Cite as:
Okune, Angela, Philip Ochola Mak'Anyengo, Sylvester Wachira Ndaiga, Sidney Ochieng, Rhoda Omenya, Chris Orwa, Nanjira Sambuli, and Varyanne Sika. 2018. "iHub Research: Personal Careers." In IHUB RESEARCH (2011 - 2017): A CRITICAL TECHNOLOGY ACTION RESEARCH GROUP WITHIN NAIROBI'S FLAGSHIP TECH INNOVATION HUB, created by Angela Okune et al. In STS Across Borders Digital Exhibit, curated by Aalok Khandekar and Kim Fortun. Society for Social Studies of Science. August.
Ordered alphabetically by last name, this essay spotlights some of the people who made iHub Research. Many more were part of the team but could not be included in this iteration of the essay due to time constraints.
Many started with iHub as interns and grew into management positions. The team was united in an inclination towards experimentation and this is demonstrated by the number of iHub Research alumni who pursued entrepreneurship (e.g. H. Moraa, J. Colaço, L. Mutuku, P. Ochola). Some are interested in making changes at the policy level (e.g. N. Sambuli, R. Omenya) and others within academia (e.g. W. Ndaiga, A. Okune). Several have gone to work with NGOs (e.g. V. Sika), and others into private sector (e.g. C. Orwa, A. Otieno, S. Ochieng). Several continue to work with iHub doing interesting work at the intersection of tech and governance and education (e.g. A. Salim, N. Ongoma, T. Wandia).
This PECE essay helps to answer the STS Across Borders analytic question: “What people, projects, and products exemplify how this STS formation has developed over time?”
This essay is part of a broader exhibit on iHub Research.
(Chief Revenue Officer, Brave Venture Labs)
I co-founded the iHub with Erik Hersman in 2010 and served in various leadership positions for 6 years. In fact I am currently writing a book about my journey at iHub and how it all happened. After leaving iHub in 2015, I co-founded Brave Venture Labs based in Nairobi, Kenya and the US with Ibanga Umanah and Daniele Orner-Ginor. Brave is a tech and AI company helping companies across Africa to hire the best tech talent.
(Chief Technology Officer at Ask Ajumma)
I was an intern and researcher at iHub from 2014-2015. During my time at the iHub, I implemented a smart energy device that integrates electricity from normally incompatible power sources to power a house without having to redo extensive redesigns of a the houses' electric system. I led the team that participated in a global green energy competition with the project and emerged as a runner up during the second round of the competition. I now work as CTO for a Korean tech start-up called Ask Ajumma, a personal assistant service for foreigners in Korea. I am responsible for building the management system we use to manage client transactions, as well as implementing technologies to increase efficiency during client transactions. My colleagues as iHub Research were all really talented and we each wanted to get better at what we did. This competitive environment pushed me to learn more about full stack engineering that helped me get the job I have today as a CTO of a startup in Korea.
(Founder & CEO, Pezesha)
I helped to start iHub Research and led its research on entrepreneurship. This was informed by my own experiences and journey as a tech entrepreneur myself; while working with iHub Research, I was also running my own start-up, Weza Tele Ltd, a mobile service provider in the fintech space which was eventually acquired by Jumo in 2015. I am currently working as CEO of my own company, Pezesha, which is a peer-to-peer marketplace that uses credit and data analytics to match lenders with creditworthy low income borrowers looking to access inclusive and affordable financial services. Our vision is to be Africa's leading credit bureau for low income borrowers.
STS Across Borders is a special exhibit organized by the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) to showcase how the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) has developed in different times, places...Read more
(Co-founder & CEO, Intelipro)
I was part of the founding team at iHub Research and led its quantitative work and data science efforts. After leaving in January 2016, I started my own technology company based in Nairobi. We empower financial institutions and retail organisations improve business performance by leveraging on our proprietary technology and data science methodologies. Our suite of products (InteliDeck and InteliLend) efficiently generates insights and recommends decisions with high levels of precision to help our clients learn and take action with their data. In my role as the CEO, I bear the vision for the growth of Intelipro, our team, our products and primarily in charge of company strategy, financial health and culture, principal product owner, investor relations and public relations.
I also continue to be part of the Africa Open Data Network, a community of Africans, and friends of Africa, who believe in the continent’s development agenda and how open data can help make it a reality. I am leading the scoping efforts to consolidate lessons from on-going open data initiatives in Africa and further explore collaboration with the growing African open data communities. In this role, I am designing how the network, funded by the Open Data for Development Network (OD4D), takes shape as a hub for African-led research on open data for development and a vibrant data ecosystem ready to rise to the policy, community and industrial development challenges through data.
(Graduate student in Robotics and Computation, University College London)
While at iHub Research (2013 - 2016), I helped lead research efforts in developing appropriate hardware technologies attuned to key sectoral challenges in Education, Municipal Service Delivery and Entrepreneurial Innovation. I am currently a graduate student at the University College London (MSc in Robotics and Computation) where I am investigating the statistical variation in swarming algorithms as applied to inspection path planning in field drones. iHub Research has proven to be invaluable in reconstituting and formalizing perspectives on the role technology plays in society and the contextual nuances of the intersection, both locally and internationally. More personally, I gained access to a family of people dedicated to driving these critical narratives and the often revealing, underlying discourse they promote. I am immeasurably grateful for the experience gained and honored to have played a part in its journey.
(Chief Data Scientist, Intelipro)
I joined iHub Research as a Research Associate in 2014 and worked with the Data Lab for most of my time at iHubR. I joined my colleague, Leonida Mutuku's company, Intelipro, in 2016 where I now work as the Chief Data Scientist.
(PhD Student, University of California, Irvine - Anthropology)
I helped to start iHub Research in 2011 as a Research Project Manager. I eventually served as Research Lead from 2014 - 2015 before moving to California to pursue a PhD in socio-cultural Anthropology. I am currently halfway through the PhD program and preparing to move back to Nairobi to conduct my fieldwork (from Dec 2018).
My experiences at iHub Research were formative in shaping both my research areas of interest as well as shaping my world view. Likely because of the diverse experiences and the young team, we had collaboration in-built in every aspect of the research process. This enabled us to create knowledge that in my opinion was both relevant to local stakeholders as well as broader global audiences. Not only did I grow in my research skills, in my last role as Research Lead, I learned to get comfortable wearing a management hat and learned that it is the people you have that make or break any venture. I will always be grateful for the amazing team we had at iHub Research and love learning about all the cool things that everyone has gone on to do!
(Consultant Project Co-ordinator, UN-Habitat)
While at iHub Research, I grew into several different roles: Research Assistant, Researcher, and Grants and Operations Manager. I began with iHub on two projects working with @iLabAfrica to developing ICT tools for governance (Kiambu County) and a project on hardware (Internet of Things) for effective water management in Mathare (an informal settlement in Nairobi). From there, I was the project lead as we scaled the project on youth developing ICT tools for better governance to additional locations (Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa). I am now a consultant at UN-Habitat working in the Youth and Livelihoods Unit handling projects on youth, ICT and governance. With UN-Habitat, I have been helping them to implement a project in Somalia related to offering youth vocational training with an ICT and entrepreneurship component.
While at iHub Research, I conducted research in the general space of tech for governance. It gave me the foundation needed to move into project management on similar topics at UN-Habitat covering projects on tech for service delivery and youth, tech and governance. Whether blog or journal articles, I also wrote a lot while at iHub Research. This helped me to develop my writing to be succinct and targeted. I also picked up editing skills through a quarterly research newsletter. Aside for research, my last role was in operations and admin which enabled me to understand the day-to-day management of research. This has equipped me with strong budgeting skills which I have used extensively in my current role as project manager.
(Research Manager, iHub)
I have been with iHub Research since September 2015. I believe people are at the heart of everything, be it tech or not. Tech just made everything else easier to do. I sit at the bridge of tech and everything else. My vision is actualized through research, working with different organisations to discover uses and approaches to technology in Africa, experiment towards knowledge creation, share insights for improved decision making by technology stakeholders, and inspire the next generation of creative thinkers and innovators, through the Kids Hacker Camps.
(Research Scientist, Philips Heathcare)
I joined iHub Research in 2012 as a data analyst on several projects related to the uptake of ICTs by Kenyans. Through my work at iHub Research, I was able to link with a Sri Lankan think tank LIRNEasia where, since November 2013, I have also been working as a statistician trained in systematic review. Since December 2014, I have been working with Philips East Africa as a research scientist focused on healthcare issues in the region.
(Data Scientist, Safaricom Limited)
I joined iHub Research in 2013 as a data scientist looking at social media data and how it might shed insight on broader trends related to the election period in Kenya. While at iHub Research, I held a variety of positions including Data Lab Lead before leaving in 2016. I now work as a Data Scientist at Kenya's leading telecom provider, Safaricom focusing on behavioural analysis of customers.
(Product Specialist, iHub)
I joined iHub Research in 2012 and developed a specialization in ICT for education. While at iHub Research, I studied the growth and management of ICT Education implementation in mobile, eLearning and offline learning. I worked for Eneza Education as Chief Operations Officer (COO) before returning to work as the Product Specialist at iHub, designing programming activities. I am currently leading design and implementation of Kids Hacker Camps and STEAM camps.
(Digital Equality Advocacy Manager, World Wide Web Foundation)
I joined iHub Research in 2013 to lead an exciting research project on how social media was being leveraged for the 2013 Kenyan elections. This led to developing a framework for assessing the Viability, Verification, and Validity of Crowdsourcing. I then worked on the second phase of an online dangerous speech monitoring project, Umati, that eventually scaled beyond Kenya to Nigeria and South Sudan. I also worked on research assessing the ICT and Governance (Civic Tech Landscape) in East Africa.
Through these projects, we shaped a strong Governance and Technology research pillar at iHub Research, that also saw various actors reach out to us to conduct research for them on the topic, having carved niche expertise on the topic in our region!
In my current role with the World Wide Web Foundation, I lead the Foundation’s advocacy efforts to promote digital equality in access to and use of the Web, with a particular focus on our Women’s Rights Online work. In many ways, the work I got to do at iHub Research remains a strong pillar for my professional growth. I have been able to work on and contribute to research projects that drew from our work there, such as Social Tech Ecosystems in Africa (2018, Madeira Interactive Technologies Institute) and Technology Innovation Hubs and Policy Engagement (2017, Making All Voices Count).
(Research Manager, Coalition of African Lesbians)
I worked at iHub Research as a qualitative researcher focused on investigating governance and technology research in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. I led a study of the landscape of ICT tools used in various governance areas of work in the three countries in order to understand the effectiveness and challenges of the tools. My time at iHub Research gave me a sense of openness to exploring different approaches to research. I am now applying this approach to my work with CAL, a feminist organisation based in Johannesburg and working in East, West, Southern and Central Africa. CAL works on advocacy around intersecting areas of oppression whose victims are often women and other vulnerable groups. We work on bodily autonomy issues, economic justice for women, advocacy for women of non-conforming sexualities.
(Researcher, iHub)
I am a Researcher at iHub Nairobi where I have been conceptualising and implementing various aspects of research. In my research work, I have been involved in enabling entrepreneurs, consortiums and organisations both local and international access to critical market insights.
With the iHub, I have developed an interest in access to digital platforms especially for minority, underprivileged populations and women in particular where I am currently trying to understand perceptions of internet freedom for these groups and working on ways to enhance their experiences on online platforms.
My recent and current research spans the areas of Governance, Technology, Policy, Internet and Entrepreneurship in Kenya.
I am also a member of the DIODE Network where I am a core researcher and also greatly interested in the thematic areas of Governance, Policy, Women and Technology where I share my thoughts periodically online.