ACWICT CEO wins in the Zuri Awards 2017
Winner of Zuri Awards 2017 under the organizations’ category. The Award was made on International Women’s Day 2017. Five Kenyan women were on Wednesday evening feted for outstanding work in their communities during the inaugural Zuri Awards held at Villa Rosa Kempinski
Zuri Awards is the brainchild of Go Gaga Experiential Ltd in partnership with Barclays Bank of Kenya Couture Africa Magazine and Sochin Agency. “While knocking on doors of corporates for the Social Media Week in Kenya which we organized in 2016, we realized that there were a lot of people working in silos, doing different things for the same goal, so we were looking for a way to synergize that.
Never been recognized
“We received 51 nominations out of which a panel of judges shortlisted a total of 15 individuals and organizations making an impact in regards to women and girls in their communities,” Norah added.
The judges were Daniel Juma (CEO of Global Peace Foundation), Ruth Kinyanjui, (Women in Business, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry), Olive Gachara (CEO and founder of Couture Africa, Angel investor (KCB Lion’s Den), Founder of Image with Olive), Allan Mwangi (Barclays Bank Relationship Manager Enterprise Banking SME’s), Esther Gathigi, the Executive director of WeCreate Kenya and Noah Miller (Sochin Agency).
“Their stories were amazing, and one of the nominees is only 21 years old. Most of them have been doing their work quietly for so many years and are self-funded. This is the first time they are being recognized. We wanted to scale up these women’s ideas so they could feel supported and encouraged,” said one of the judges, Noah Miller, the managing director of Sochin Ltd.
In the organizations’ category, African Centre for Women, Information and Communications Technology, an NGO, and Safaricom Women in Technology initiative emerged winners.
Suhaila Aboud of Gender Health Africa won the Individual award: Impact while the same award in the leadership category was won by Natalie Robi of Msichana Empowerment in Kuria.
Buya Mukonzo Winfred, the founder of Empower Her Initiative, won the Individual award for innovation.
The winners in the various categories will not only receive mentorship but also a course in digital marketing from Go Gaga Experiential Ltd, personal branding training from Image by Olive, and Communication Training from Sochin Ltd.
The organizers hope to make Zuri Awards a sustainable yearly affair in the hope that the recognition will spur the women to soar to greater heights.
