Juliana Rotich is a Kenyan IT pioneer and an innovative entrepreneur. She shows what can be achieved with good ideas and a passion for technology. In the economic and also in the social area.
With a mixture of socio-political intuition and business acumen, Juliana Rotich is helping shape digital transformation in Africa. She believes that social benefit should always be the focus of technological innovation.
When asked about her role models, the IT expert and manager, who was born in 1977 in Kenya, names Lieutenant Nyota Uhura from Star Trek and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. Even at school, Rotich demonstrated a flair for working with computers. Ultimately, her passion for technology took her to the United States, where she gained a degree in IT.
In response to the bloody unrest in Kenya in 2007 and 2008, which saw over 1,300 deaths, Rotich was a co-founder of the online platform Ushahidi. Here, users can share information from and about crisis areas. Today, the platform is used in over 160 countries – including in the civil war in Syria – and also to document hate speech in the US presidential election.
Juliana Rotich is also a co-founder of BRCK, the largest public WLAN provider in sub-Saharan Africa. BRCK developed a modem that provides battery powered Internet access where there is no electricity grid.
These days, Rotich enjoys worldwide respect as an IT expert and the face of a young and successful Africa that is actively helping to shape the 21st Century.
Read more about the online platform Ushahidi: www.ushahidi.com
You can learn more about the public WLAN provider in sub-Saharan Africa here: www.brck.com