Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Esther is passionate about social impact, investment, tech, entrepreneurship and innovation. Helping spur change in the Kenyan and regional ecosystem, Project Catalyst at GrowthAfrica works as the Project Lead for the first innovation program by JICA in Kenya dubbed NINJA (Next in Innovation Japan), HiiL Scaling Program and builds accelerator programs in Mozambique. Esther has vast experience leading innovation programs in Kenya & Africa. With a reputation for ecosystem and community building through bringing together startups, investors, foundations and development partners (British Council, DfID, UK TechHub, German development bank GIZ, the World Bank, AMREF, HIVOS, WWF) and private sector (Merck, Microsoft, Google, Safaricom) to support entrepreneurs. Before working with GrowthAfrica, Esther worked at Mettā for close to 4 years as the Head of Community and Operations. In her final year at Mettā, she was promoted to the General Manager, spearheading and leading the Africa office to having built a 5000+ community, over 200 events and 15 innovation programs. She currently sits on the Board of ASSEK (The Association of Startup and SME Enablers of Kenya). She was also chosen as one of the two Kenyans for the inaugural Facebook Community Accelerator Program 2020.
Esther Mwikali will speak at the World Justice Forum's Partner Side Event: Innovating Justice Fund Launch