Juliana Rotich

Kenyan tech pioneer who co-created crowdmapping platform Ushahidi during post-election violence

As Juliana Rotich witnessed Kenya's 2007-08 election crisis, she co-developed Ushahidi (testimony in Swahili), a revolutionary open-source crisis mapping tool that combined SMS and web data. This innovation enabled citizens to report violence in real-time, creating the world’s first crowdsourced crisis map.

Her work expanded globally, used in Haiti’s earthquake response and Japanese tsunami recovery. Rotich later launched BRCK – a rugged Wi-Fi device for African connectivity challenges, earning her MIT Media Lab Director’s Fellowship recognition.

Through AfriLabs, she supports tech hubs across 50 African countries. Her TED Talk on Africans Taking Back Tech has inspired a generation to leverage technology for social change in overlooked markets.