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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views Roundup (2020-)

A curation of essays, interviews, talks, op-eds by and/or featuring yours truly. Also, additional roundups on COVID-19 and for 2014-2019). 2024 Security and Trust in Africa’s Digital Financial Inclusion Landscape (A culmination of a three year project assessing cybersecurity in Africa’s digital financial services landscape, this co-authored paper draws the links between technical aspects of […]

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General Musings

‘Quomments’ on COVID-19

A curation of my questions-cum-comments, aka ‘quomments’, as we navigate these unprecedented times. No one can definitively claim to have the answers; we are thinking, reasoning, hoping, mourning together. As we must, I suppose. The Evolving Role of Tech During COVID-19 I joined this conversation series hosted by Dalberg Advisors and Amref Health to contextualise […]

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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views RoundUp (2014-2019)

A curation of interviews, talks, op-eds by/featuring yours truly. You can also check out my op-eds for Kenya’s Daily Nation (2014-2017) here and 2020 onward here. 2019 Recapping 2019: a special podcast interview with Dickens Olewe BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list this year? (Yours truly was! 😊) On Conferences/Events about Africa(ns) […]

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iAdvocate Publications

A Tech Policy ‘Starter Pack’ for African Innovators and Techpreneurs

I know…policy is a put off for many. It’s that space for the old men and government types that we love to hate. Bears repeating, however, that failing to engage – worse, ignoring- the unfolding ICT policy space is myopic for all ye techpreneurs. I bet you it will only come back to bite you […]

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Publications

A Few Things You Should Know about Kenya’s Cyber Policy Landscape

The term policy very likely puts off a lot of folks. It probably evokes images of old men in suits and spectacles droning on about something or other. I, on the other hand, am fascinated by (public) policy. The most basic definition of policy is “a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by […]

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iAdvocate

Hundreds of Fabulous Kenyan Women signed up to #SayNoToManelsKE

Back in May 2016, I wrote for the Daily Nation on this nefarious issue of all male panels, otherwise known as manels. They are pervasive. They are normalised.  They are problematic. The reactions to the piece have been interesting to follow, primarily via the #SayNoToManelsKE and #SayNoToManels hashtags.  (Other hashtags highlighting this issue globally include […]

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General Musings iAdvocate

On Writing about Tech in Africa (part 2): our toothbrushes, toilets and bulbs

 Back in 2009, some journalist -perhaps trying to make her story about “the pearl of Africa” land some eyeballs- stated that Uganda was “a place where cell phones could outnumber light bulbs.” Now, that little nugget has morphed into the widely parroted factoid, that there are more mobile phones than bulbs in Uganda. It’s been […]

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General Musings

A much needed clapback

Right off the bat, this is not a dose of political correctness, but a much needed clap back to the vitriol some women have had to bear on the Internet streets. — First and foremost, I want to address the comrade Boniface Mwangi, who is on a meteoric rise to leadership in this country, and who’s […]

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Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing Internet Access in Developing Countries while upholding Net Neutrality

Abstract Net neutrality deliberations go hand in hand with discussions of upholding and preserving the openness of the Internet, widely perceived as a precondition to the realisation of the Internet’s potential. This is particularly relevant with access to the Internet being increasingly accepted as a basic right. Rules and regulations to uphold net neutrality exist […]

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Cyber Security and Cyber Resilience in East Africa

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of co-authoring a so-titled paper with Dr. Iginio Gagliardone, for the The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). It was a useful exercise in analysing the efforts to enhance cybersecurity in the region, with an initial focus on Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Below is the paper’s executive summary, and […]