With hundreds of crowns for her tech leadership, Kenya’s Juliana Rotich has been selected to head global chemical firm BASF office on the East African front. Up until April of this year, she had previously been serving as a member of the firm’s Global Sustainability Advisory Council. She has been at the firm for three years.

“I am excited to join BASF and the opportunity it has offered me to grow the company footprint in East Africa,” said Ms Rotich.

Juliana is a strong voice in the African tech scene, she lays claim to many achievements in the space. In 2007 she co-founded Ushahidi, a technology company which focuses on building free and open source software used to change the flow of information worldwide. She also co-founded BRCK where she led partnerships until early 2017.

The firm is tapping into her skills in technology and entrepreneurship, and vast experience in the EA environment, to grow its footprint in the region. “Ms. Rotich’s role as will entail leading the operations in the region, focusing on a strategic plan to meet and exceed customer expectations with BASF’s innovative products and solutions,” said BASF Africa Vice President, Michael Gotsche.

Ms. Rotich holds a BSc degree in Computer Science from the University of Missouri, Kansas in US, is a TED Fellow and one of Business Daily’s Top-40-under-40 finalist. Earlier this year she was appointed onto the Blockchain and AI Taskforce, alongside other big names in the industry like Bitange Ndemo. The task force explores the use of distributed ledger technology and artificial intelligence for development in Kenya.