The women flying Kenyan flag high at GES

President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses the media at State House, Nairobi on July 21, 2015 on the visit of US President Barack Obama. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |

What you need to know:

  • Most are in the technology innovation field, and so will discuss business in the digital era.

Below are short profiles of the Kenyan women entrepreneurs who will take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit

Isis Nyong’o: Ms Nyong’o is described as a media and technology leader in Africa. She is the Vice President and Managing Director of the African operations of InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile advertising network, and will be in the panel of speakers who will discuss the rising power and potential of women entrepreneurs to create innovative businesses and social impact.

The panelists are expected to talk about what it takes to bring “the next big idea” to global market and scale a successful domestic business to be able to compete in regional and global value chains.

Isis Nyong’o.

Ms Nyong’o has been famed to be a leading force in technology and in fact was ranked among Africa’s most successful women by Forbes in 2012.

She has degrees from Stanford and Harvard, and was also selected as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum in the same year (2012). She previously worked in senior management positions at MyJobsEye (a leading jobs site), MTV, and most recently, Google.

Ory Okolloh: Ms Okolloh is an activist and blogger. She is currently the director of investments at Omidyar Network Company, a self-styled “philanthropic investment firm.”

In 2012, Ms Okolloh, a graduate of University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Law School, was named among Africa’s most successful women.

She will be in the panel of experts who will be discussing how to build the next generation of entrepreneurs.

In the discussion, Ms Okolloh, together with five other panellists, will provide an overview of activities and programmes to support the ongoing work of ensuring entrepreneurs continue to thrive, as slated in the summit’s agenda.

Ory Okolloh at an event in New York City in 2010. FILE PHOTO | AFP

Ms Okolloh has a footing in entrepreneurship by being a co-founder of Ushahidi, a free open-source platform for crowd-sourcing crisis information.

The activist, who is vocal on social media, is also said to have founded Mzalendo, a website that helps the electorate keep track of the activities of their representatives in parliament.

Susan Mboya: Dr Susan Mboya, wife to Nairobi governor Dr Evans Kidero, is set to address budding entrepreneurs on ways of connecting with customers.

Ms Mboya was in 2013 appointed President of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and the Group Director of the Eurasia Africa Group (EAG) for women’s economic empowerment at Coca-Cola.

She is also the founder of Zawadi Africa Education Fund, a programme designed to provide scholarships to academically gifted girls to pursue higher education in the US, Uganda, Ghana, South Africa and Kenya.

Susan Mboya. FILE PHOTO | GERALD ANDERSON | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Ms Mboya’s foundation emulates that of her late father, Tom Mboya, which took hundreds of African students to America for higher education, including Barack Obama Snr, President Obama’s father.

Kate Kiguru: Ms Kiguru, the chief executive officer of Ukall, a mobile and web software design and development organisation, will share the platform with Ms Mboya to delve into how entrepreneurs can “find those potential customers in a global economy that is oversaturated with media and messages.”

Kate Kiguru. PHOTO | BLLY MUTAI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In a past interview with the Saturday Nation, when Ms Kiguru was asked how she manages to connect with her customers she said: “You have a baseline but sometimes you lower the price because working with a particular company will give you useful insights, and that’s the only way to get in.”

Su Kahumbu-Stephanou: Famed for having created the world’s first mobile phone cow calendar, which emerged first in the 2010 Apps4Africa competition sponsored by the US Department of State, Su is the creative director at Green Dreams Tech Ltd, a company that markets organic produce from smallholder farmers.

She will be part of the panel that will discuss how to address global challenges through entrepreneurship.

Su Kahumbu-Stephanou (centre) with Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore (left) and USAID Kenya Mission Director Karen Freeman at the Brookside Livestock Breeds Show and Sale at the Jamuhuri Showground on June 26, 2013. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

The session will explore how entrepreneurs are building successful business models that not only provide innovative solutions to global challenges, but also generate sustainable returns on investment.

Her application, iCow, also won the Vision 2030 ICT innovation award for agriculture and was profiled by Forbes as one of the best African mobile Apps.