ARTICLE by
CAROL ODERO
The Rise And Rise Of Juliana Rotich When I ask Juliana Rotich, Head of Department - FinTech Solutions at Safaricom PLC if she considers herself as either gifted or genius based on her contributions to tech, she baulks. She doesn’t think she is. “I’d have to leave that to journalists, and third parties who can make the assessment. I am grateful to have had the opportunities I have had to be able to impact Kenyan’s lives through the technology we provide as Safaricom and to work on the platforms that we provide,” she replies. What she is though, and this no one can deny, is a rock upon which the foundation of the Kenyan, nay, African technological scape, is built. If you Google her, because I did, you get about 75,400 results. And one of them asks, rather cheekily, “What was Juliana Rotich famous for?” There is an answer, incidentally. “Rotich was a prominent public speaker on technology. She also worked as a strategic adviser for several companies, including Microsoft 4Afrika and the chemicals manufacturer BASF. Her work earned many honors, including the German Africa Prize in 2019.” It is not even remotely an apt summary. She is no has-been. Her new role at
Safaricom, one of the leading technology companies in Africa, is to proffer solutions for all the fintech arms of the company. As co-founder of Ushahidi, iHub, BRCK and Boya Inc (YC W22) and a board member for the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board as well as Standard Group PLC, and an alumnus of the MIT Media Lab, Rotich’s background is as diverse as it is impactful. I first spot Rotich at iHub when Jack Dorsey is in town. The atmosphere is collegial, and everyone seems to know everyone. It has been a while; I gather, since the local techies found themselves in each other’s company. “The tech community has been evolving. One of the things I look at when I think of iHub is how it was the offshoot of what we were doing with Ushahidi. We wanted to create a space where people could meet, collaborate, and feel at home because we used to have to meet in supermarkets that had good wi-fi or any specific random places that had good wi-fi. iHub was about having a home. We have since seen a lot of companies, careers and organisations come out of it.”
Women who were in tech then felt fully included from the get-go. Equality was woven into the DNA of iHub, and the social capital it has generated a double whammy. Women have reached out to her for mentorship, and even though Safaricom keeps her hands full, she is giving back. “Sometimes you don’t realise that some of your difficult experiences in founding companies and trying to scale them – that it can be useful to someone else. Lately I have been finding myself spending more time on meetups with female leaders keen on learning how to lead tech organisations. I really enjoy leveraging on my experiences to help them grow.” She is an investor in several companies that speak to her. “I fund companies if I like the idea, if it fills a need and if I am already a customer. I look at the founder to see how I can help them meet their objectives and the role I can play, and, if what they are offering is something in need. I don’t just invest in tech either.” The biggest challenge for female founders is an almost universal one – raising capital; and, naturally growth. “Scaling is not trivial, and neither is finding a market fit. It’s ok to start with
www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2023 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵ 33
