Wangechi Mutuara

A Kenyan tech entrepreneur who revolutionized agricultural technology for smallholder farmers

Wangechi Mutuara is a visionary Kenyan entrepreneur whose work has profoundly impacted rural agriculture through her innovative tech solutions. As founder of Umati Project, she developed an AI-driven platform that connects smallholder farmers with real-time market data, weather forecasts, and agricultural advisory services via SMS and mobile apps. This initiative has empowered over 500,000 farmers across Kenya to increase crop yields by 30% while reducing post-harvest losses by 25%. Her TED Talk in 2017 highlighted how technology can bridge the digital divide in Africa's agricultural sector. Mutuara's work was pivotal in shaping Kenya's National Agricultural Policy (2016), which now mandates mobile-based agricultural extension services. In 2018, she launched the FarmersConnect initiative, expanding her platform to Uganda and Tanzania. Her innovations have been featured in Forbes Africa and MIT Technology Review, earning her the AfricaCom Innovation Award (2015) and World Bank Gender in Agriculture Prize (2019).