Wangechi Mutuiri

Pioneered space education initiatives for African girls through her organization SpaceRace

Wangechi Mutuiri (born 1985) is a Kenyan aerospace engineer and entrepreneur who has made groundbreaking contributions to STEM education in Africa through her nonprofit SpaceRace Kenya. As founder and CEO since 2019, she developed a unique curriculum combining rocket science with entrepreneurship education specifically designed for girls aged 13-18. The program's "Build-Test-Launch" approach has empowered over 2,000 students across 15 East African countries to design and launch high-altitude rockets, with 70% of participants continuing into engineering degrees.

Mutuiri's work addresses the dual challenges of gender disparity in tech and lack of hands-on STEM opportunities in Africa. Her team developed low-cost rocket kits using locally sourced materials, reducing program costs by 80% compared to traditional STEM kits. In 2022, SpaceRace launched Africa's first all-female rocketry team to compete internationally at the International Space Settlement Design Competition, where they placed third globally.

A former NASA intern, Mutuiri pioneered Kenya's first university-level rocket propulsion course at the Technical University of Mombasa. Her TEDx talk "Let's Send African Girls to the Moon" has over 2 million views. Recent innovations include satellite technology for agricultural monitoring and partnerships with South Africa's SKA telescope project. Mutuiri was named a 2023 Forbes Africa Under 30 honoree and received the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation's Digital Champion award in 2024.