Juliana Rotich

Juliana Rotich is an information technology professional who has developed web tools for crowdsourcing crisis information and coverage of topics related to the environment.[1] She was the head of East Africa Country Cluster for BASF from May to December 2018. She is also a trustee of Bankinter Foundation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Spain, as well as a board member of Standard Media Group and the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board.

Rotich in 2017

Career

Rotich was born in 1977 in Kenya. She has a degree in information technology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and has worked in the IT industry for over ten years.

In 2008 Rotich co-founded the non-profit company[2] and until September 2015, she was the Executive Director for Ushahidi, an Open-source software project which uses crowdsourced geolocation, mobile phone, and web reporting data to provide crisis reporting and information.[3] "Ushahidi" is the Swahili word for "testimony." Ushahidi was first put into practice during the Kenyan presidential election crisis of 2007-8; it has since been used in Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Haiti.[4]

As a blogger, Rotich has authored articles on Afrigadget.com, acted as Environmental Editor of Global Voices Online, and participated in the TED Global conference in Arusha in 2007. As a public speaker, she is known for her commentary on technology in Africa and voicing concerns about the loss of indigenous forest and water catchment areas in Kenya. She is a Senior TED Fellow.[5][6]

To help solve the lack of internet access due to blackouts in Nairobi, Rotich co-founded BRCK, Inc.[7][8] which produces a battery-operated modem and can run for eight hours without electricity.[9]

In 2014, Rotich presented at the annual Design Indaba Conference in Cape Town.[10] From 2014 until 2015, she served on United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development, co-chaired by Enrico Giovannini and Robin Li.[11]

In 2017 Rotich participated in the W20 summit in Berlin, Germany and took part in a panel discussion together with Chancellor Angela Merkel, IMF director Christine Lagarde, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Canadian minister of foreign affairs Chrystia Freeland, Ivanka Trump and others, representing BRCK.[12]

Recognition

In 2011, Rotich was named Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Africa by the World Economic Forum.[13] She earned a TED Senior Fellowship and a Director’s Fellowship by the MIT Media Lab.[14] In 2011, as one of the “World’s Top 100 Women” by The Guardian.[15] In 2013, she was awarded the Digital, Life, Design (DLD) Women Impact Award.[16] In 2019, she was presented the German Africa Prize⎯ awarded by the German Africa Foundation to honor “outstanding individuals for their longstanding endeavors to foster democracy, peace, human rights, art, culture, the social market economy and social concerns” [17] by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

External video
Juliana Rotich: Meet BRCK, Internet access built for Africa, TED Talks, June 2013

Family life

Gave birth to only daughter, Josie Leslick on September 12th 2002. The father is unknown. This is the only known family member of Rotich.

References
  1. TED Speaker: Juliana Rotich
  2. "Celebrating women in STEM: Juliana Rotich - University News |". info.umkc.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  3. Juliana Rotich (2015-09-11). "Juliana Rotich". Nairobi: Ushahidi. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  4. Patrick Barkham (2011-03-08). "Juliana Rotich". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  5. "Ushahidi". Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
  6. "Juliana Rotich". The TED Fellows Directory. Retrieved 2012-11-04.
  7. "BRCK: Most Innovative Company". Fast Company. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  8. "BRCK | Providing free and accessible internet in Kenya". BRCK. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  9. "Celebrating women in STEM: Juliana Rotich - University News |". info.umkc.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  10. Design Indaba Conference 2014
  11. Independent Expert Advisory Group Members The UN Secretary General's Independent Expert Advisory Group on a Data Revolution for Sustainable Development.
  12. W20 summit in Germany 2017
  13. Africa's Leading Social Entrepreneurs to be Awarded at World Economic Forum in Africa.
  14. "Celebrating women in STEM: Juliana Rotich - University News |". info.umkc.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  15. Barkham, Patrick (2011-03-08). "Juliana Rotich | Top 100 women". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  16. Media, Hubert Burda. "DLDwomen13: Kenyan Juliana Rotich Receives Impact Award for Humanitarian Internet Project". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  17. Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "Kenyan Juliana Rotich receives German Africa Prize | DW | 24.10.2019". DW.COM. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
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