Shikoh Gitau
Mother, Consultant, and Public Speaker in Nairobi, Kenya
Shikoh Gitau is a strategic and results-driven leader with a proven ability to create new organizations, spearhead change, and conceptualize and execute innovative, impactful, and sustainable initiatives. Her focus is on issues pertaining to resource-poor communities and marginalized groups, including women, youth, and children.
With over a decade of experience in ICT4D technology design and implementation, Shikoh has established expertise in both African and emerging markets. She is currently the CEO of Qhala, a digital innovation lab whose goal is to catalyze Africa's digital future. Shikoh was also previously the head of Safaricom Alpha, Safaricom's innovation lab, and has worked in the ICT department of the African Development Bank, developing projects with various governments across Africa. She has also led the User Innovation efforts at Mercy Corps as User Innovation and Design Lead. In addition, Shikoh has worked as a User Experience Researcher with Google Emerging Market and Microsoft TEMs team, and has worked in various capacities in both the private sector and non-government organizations.
As an entrepreneur, Shikoh is the founder of Ummeli and TaaSisi, and was the founding CEO of KibaruaNow within Mercy Corps SV team. She also runs an education social enterprise, Guitings Trust.
Shikoh holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a BSc in Computer Science from the African Nazarene University.
In recognition of her work, Shikoh has been named Africa's Most Influential Women in Business and Government, Technology, by CEO Magazine. She was also recognized as a Top40 under 40 leading woman in Kenya in 2015 and is an ASPEN new voices Fellow 2015. Shikoh is the recipient of the Anita Borg Change Agent Award in 2013 and was on the AfroElle 2013 Power List of African women who affect change, as well as Huffington Post's.
Shikoh is a seasoned speaker and has spoken at numerous international conferences on the topics of ICT, ICT4D, STEM research, Africa, and women's issues. She is passionate about these issues and serves on several boards.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikoh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrShikoh