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Forbes Africa 30 Under 30; Kenyan Technology and Business stars of 2019

Feritter Owich
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Forbes Africa very recently released the fifth edition of its 30 under 30 list, honoring some of the continent’s most accomplished young artists, entrepreneurs, and tech stars.

This year, the popular magazine has released the names of 120 young African game-changers, all under the age of 30, in each of the four sectors – business, technology, creatives, and sport. Amazingly so this is an increase from last years list of 90 people.

The list was announced at the annual Forbes Africa Under 30 Meet up that took place at the Houghton Hotel in Johannesburg. This being a Tech and business centered platform we thought it would be nice to highlight and applaud our fellow countrymen who graced the list.

The lists are in no particular order.

Technology

Jacob Rugano was also listed among the 2016 Top 40 Under 40 Men in Kenya by Business Daily. He founded AfricarTrack International after developing a mobile-controlled road-accident control system that uses a mobile phone to reduce accidents on the road.

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A programmed chip is installed inside the car which acts as a liaison between the car’s computer and the reporting and control system.

The system then collects data on whether the driver had been driving drunk, driving carelessly, as well as the location of the vehicle if hijacked.

The company has won numerous awards including the Changemaker Of The Year at the  2016 African Achievers Awards in Sandton, South Africa.

Diana Esther Wangari ventured into health communication and entrepreneurship to bridge the gap between the health system and doctors, policy-makers, and patients.

In 2016, she co-founded Sagitarix, a digital platform that facilitates the direct distribution of drugs to those most in need, with a focus on patients with chronic diseases.

The company launched an app called iSikCure which allows patients to place orders for drugs and the medicine is then delivered on the same day.

They also introduced a subsidiary company, Checkups Medical Centres, a low-cost rapid diagnostics medical clinic which uses technology.

Last year, they were able to distribute medical supplies worth over $200,000 and currently have five clinics, four in rural areas and one in an urban area.

Diana’s organization were also finalists at the SBC AfriTech 2018 in Paris, France and has won the Get In The Ring Contest 2018 in Hague, Netherlands.

He may be only 27 but Eric Muli’s company has been listed by the London Stock Exchange Group as one of the companies to inspire Africa. Eric started his first venture, a marketing company called Jossle while studying.

At the time, Odyssey was recognized by Business Insider as one of the best college startups, along with Uber and Microsoft.

After graduating, he launched Odyssey Capital, a non-deposit-taking financial institution which provides financial products and services to individuals and businesses in the lower to middle-income bracket in Kenya.

The company has a strict policy of 50/50 male-to-female hiring policy, and have since built a team of over 90 employees, 500 sales agents and built partnerships with Samsung, Huawei, TECNO Mobile, Walmart, and Airtel.

This year, Muli is expanding into Uganda and Tanzania.

Dorcas Owino who was born in Kibera, works at improving technology access to girls from similar backgrounds.

Co-founded with her team at university, LakeHub is a technology and social innovation hub in Kisumu that supports a community of creatives, programmers, hackers, designers, and entrepreneurs; a majority of whom are girls aged between 13 and 19 years old.

Last year, Dorcas was a runner-up at the Queens Young Leaders awards.

In 2017 they had one of their biggest successes, a group of girls from LakeHub were the only team picked to represent Africa at the 2017 Technovation Challenge, sponsored by Google, Verizon and the United Nations in Silicon Valley, US.

Some of her company’s partners are Siemens Stiftung, Pluralsight, Hivos, and Segal Family Foundation.

The rest of the finalists from other regions in Africa under the Technology category:

Business

Suleiman registered DragonFly in 2014 after noting a gap in the digital marketing field. It focuses on digital advertising, media, branding, and public relations.

DragonFly has worked with numerous brands including Nutella, LG and Sanlam.

Last year, Suleiman bagged a gold award at the Muse Creative Awards. The company’s star continues to rise as he plans to open new offices in the East African region as well as invest in technology and innovation using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In 2024, he plans to launch an incubation hub.

David Kyalo founded Koncepts & Events Ltd in 2014 while studying at Kenyatta University in Kenya.

Having been a student leader in charge of events and entertainment at the university, Kyalo grew passionate about his role and decided to register a business.

Koncepts & Events specializes in event planning, catering, marketing, and public relations.

The company has worked on over 80 events, 35 marketing projects and has won nine awards.

Some of the clients they have had include the World Bank Group and Red Cross.

In one of his first features in a local Kenyan newspaper after the business started, Kyalo was asked if he had any won major awards yet.

He responded, “No major awards, not yet. But I should be in FORBES magazine soon”. And look at him now, he made it!

Business Daily named her one of the top 40 Under 40 Women in Kenya and she was also recognized by the British High Commission among women leading British and Kenyan businesses in Kenya and across the Commonwealth countries.

Shirlene Nafula founded Crystal River Products, a manufacturing company for bio-based beauty and hygiene products after mixing products from her parents’ dining room table.

Her company grew ten-fold and now she supplies her products to corporates and institutions including the office of the Deputy President of Kenya, William Samoei Ruto. Her products have been sold in Uganda and Tanzania.

Kimani founded Nature Expeditions Destination Management in 2015 using his personal savings and third-party angel capital

It is an African tour and photographic safari operator with offices in Rwanda, Seychelles, Mauritius, the US, Morocco, Uganda and Tanzania, with signed partnership deals in Asia and Canada.

The company worked in conjunction with his family business that was failing at the time, called Nature Expeditions Africa.

“I created a global expansion proposal to the board of the group, who were comprised of well respected ‘old school’ veterans in the hospitality industry; however, they didn’t believe in my proposal and rejected it,” he says.

He challenged them and implemented that proposal to create his global enterprise. His goal is to become an “industry powerhouse in Africa and global photographic tour operator space”.

The rest of the finalists from other regions in Africa under the Business category:

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