Zuri Awards

Seleyian Partoip

Murua Girl Child Education Program

Education

Seleyian has 12 years’ experience in community development and project management. She is the founder and director of Murua Girl Child Education Program. She is passionate about child protection, human rights and women/girls empowent a skilled community Facilitator and Researcher. She Serves in the secretariat of the Youth Anti FGM network in charge of programs. Narok County Gender Technical working group and the Narok County Children advisory committee.

Esther Wambui Macharia

E-Bakers Creation

Manufacturing

Esther Macharia is a mother of two, an Award Winning Baker, Founder and Director of E-Bakers Creations-a baking & confectionery firm, Renowned Trainer, Recipe Developer, GBV Activist and Entrepreneur running two outlets one on Kiambu Road and another in Syokimau. She is a Human Resource Graduate & Post Graduate Diploma holder from Makerere University, she has a Higher Diploma in Cake Baking and Pastry along with several other Diplomas, Certificates and Qualifications from World Renown institutes such as City & Guilds. She is also a member & honoree of Women in Business (KNCCI). Due to her passion for baking she started off as a Home Baker and eventually expanded her business to two outlets and later diversified to include value addition of Dairy products such as yoghurt, milk shakes and ice cream etc. She has trained over 800 students across the country. She is very passionate about social and economic issues affecting the society, Gender Based Violence and empowering women to establish businesses and self improve on their economic realities. She was a Finalist in Mrs Universe Kenya 2022 and won Mrs Universe – Machakos County with her GBV Project taking the Overall Winner Position in the Passion Project Category. She aims to sponsor and support victims and survivors of GBV in her training programs and in partnership with other well wishers and organizations.  

Muchunku Kawira

Dada STEM

STEM

Muchunku Kawira is the Programs Lead at Dada STEM, where she plans and implements programs that are aimed at bridging the gender gap in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). She created a network of women in STEM in Tharaka Nithi County in Kenya while organizing the very first Women in STEM Conference in Tharaka Nithi County, a platform to help women and girls to interact and network so as to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, ideas and good practices among themselves from relevant industries and fields while demystifying that STEM is a male field. With her passion for kids, she tailored a program to help kids in the rural areas to learn about technology and STEM at large, which is achieved through ‘Kids Coding Week’ that happens when children close school for holidays. She is also a doctoral student in Computer Science while working as a lecturer at the university. Here, she mentors the university students while acting as an active role model.

Phoebe Kariuki

The Ambassador's Ladies Cup

SPORTS

Phoebe is a degree holder in Exercise and Sports science and a Multisport Coach for kids. Founder of The Ambassador’s ladies cup that aims at creating a level playing field where every girl has the opportunity to create a better future for themselves by offering them a platform to showcase their talents in a safe and supportive space, address issues affecting females in sports(Gender inequality) and ensuring girls see sports as a viable career path for them through mentorship by females in the sports industry.

Elizabeth Mwangi

Gwiji for Women

Young Achiever

Elizabeth Mwangi is the founder and director of Gwiji for Women, a tech startup in the gig economy that empowers low income women from the slums through a mobile app. Gwiji identifies, vets and trains these women before onboarding them on to their platform where they are exposed to a pool of readily available and well-paying cleaning jobs. Through Gwiji, these women have raised their incomes from less than $2 to an average on $10 a day, allowing them to provide for their children. For her impactful work, Elizabeth was named among Business Daily Top 40 Under 40 Women of 2023. Download the Gwiji App Here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleaning.gwijico Gwiji 

Patricia Njeri

Birth and Beyond

Humanitarian

Patricia Njeri is the Founder and Director Birth and Beyond an organization that empowers teenage mothers focusing on creating solutions that give teenage mothers an edge in the society where they remain relegated to their own designs and ensuring they thrive and reach their optimum potential. The initiative operate around four key pillars;-

• Recruitment which involves going out to the field to identify the young mothers.

• Psychosocial counseling/debriefing with professional counsellors.

• Dignity Kit& Food packs which they offer to the young mothers

• Vocational training where they source sponsorship from well-wishers.

Sylvia Khasoa Sore

Simama Na Dada (SND)

EDUCATION

Sylvia Khasoa Sore is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Simama Na Dada (SND) Initiative a Swahili name meaning “Support a Sister” which she started in 2013 and is registered as a Community Based Organization (CBO). This initiative is anchored on the belief that increasing the number of adolescent girls successfully completing the education cycle is a critical component of efforts to build their wider empowerment and in particular ensuring that they are able to be involved in decision making over all aspects of their lives including over their reproductive and sexual health rights. For the past 9 years since initiation, SND has been able to Mentor and train more than 600,000 young people, Provided dignity kits to more than 850,000 adolescent girls, young mothers and women (AGYW) to ensure that they Menstruate with dignity and stay in school. 350,000 girls are under their Monthly Mentorship-Leadership and distribution of dignity kits programs.

Wangu Ngunjiri

Bargain Craft

MANUFACTURING

Meet Wangu Ngunjiri, Founder and Creative Lead at Bargain Craft. She is the Honoree in the Zuri Awards 2023 manufacturing category for her work in promoting gender equity and inspiring and creating opportunities for women in the furniture manufacturing industry. With a professional background in Civil Engineering, Wangu is a seasoned professional with a passion for empowering women and promoting inclusion in a male-dominated industry. Despite the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry, she has remained committed breaking down gender barriers by training women who start as casuals and acquire artisanal skills that improve their earning potential. She has also implemented policies that ensure equal pay for equal work thus pushing back gender bias. In addition, Wangu has implemented a personal development program at Bargain Craft called the Morning Meeting, which aims at growing her team both personally and professionally. 

Susan Njoki

Mea na Mimea

Sports

Susan Njoki #ZuriAwards 2023 Sports is a sports for development practitioner at KSSA and an advanced football coach at Kahawa Pride Fc.She is the co-founder of Mea na Mimea project that is conducted under KSSA.She is also a Bundesliga Youth Ambassador and in 2019 she was among the 16 coaches selected in Africa by World Remit for Arsenal Future Stars Program. Kahawa Sports & Social Alliance (KSSA) as an idea was conceived in 2005. Since its inception, it has been recognized as a pivotal component in ensuring the success and growth of football in Roysambu constituency as it was the only Soccer Academy before becoming the only Sports for Development organization.

Babara Mula Omwayi

Spark Communication Ltd

Young Achiever

Babara Mula Omwayi #ZuriAwards 2023 Young Achiever Nominee is an accomplished sales and marketing executive with over 17 years’ experience in the marketing industry. She is the CEO of Spark Communication Limited, a fast growing marketing firm in East Africa. Babara is a result driven entrepreneur and marketing professional with a proven track record of planning, project management, developing and implementing integrated marketing campaigns. Spark Empower Mentorship Program targets young ladies enrolled in higher learning institutions(universities/colleges) aged between 20-25 years old. It focuses on mentoring 10 girls each year, through group sessions with key speakers in the industry. The number is limited to 10, for an effective and intimate one on one hand-held experience. The end goal for the program is to create “A Community of Influence” through which these 10 mentees will be required to influence 10 new ladies from the community to join the mentorship program and get mentored too.

Winnie Margaret Mbinya Kasuki

Quaccy suppliers

Renewable Energy

Margaret Kasuki is the founder and director of Quaccy suppliers which sensitizes people to stop cutting down trees for charcoal and firewood and instead embrace biogas. By constructing biogas plants for the families, the initiative has seen many women and young children relieved from the burden of looking for firewood and charcoal and engaging in other beneficial activities. It has also improved agriculture via the use of slurry from the digesters as organic fertilizers for farming thus reducing the level of hunger and poverty in the country.

Aruna Varsani

Rintz Industries

Innovation

Aruna Varsani #ZuriAwards 2023 Innovation Honoree is the founder Rintz Industries an organization dedicated to saving underwater life and restoring the marine ecosystem by 2030, as well as reducing the number of deaths and illnesses caused by pollution and contamination. She has collaborated with local government to implement programs that reduced waste generation and promoted sustainable practices in a coastal community which led to the protection and restoration of the local marine life and improved access to clean water and sanitation for the residents.

Ann Gacheke

Neema G.B.V Rescue Centre

Young Achiever

Ann Gacheke #ZuriAwards 2023 Young Achiever Honoree is the founder of Neema G.B.V Rescue Centre where they rescue Children who are sexually abused, abandoned and orphans.They fight for their justice,medical treatment ,counseling and take them back to school.So far she has 44 children under her care, the youngest being 1year and 2 months, the oldest being 16 years old.

Wanjiru Mambo

Wedgehut Foods Ltd

Agriculture

Wanjiru Mambo #ZuriAwards 2023 Agriculture Honoree is a seasoned entreprenuer with over 10 years experience doing business the and the founder Wedgehut Foods Ltd a value addition business focusing on potatoes.They supply eateries,Hotels and institutions with ready to cook potatoes in different cut ;Chips/French fries,Cubes,Lyonnaise/Bhajia and Wedges.

Wangari Kuria

STEM Expert

STEM

Wangari is a host at AGRF 2021 international conference which raised awareness about youth in agriculture she is consistently teaching and inspiring all for free on Youtube on best Farming practices that has led to 1200 urban gardens.

Rachel Adhiambo Ogola

Advocate

Healthcare

Rachel Adhiambo Ogola -Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Certified Mediator, associate arbitrator, Human rights Activist with a biase in children and women’s issues, Mentor and Healthy skin advocate, CEO and founder Eczema Society of Kenya, Committee member at the International Alliance of Dermatology Patient Organisations(Globalskin) Canada. Eczema Society of Kenya is a platform that was started to improve the lives of people with Eczema.

They spread awareness and improve information on Eczema, Advocate against stigma of Eczema, Advocate for access to affordable treatment and medication of Eczema.Lobby for more research of Eczema.

Queenter Mbori

Media

Queenter Mbori #ZuriAwards 2023 Media Nominee is a Gender Equality advocate, Speaker, Certified Media Trainer, Multimedia journalist and dependable Corporate MC.She has received numerous recognition for using the media to promote gender equality in society.She is the First President, Standard Group Women Network (SGWN); a a unique gender-transformative non-profit membership network established in 2018 to articulate the voice of women at the workplace and position them for greater impact in the society.

Waruguru Kiai

Legal Advisor

Arts & Culture

Waruguru Kiai #ZuriAwards 2023 Arts and Culture Honoree is a Women and Youth Worker passionate about Leadership and Good Governance. She is a holder of a bachelor’s degree in Law, a Public Relations and Diplomacy Diploma from Mount Kenya University. She serves as a Legal Advisor and sits as a Director in the Youth Agenda Advisory Board. She is also a Ms. President Leadership Show Finalist, Obama Leaders Fellow, Africa Women Writers Fellow as well as a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Alumni founded by President Barack Obama. She is the Founder Village Girl Thoughts and Dreams, an online writer’s platform with over 298,000 followers, where she uses humor and satire to address societal issues ie Gender based violence, Post-Partum Depression, body positivity, mental health awareness, self-awareness and development affecting women and girls in Kenya, and across the Continent in simple English.

Beverly Jalango

Foreign Collective

Arts &Culture

Beverly Jalango #Zuri2023 Arts &Culture Nominee, Empowers the next generation through creativity and sustainability! Foreign Collective is inspiring youth with their innovative recycled arts program, while promoting eco-conscious living.

Nasra Mohamed

Counsellor

Business

Nasra Mohamed, #Zuri2023 Business Honoree is on aninspiring journey from counselor to corporate wellness champion! With a passion for mental health, Nasra transforms workplaces globally. Having witnessed the impact of toxic environments, she now empowers organizations to prioritize employee wellbeing. Nasra’s lived aexperience and expertise are making a real difference in corporate mental health.

Joy Mwangi

Ada Animation

Arts and Culture

Joy Mwangi #ZuriAwards 2023 Arts and Culture Nominee is among the few female entrepreneurs that have dared to venture in the animation industry, a male dominated tank and has founded her own animation studio that is now aged 12 months.

She founded Ada Animation in September 2020,a pan-African Animation studio headquartered in Kenya that seeks to build a thriving industry in Africa that will in turn create employment for the youth and catalyze wealth creation opportunities. The studio is also present in two other countries: UK and South Africa. Her studio is the first in Kenya and one of the few in Africa that has successfully execute an all animation capacity building programme. Ada Animation Bootcamp is a three-month hybrid programme that provides ambitious African animators with the necessary skills, tools, mentorship and a platform to create their own stories and earn from them.

Grace Kiboi

Springs of Hope Childrens Home

Humanitarian

Grace Kiboi #ZuriAwards 2023 Humanitarian Honoree is the director at springs of hope childrens home an organization started in 2007 with the aim of helping the less fortunate children due to the high level of HIV infections which leads to high mortality rates, leaving most of them infected and orphans.The organization also goes an extra mile to rescue other children in need ,this include the street children and those whose parents are drug addicts and fail to perform their parental responsibilities.

Fatma Ali

Path Youth Organization

Education

Fatma Ali #ZuriAwards 2023 Education Nominee is the cofounder of Path Youth Organization based in Mombasa Kenya. Path is a youth led organization that tackles the issue of academic transition through mentorship, career guidance and offering psychosocial support to learners both in and out of school. Fatma also has a personal initiative to offer mentorship to young girls, providing dignity packs to young girls as well as providing psychosocial support and househouse levels. Through her initiative she has been working closely with other stakeholders in the education sector including teachers and community focal persons.

Judith Musembi

Mojo Skincare

Manufacturing

Judith Musembi #ZuriAwards 2023 Manufacturing Nominee is the founder Mojo Skincare a premium skincare solution based in Nakuru producing lotions for both men and women and currently selling the lotions at several outlets at Chandarana,Bestlady Cosmetics,Woolmatt Supermarket in Nakuru,All shivling branches in the western region of Kenya and all Jamaa supermarkets based in Olkalou, Nyahururu and Naivasha.

Mumbi Ndung'u

Innovation Expert

STEM

Mumbi Ndung’u #ZuriAwards 2023 STEM Honoree is a social innovation expert and leader having launched several enterprises since university, recent innovation is a tech learning platform dubbed: Power Learn Project (PLP) is a Pan-African social impact organization whose goal is to drive transformative change for youth in Africa by powering them with relevant Tech skills through the provision of quality and decentralized Tech training.