Ory Okolloh

Ory Okolloh (or Ory Okolloh Mwangi) is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She is Director of Investments at Omidyar Network.[1][2][3] She was formerly the Policy Manager for Africa with Google.

Okolloh in 2006

Early life

She earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh and graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005.[4][5]

Career

In 2006 she co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo (Swahili: "Patriot").[6] The site sought to increase government accountability by systematically recording bills, speeches, MPs, standing orders, etc.[6][7]

When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh helped create Ushahidi (Swahili: "Witness"), a website that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps.[4] The technology has since been adapted for other purposes (including monitoring elections and tracking pharmaceutical availability) and used in a number of other countries.

Okolloh has a personal blog, Kenyan Pundit, which was featured on Global Voices Online.[8]

She has worked as a legal consultant for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank.[9][5]

Okolloh was appointed on the Board of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the body that acts as a guardian of the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles in May 2015.[10]

Notes
  1. "Group launches initiative for global policy reform to lower Internet access cost". Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  2. Mohammed, Omar (2015-06-09). "Why aren't more wealthy Africans backing the continent's start-ups?". Quartz - Africa. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  3. Kozlowska, Hanna (2015-04-06). "#147notjustanumber aims to name all those slain in Kenya attack". Quartz. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  4. Bahree, Megha (2008-11-13). "Citizen Voices". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  5. Okolloh, Ory. "About". Kenyan Pundit. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  6. Bengali, Shashank (2007-06-21). "Native voices blog out of Africa". McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  7. Heavens, Andrew (2007-03-14). "The web watchdog biting Kenya's MPs". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  8. Boyd, Clark (2005-04-06). "Global voices speak through blogs". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  9. Kantai, Wallace (2009-07-19). "Kenyan gives platform for airing post-poll atrocities". Business Daily. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  10. "Ory Okolloh joins Reuters Board of Directors". Innovation Village. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
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