Angela Lungati, the tech CEO keeping the door open for other women
Even when those doors seem like they’re closing, break that door open”
Angela Lungati is among the handful of women who head giant tech companies in Africa. She talks to Inspiring Open’s Betty Kankam-Boadu about the pressure of being a woman CEOand how she is inspiring the next generation of women in technology.
“You need to recognize that you can do hard things. Second thing would be to do those things, even when you are afraid. Don’t let fear hold you back. Be Open”
These are the words of advice from Angela Lungati, CEO of Ushahidi, to young girls who fancy careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics STEM.
“Even when those doors seem like the closing, break that door open, find ways to plug yourself in. And of course, as you’re going in, find ways to bring others with you, open those doors for other people.” She adds.
Ushahidi is a global non-profit technology company that helps communities quickly collect and share information that enables them to raise voices, inform decisions and influence change.
Lungati began her career as a junior software developer at Ushahidi, a company she discovered when she was introduced to the tech scene in Kenya. 10 years down the line after joining the organization, she runs the company as the CEO empowering” ordinary people and communities to thrive as a result of access to data and tech.”
Her journey into technology started when her father brought his work computer home. As a result of playing with her dad’s computer, Lungati developed a strong likeness of computers. “My love for tech is something that was ignited by my dad.” She says.
After high school Lungati enrolled at Strathmore University where she studied Business Information Technology. A deeper dive into the cause drew her to the aspect of programming, mainly because of “how the tech is applicable in the real life, on the business side of things.”
At Strathmore, she was one of the best students and opportunity to work with Jessica Colaço one of Kenya’s renowned entrepreneur and computer scientist open her up to the tech scene in Kenya.
The concept that most of us who were in school had about the tech scene was, you’re either working in very formal offices where you go in wearing a suit and sit behind the desk and do ABC and D things. But here, we were interacting with budding entrepreneurs who were doing… going against the grain and really trying to figure out how to solve real world problems with tech, start-ups, etc. And that’s where I got to meet the Ushahidi founders.” Says Lungati.
She has always been fascinated about the applicability of tech in real life and so when she discovered this group of tech entrepreneurs she never looked back.
As a junior software developer at Ushahidi, responsible for fixing bugs and building features, she naturally gravitated towards engaging the users of the software to get direct feedback to inform her work of fixing bugs.
She was promoted to community manager, became director of community engagement, a co-executive director and now executive director.
Lungati is all about building “appropriate” technology tools which solves a problem of society. To do this, she says one needs to first identify the problem before attempting to build the tools.
“What is the technology in service of? As opposed to having the tech first and then trying to… it’s like trying to fit a foot that will not fit into the glass slipper, really. So that’s basically how I look at things, starting off with the problem itself. And seeing how best the technology, all of these emerging tools that we’re seeing, will solve this particular problem. I think that’s where innovation happens to be very honest,” She says
Kenya is one of the countries on the continent where the tech industry is vibrant. Despite the steady growth of this industry in Africa, women’s participation is still not encouraging.
Lungati is one of the few women leading a tech giant in Africa.
She says there is a lot of pressure that comes with being a female CEO in a male dominated industry like technology.
“I’m very aware of the fact that I’m an African woman, at the helm of a global tech organisation. And a lot of what I do could set the tone for people who come after me,” She says “A lot of it is also just me putting pressure on myself, but that pressure actually does exist. It’s not only in my best interest to succeed, but it’s also in everybody else’s interest. Because, I and many others out there, many other fantastic female leaders, are actually setting the tone for those who will come after us.”
To pay it forward, the mentorship she received from Jessica Colaço and the Ushahidi founders, Lungati co-founded Akira Chix, an organization for African women entrepreneurs and innovators in technology. What started as a community to support, connect and encourage women in the tech space has morphed into a training program for girls and young women.
Lungati attributes the success of her career to being open. She says “there’s such richness in being open than being closed, to be very honest, whether it’s skills development, whether it’s knowledge sharing, whether it’s access to networks, it’s wild, to be very honest”
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