya Chapter of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shapers Community and is also a council member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on data driven development.

Mike Macharia Education

He has attended numerous management development courses all over the world for Entrepreneurship, Human Resource development and Operations Excellence. Mike is an Alumni of Strathmore University/IESE Business School – Barcelona, Spain for Advanced Management in 2009.

Mike Macharia Career

Kenyan entrepreneur Mike Macharia was only 25 when he ventured into business, establishing Seven Seas Technologies (SST), one of East Africa’s leading technology solutions companies. He is currently

Mike Macharia

the Group CEO of SST. From a team of just five at inception in 1999, the SST Group today has more than 100 permanent employees in East, West and Southern Africa as well as Portugal.

Mike is currently executing on his long-held plans to transform the company to a pan-African systems integrator giant, besides mulling various options of unlocking shareholder value.

He has always been passionate about technology and how it can be used to leverage and transform Africa in the way we live, work, play and govern. In his spare time, Mike will often preside over executive and media talks on his pet subjects of entrepreneurship, innovation and transformation of Government services using technology.

Mike Macharia Twitter

https://twitter.com/MikeMachariaSST

Video

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Betty Mwangi is Safaricom’s executive in charge of the M-Pesa mobile cash services. She’s well recognized for having launched Okoa Jahazi, M-Shwari and Lipa na M-Pesa services and has also steered M-Pesa and has seen it grow from a product that served 7.3 million subscribers in 2009 to over 15.8 million customers by 2015, increasing its revenues to hit sh32.6 billion by 2015.

Betty Mwangi Education

She received her undergraduate degree from The University of Manchester and an MBA from the University of Leicester.

Betty Mwangi Career

After serving Safaricom for nearly a decade, Ms Mwangi the director in charge of financial services is leaving the listed firm by end of this month. She will be succeeded by Brian Wamatu, currently head of M-Pesa product development, in an acting capacity pending fresh recruitment to fill the position.

Ms Mwangi joined Safaricom in December 2007 as the head of new products division – comprising M-Pesa business and GSMA community projects.

She was promoted to chief officer in charge of the division in October 2008, with the additional responsibility for Safaricom’s value added services such as ring-back service Skiza, bulk SMS solutions, short codes, directory services and news alerts.

In 2012, the techie was appointed general manager of financial services – the title later changed to director – when she took charge of M-Pesa operations.

Ms Mwangi presided over Safaricom’s mobile money division at a time when M-Pesa was on the growth curve and launched multiple products to deepen uptake of the service.

Safaricom’s M-Pesa-linked commuter card dubbed My 1963 launched in 2014 has however failed to take root in Kenya’s chaotic matatu industry.

Betty Mwangi

M-Pesa revenue doubled under Ms Mwangi’s watch to hit Sh32.63 billion in the period to March 2015, compared to Sh16.87 in March 2012.

Similarly, M-Pesa’s agent footprint grew two-fold to 85,756 agents compared to 39,400 mobile cash outlets in the period.

The globally acclaimed mobile money service is now a key growth driver at Safaricom, making up a fifth of its revenue in the year to March 2015.

The ratio of Safaricom customers topping up their airtime through M-Pesa grew to 38 per cent of total airtime sales as at March 2015, compared to 22 per cent in March 2011.

M-Pesa’s customer base has grown by more than a third in the past four years to the current 20.6 million from 14.9 million in 2012.

Betty Mwangi Awards and Recognitions

Betty was recognized as one of Africa’s 20 most influential women in technology by a Johannesburg-based online news firm.

Video

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Eddy Njoroge is the Chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya.He is also the President of the Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa (UPDEA).

Education

Njoroge holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) Degree from Makerere University and is also the recipient of several awards honoring his contribution to industry development.

Career

He is the Chairman of The World Energy Council and a member of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Africa Power Pool. He is also a Director of several blue chip companies in the banking, insurance, fast moving consumer goods and ICT sectors.

In 2011, Mr Njoroge was voted the Africa Investor 100 CEO of the year and the Utility CEO of the year. In 2012, the Africa Energy Forum presented him with a life-time award for his contributions to Africa’s power sector.

From 2008-2012, Mr. Njoroge was the President of the Union of Producers and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa, giving him a unique perspective of Africa’s Power sector.

Eddy Njoroge

In 2003, coming from the Private Sector, Mr. Njoroge was appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the government owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KENGEN) and spearheaded the transformation of the company from a parastatal to a publicly listed company which with a commercial orientation. He retired in June 2013 .

Mr Njoroge has seen the generation capacity of KenGen increase to 1,232 megawatts from 780 in 2003 and is targeting 1,750 MW in 2015 with an emphasis on renewable power, especially geothermal. The company is in the middle of executing power projects that will see add more than 1000MW in the next five years.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/eddy_njoroge

Video

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Ephraim Mwangi Maina born on 1 December 1949 is a Kenyan politician and Member of Parliament.Ephraim Maina is the founder and owner of Kirinyaga Construction, a construction company in Kenya.

Ephraim Maina Education

Maina attended Ragati Primary School, 1970 and then joined Kirimara High School, 1970 . He later went to University of Nairobi, 1973

Ephraim Maina Political Career

He belongs to Safina, and was elected to represent the Mathira Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya since the Kenyan parliamentary election, 2007.

Construction company

Ephraim Maina

He is the founder and owner of Kirinyaga Construction, a construction company in Kenya. It is a Civil Engineering Construction Company offering services in Planning, Designing Constructing and Maintaining Civil Engineering and Building Projects. These Include Water, Sanitation and other Engineering services e.g. the Supply, Installation and maintenance of associated Electrical and Mechanical works. It is also involved in Construction of Highways, Roads, and Supply of Premixed Asphalt.
His firm has been awarded various contracts including a contract it was awarded to pave the 57-km Sagana-Karatina Road in 30 months.

Ephraim Maina Facebook and Twitter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honephraim.mwangimaina/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/honephraimmaina

Video

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Dorothy Ghettuba is a Kenyan actress, producer and overall television entrepreneur.She is the founder and CEO of one of Kenya’s leading production houses, Spielworks Media.

Dorothy Ghettuba Career

Four years ago Dorothy Ghettuba quit her job at a venture capital firm in Canada and moved back to Kenya to follow her passion for TV production. With no education or experience in the field, the only

Dorothy Ghettuba

thing Ghettuba was armed with was her determination to make it.

As a respected figure in Kenya and most sought after producer in East Africa, she is famous for producing and writing award winning documentaries, films and television series.

She has developed TV shows such as, Some of its TV shows include; Block D, Lies that Bind, Higher Learning, Saints, Ladies First as well as Kenya’s civic education drama series, Know Your Constitution.

To date, Spielworks Media has produced some 20 TV shows and employs 17 staff, though the number can swell to 700 depending on the creative project at hand.

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.553457894688056.1073741825.148754221825094&type=1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dghettuba/status/321651738849443840

Video

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Ken Njoroge is a homegrown Kenyan technology entrepreneur. One of the original founders of one of Kenya’s top digital agencies, 3Mice, he moved on to co-found Cellulant, which has been doing some great work all over East Africa and is now active in 9 countries in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, South-Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, Botswana, Zambia & Ethiopia).

Ken Njoroge Education

Ken started his campus schooling at the University of Nairobi’s School of Pharmacy before changing course to study Management of Information Systems at Strathmore University, in total pursuit of his passion for Connected Computing.

Ken Njoroge Career

He is a career entrepreneur having co-founded 3Mice Interactive Media which grew from a two-man team to a leading web development firm in East Africa.

He headed 3Mice’s Technology, Strategy and Solution Development teams as its Solution Design Director. The team was responsible for conceptualizing and executing digital projects covering e-

Ken Njoroge

commerce platforms, content management platforms and e-business platforms for more than 50 blue chip customers in different sectors in the region.
In 2000, 3Mice was acquired by Africa Online, the largest Pan-African Internet Service Provider at the time that was owned by London-Listed firm, African Lakes Corporation.

Cellulant started in this space 5 years ago, they began by selling music via mobile devices, but really got active in banking about 3 years ago as a customer trying to make things work for their buyers.

Ken has led Cellulant from a dream of two founders, one whose plan was sketched on a serviette in 2003, to a reputable mobile commerce firm in Africa.

Ken Njoroge Twitter

https://twitter.com/kennjorogecg

Video

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Maliza Umaskini CEO, Sadat Muhindi believes he has discovered the next big thing in the gospel music industry. This is after one of his proteges, Papa Dennis ran into a street boy with an amazing singing talent.

The ‘Injili’ hitmaker narrated to SDE how he ran into the boy after taking a break from a recording session at Main Switch Records in South B.

“I heard someone singing my Injili song and looking around, it was this street boy collecting stuff from a garbage pit. He saw me and shouted my name saying he liked my music after which he started singing and rapping at the same time. You wouldn’t mistake the fact that he is talented. It was an amazing encounter,” Papa Dennis narrated.

“I walked him to Mainswitch where he was given a track to sing to. The promoter was puzzled. He won a recording read immediately and now is working with Maliza Umaskini who also discovered my talent from the streets,” he added.

According to Sadat Muhindi, the boy is even better than gospel starts Willy Paul and Bahati.

“He is better, far much better than Bahati and Willy Paul. We will help him achieve his music dream,” he said.

Sadat Muhindi Business

Sadat Muhindi is an accomplished name in the entertainment industry but few know him as an established businessman.

Sadat Muhindi

His passion has been empowering the youth from the North Rift and the country at large by initiating programmes that ensure they sustain themselves economically.

Through his Adonai Enterprises Ltd, that deals with importation and distribution of energy drinks, Sadat is now focused on fighting alcoholism through the introduction of S-Max a hangover treatment and prevention drink which he imports from Korea.

“I realised that many youth involved in soccer and entertainment have been affected by alcoholism thus the reason for introducing the drink, which is available in a number of supermarkets and chemists countrywide,” says 35-year-old Sadat who is also the brain behind the Maliza Umaskini – a youth empowerment programme.

Sadat Muhindi Wealth

This year alone, Sadat Muhindi, the CEO of Maliza Umaskini has spent over Sh100,000 on a single upcoming artiste, Papa Dennis both in video projects and international travels, that being just one of his little hobbies. Sadat is ?lthy wealthy and has investments in South Africa and Europe. He stinks cash and wherever he goes, everyone keeps their wallets away, for he brings life to the party.

Sadat Muhindi Facebook and Twitter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sadat.muhindi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sadatmuhindi

Video

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Mary Mwangi is East Africa Chapter Manager at Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Dr. Mwangi is an educator with a passion for technology, innovation, diversity and education. She believes in making connections that works.

Education

She holds an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from United States International University, Chandaria Business School and a B.A in Communication and Political Science from the University of Nairobi. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Management at Strathmore University.

Mary Mwangi Career

Mary Mwangi

Mary Mwangi has been with ANDE since August 2012. As the Chapter Coordinator and now Manager, Mary has planned and executed over 50 sector meetings in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda including networking events, workshops, roundtable meetings and ANDE’s first conference in Africa. Mary has developed an extensive network in East Africa which she continues to leverage to connect ANDE members in the region.

Previously she worked with the African Venture Capital Association (AVCA). Mary is passionate about development entrepreneurship and while pursuing her Masters, she authored a research report on the efficacy of tertiary education and business development services in promoting and supporting youth entrepreneurship in Kenya.

Mary Mwangi Twitter

https://twitter.com/mwangimw

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Anthony Wahome is the founder and chief executive of Linksoft Group. Wahome established Linksoft Communications Systems (LCS) in 1995 as a telecommunications company that offered products, services and network solutions.The Linksoft Group today has a pan-African footprint with seven companies under its umbrella.

Career

He is a self-effacing telecommunications engineer and owner of the telecommunications giant, Linksoft Systems. The company provides support services to everybody who is somebody in the telephony industry including Safaricom, Bharti Airtel, Vodacom, MTN, Etisalat, Huawei, Nokia-Siemen and Tiggo. The company has offices in six African countries.

Wahome is the man who bought the prestigious Hillcrest group of schools previously owned by the Kenneth Matiba family. Wahome is also key shareholder in leading public relations firm, the Red House Group. Though founded only a year ago, the company is making major waves in the industry with a Sh 2 billion turnover.

Anthony Wahome

Mr Anthony Wahome is an investor and director of Hillcrest International Schools. Anthony Wahome Githinji is the founder and Group CEO of AG Group International Limited, Kenya.

AG group established an Education services arm as part of its business cluster. As a result, Anthony has been an involved investor in education having established Rose of Sharon Academy, a local school in Nairobi. He is also an advisory Board Member at the Chandaria School of Business at United States International University (USIU) as well as the Women Education Researchers of Kenya.

As director and co-owner of Hillcrest Investments Limited, Anthony sits on both the Board of Directors and Board of Governors.

Family, Wife and Children

Anthony is a married father of two children and a former parent at Hillcrest Secondary School.

Video

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Bharat Thakrar serves as Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director of SCANGROUP LIMITED. He is also Member of the Board’s Remuneration Committee and Nomination Committees.

WPP-Scangroup is a subsidiary of WPP and is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. It is the largest marketing and communication group operating a multi-agency model across multiple disciplines in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Bharat Thakrar

He was also Member of Audit and Risk Management Committee until December 31, 2009. He holds a Diploma in Advertising and Marketing from the Communications and Marketing Foundation – UK. He is the founder shareholder of Scangroup and has over 30 years working experience in Advertising and Communications having previously worked with McCann Erickson in Kenya.

He is Director of all the Scangroup Subsidiaries, Internet Solutions Kenya Limited and of Valley Terrace Limited. He is also a former Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Association (APA) and is Member of the Advertising Standards Board.

Bharat Thakrar Family and Wife

Bharat Thakrar is married to Sadhna Thakrar.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/bharatthakrar?lang=en

Video

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Born in Nairobi in 1952, Martin Dunford is the Chairman of the Tamarind Group, which owns the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi. Martin is also the vice chairman of the Kenya Swimming Federation and the patron of the Nairobi Amateur Swimming Association (NASA).

Education

Martin attended Kenton College in Nairobi and secondary school at Fettes College in Edinburgh, Scotland, before studying for a Bsc in Hospitality Management at Surrey University in England.

Career

Despite having a job offer on graduation with Hilton hotels, he ended up joining Chris Seex, the founder at The Tamarind restaurant in Mombasa in 1975 as a restaurant manager and quickly rose through the ranks to shareholder, general manager, managing director and by 1990 executive chairman.

He and Chris set about growing the Tamarind Group by opening The Tamarind restaurant in Haile Selassie avenue in Nairobi 1977, The Carnivore in 1980, The Tamarind Dhow in 1985, followed by the innovative concept of Tamarind Village in 1991 in Mombasa, The Carnivore in Johannesburg in 1993 and The Golden Key Casino in 1996. Then came the Tamambo brand in 2001 in Westlands ,Tamambo

Martin Dunford

Village Market in 2005 and Tamambo Karen in 2010. In 2014, Tamarind in town was closed and moved to Karen. The group’s first hotel The Tamarind Tree is under construction at The Carnivore and will open in 2016.

Those are the success stories, inevitably there were other adventures in business during the interim that didn’t work out: Tamarind Trout Farms, Tamfeeds, Thriftec,The Carnivore Cairo and Dormans Coffee shops were all experiments in business that were started and sold off at a loss after much heartache.

Martin founded The Woodlands Trust, served as the Chairman of The Trust, The Chaine des Rotisseurs, The Nairobi Swimming Association, and Kenton College Board of Governors amongst others.
Martin is enthusiastic about life, business, sport. He has a huge amount of energy, will try anything at least once, and is interested in just about everything.

Family, Wife and Children

Martin is married to Geraldine Dunford, and they have three talented sons, who have excelled in academics and sports. Jason and David became world class swimmers and represented Kenya at two Olympics, along with winning medals at The Commonwealth and All Africa Games. Jason was honored to be selected to carry the Kenya flag at the opening ceremony at the London Olympics in 2012. One of the proudest moments of his life as a dad. Robert captained his university at rugby and recently swam from Zanzibar to Tanzania, a distance of 31.8 kilometers.

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Joe Munene

Joe Munene is a Kenyan Musician who has released many hit songs and albums.Find Joe Munene‘s Biography, Photo, Songs, Family, Education,Music Albums, Videos and Contacts.

Songs

• Lord i give
• Ningukugoca

Photo

Joe Munene

Video

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Linet Kwamboka is the Founder and CEO of DataScience LTD, a company that uses data to discover intelligent insights about people, products, and services.

Linet Kwamboka Education

Linet holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Nairobi, and is self-taught in geographic information systems (GIS), data analysis, and mining.

Career

Linet has been on the forefront of coordinating the Kenya Open Data Initiative and the Open Government Partnership for the Government of Kenya and the World Bank. She has also been a Software Engineer with Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University.

Kwamboka began DataScience in 2013, five years after graduating from the University of Nairobi with a degree in computer science and a desire to make it easier to use data for business intelligence, decision-making and resource allocation. In between, she worked as a software engineer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the World Bank, where she received a spot award.

DataScience is one of 33 small and medium-sized businesses in Kenya’s IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) sector that work with the Netherlands Trust Fund III programme. Backed by the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), the NTF III Kenya project is designed to boost the export capacity of the country’s technology industry by connecting services providers in Kenya with their target customers in foreign markets. Kenya’s information and communications technology industry is growing rapidly; the Kenyan ICT Authority forecasts that by 2017, the sector will earn US$2 billion a year and that it will have created 500 new ICT companies and more than 50,000 jobs.

Kwamboka, 27, aims to be a part of that growth. She attributes DataScience’s initial success to her ability to form networks and build a client base.

Once DataScience got out of the starting gate, it was the company’s work quality that kept clients coming back. “Most of the people in my network want to be known for having a good track record,” Kwamboka said. “I am always pushing myself and my teams to deliver the best.”

Linet Kwamboka

While DataScience now has just nine employees, Kwamboka dreams of one day enjoying the same recognition as the company’s biggest competitors, multinationals such as IBM. “I hope to be recognized on those lists as companies that are known for quality and competence,” she said.

Her involvement in the Kenya Open Data Initiative – one of the most significant steps the country has taken to improve governance and implement new provisions on access to information – suggests that Kwamboka is already on her way to realizing her dream. She is project coordinator of the Kenyan government initiative, which aims to make vital data available to the public through a single online portal.

Linet Kwamboka Awards

She has been recognized as an unsung hero by the American Embassy in Kenya for her efforts to encourage more women to work in technology and computer science.

Linet has been recognised as a top 3 global open data champion by the ODI Bloomberg Awards.

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Leon Ndubai is the CEO of Indo-Africa Finance, a Nairobi-based micro finance institution that provides middle and lower income Kenyans with simple and affordable access to asset financing. The company also runs a portfolio of hotels including the Golden Beach Resort, a 20-room luxury hotel on the Kenyan coast, and Sandalwood Hotel Kitengela, 30km outside Nairobi. The firm is currently constructing a new property, Sandalwood Elementaita Lodge, at a cost of KSh 500m (US$5.8m).

His chain of hotels and a micro- finance institution has operations in six counties. And next year he will be pumping Sh1.3 billion into the expansion of his hotelbusiness in Kenya. His target is the big boys of the industry. In Nakuru, his competitor is the Serena Group. He will be putting up a five-star hotel next to Serena Elementaita Camp.

Last year he purchased a 50-acre piece of land at Sh200 million for that purpose.The hotel will also stand directly opposite Jacaranda Lake Elementaita Lodge owned by the family of the late billionaire politician Njenga Karume. The young man’s hotel will be known as Sandalwood Elementaita Lodge. It will be a 55-room facility, with a helipad and hot air balloons.

Leon Ndubai

“I am targeting high net worth tourists who can pay US$400 (Sh34,800) per night,” he says. Sandalwood Elementaita will have 30 and 22 more rooms than Serena and Jacaranda lodges, respectively. In Nairobi, he will be investing Sh300 million in Sandalwood Villas, a 40-room boutique hotel facility in Lavington area opposite Jaffrey’s Club, the cricket club house built by billionaire Naushad Merali.

He plans to complete Sandalwood Elementaita Lodge by 2015, and Sandalwood Villas by 2016. In Malindi, he owns the Golden Beach Resort, an exclusive luxury 20 rooms hotel that is targeted at the world’s richest. At the Malindi facility, accommodation is 600 Euros (Sh70,200) a night. “Golden Beach Resort was always going to be a niche market hotel from the onset.

We wanted to set up something that was totally different to attract high net worth individuals,” he says. Completed in 2011, Leon says the performance of the hotelhas proven him right. “Whether it is high or low season, we have never gone below 50 percent bed occupancy at Golden Beach Resort,” he says.

Here, Leon is weighing up to Formula One champion, Flavio Briatore, a big-time investor at the Kenya’s coast. Briatore is putting up an exclusive Billionaires Club in Malindi, with former Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi, as co-investor. But Leon is not comfortable being called a billionaire. “Just call me an investor”, he insists.

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Catherine Kasavuli

Catherine Kasavuli is a famous and successful media woman whose journey in the media began as early as 1980 as a radio continuity announcer.

Catherine Kasavuli Education

Catherine was born and raised in Nairobi West and went to the famous and well perfoming Ngara Girls High School.

Kasavuli’s Career

Catherine media career began as early as 1980 as a radio continuity announcer with her being barely 18 years of age.

It was later in 1985 that Catherine joined the television industry.

The glamorous TV presenter who would later command stellar pay packages began her career on Sh1,500  a month, although she earned a few extra coins voicing commercials.

Though she is now aging, Catherine was one hot screen siren. Her fashion sense was incredible, her voice was magnificent. Her face was the perfect definition of beauty.

 Kasavuli Family

Catherine is a proud mother on a son,one Martin Kasavuli who was born in 1981.When asked about her relationship with her son,Catherine says thet she regrets missing some moments of her son Martin Kasavuli’s childhood due to her demanding career.

Catherine Kasavuli Photos

Kasavuli’s Video

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Ahmednasir Abdullahi

Ahmednasir Abdullahi is a renowned Kenyan lawyer and a columnist with the Sunday nation.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi Education

Ahmednasir  attended Mandera Primary School, then Nairobi Schoolfor his secondary education.He later attended University of Nairobi Class of 1990 for LL.B.Hons after which he joined Cornell University in New York Class of 1992 for LL.M.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi Career

Ahmednasir spent time tending to his dad’s shop in the border town of Mandera before he found his way into the city.

Driven by a passion to venture into media and a law career he finds repetitive and boring, lawyer and Sunday Nation columnist, Ahmednasir , decided to embark on a new, and vocal, entrepreneurial venture.

The Nairobi Law Monthly, the magazine he publishes, gives highly opinionated law and political voices a new place to sound off.

Six months down the line and with four issues out, the magazine is attracting vocal readership, advertisement from leading firms and the government, and he hopes the business will break even before the end of the year.

This is not his first venture into business, having used Sh7,000 to set up his law firm in 1993 straight out of law school. Three years ago, he also partnered in forming First Community Bank.

The stylish 1990 law graduate from the University of Nairobi, who also holds a Masters in Law from Cornell University, US, has consulted and appeared for the World Bank, UNHCR, Corporations, NGOs and the Government of Kenya in various issues.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi Family

Ahmednasir is a proud father of four and a husband to one beautiful wife.His eldest child is 14 years of age whereas his last two children are twins.

Ahmednasir Abdullahi Photos

Ahmednasir Abdullahi Video

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Joanne Mwangi is the founder and CEO, PMS Group ( Kenya).Joanne is currently the Chair of Federation of Women Entrepreneur Associations (FEWA), Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) , the Eastern Africa Women Entrepreneur Exchange Network Kenya Chapter (EAWEEXN) and the Advertising Standards Council.

Education

Joanne attended Our lady of Mercy Primary School in Nairobi’s Shauri Moyo and afterwards joined Alliance Girls High school. A good performer, she secured a place at the University of Nairobi to study Political Science, from which she received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 2002, having developed an attraction towards sales and marketing, Joanne went back to school at United States International University (USIU) for a Masters in Strategic Business Management where she honed her skills to manage and run a successful business.

Career

Joanne created PMS at 26. She had left active employment from Colgate where she served as a marketing officer. Before Colgate, she worked at The East African Standard as a sales executive. Young and charged with ambition, she was willing to risk it all and dive into the uncertainty of self-employment.

Mwangi’s firm, Professional Marketing Services (PMS), offers a wide range of services including advertising, public relations, event management, trade and consumer promotions, trade merchandising and marketing strategy development. The company has since grown to include four subsidiaries with a presence in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Joanne Mwangi, MBA has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing and agency related work and was the first woman to be awarded the Marketing Society of Kenya (MSK) Warrior Award.

Joanne Mwangi

Joanne grew Professional Marketing Services Group from a small agency to the leading experiential marketing group providing the full range of agency services. It comprises four independent companies and prides itself as being one big happy family.

The Professional Marketing Services Group was launched 14 years ago, with the objective of providing exciting consumer promotions solutions to our clients. PMS has gained a reputation for providing exceptional services leading to its expansion to cater for other services such as event and meeting management. PMS was part of the Local Organizing Committee of the successful 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championship. Clients include BAT, Bidco, Reckitt Benckiser, Uchumi and EABL among many others. PMS Group emerged the best of the Top 100 Medium Sized Companies in Kenya, 2010.

Awards

In 2010 PMS Group became the first woman-owned business and the only one since to be voted number one in the Top 100 SMEs competition in Kenya. Mwangi beat women entrepreneurs from 75 countries in 2009 to emerge winner of the Organisation of Women in International Trade Woman of the Year award. She has received numerous other awards.

Twitter

https://twitter.com/joannemwangi

Video

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Betty Gikonyo is the CEO of The Karen Hospital and founder of the Heart to Heart Foundation.Betty Gikonyo is a professional member of the Kenya Medical Association, Kenya Cardiac Society, Kenya Paediatric Association, Kenya Medical Women Association, Heart-to-Heart Foundation, Life Member and University of Nairobi Alumni Association.

Education

Born in Kiamabara village in Nyeri County in central Kenya, Gikonyo rose from humble beginnings. She attended the prestigious Alliance Girls High School in Kiambu County. She is trained as a Post Doctoral Fellow in Paediatric Cardiology, University of Minnesota, U.S.A, Master of Medicine in Paediatrics, University of Nairobi and Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, University of Nairobi.

Career

Her strong professional passion led her to launch the Heart to Heart Foundation that, among other things, sponsors the Karen Heart to Heart Marathon to help needy children get free heart surgery. Dr. Gikonyo is involved in numerous other assignments in support society generally. She is deputy chairperson of the University of Nairobi Council, where she has served as a member of the council for twelve years.

As the CEO, she has lead the Karen Hospital to grow steadily over the years into one of the largest private hospitals in Kenya and has helped children from poor economic backgrounds to get open heart surgeries through Heart to Heart foundation.

Betty Gikonyo

She is also a council member of the University of Nairobi, Chairperson of Nairobi Health Management Board and Chair of the University of Nairobi Alumni Association.

She has also penned her own autobiography titled, “The Girl who dared to dream”

Awards

Gikonyo is a recipient of the Silver Star Award (SS) 1998 and the Moran of Burning Spear Award (MBS) 2008 Presidential awards. She is the author of The Girl Who Dared to Dream, an autobiographical self-portrait.

Family, Husband and Children

Betty Gikonyo is married to Dr. Dan Gikonyo, a leading cardiologist. She is a mother to three grownup children – a cardiologist, an epidemiologist and a poet. She is a grandmother to six.

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/muthoni.gikonyo.7

Twitte: https://twitter.com/drbettygikonyo

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