Dr. Shikoh Gitau (born c. 1981) is a Kenyan computer scientist and is currently the CEO of Qhala, a technology company involved in Africa’s digital transformation, that she founded in 2020. She finished her undergraduate studies in Computer Science at the Africa Nazarene University and attained her PhD at University of Cape Town. She is known for inventing M-Ganga and Ummeli, mobile applications for promoting health and medicine and matching unemployed workers with employment opportunities. Gitau was the first African to win the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, received in the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing based on her inventions and thesis. Up until August 2017, she contributed and managed the Technology Innovations for Inclusive Growth program, at the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).
Gitau completed her undergraduate studies at the Africa Nazarene University (ANU) in Nairobi. Her career at ANU was marked by academic excellence: she remained on the Honor Roll and Dean’s List during all four years of her education, and earned the university’s Merit and Leadership Awards in 2003 and 2005, respectively. After receiving her degree, she worked briefly as a UNICEF volunteer before taking a job as a program’s assistant at the Centre for Multiparty Democracy, a Kenyan political activism group. She worked there until 2007, when she enrolled in the University of Cape Town to pursue an M.Sc. and subsequently a PhD in Computer Science.
