Doreen Irungu

Doreen Irungu is the 2021 Stop Hunger Award winner, 2021 Women in Africa laureate and a 2021 Finalist of the She-inspires Award in Boston London.

"As a leader, I believe in investing in people, and I believe in humanity being united for a common cause. This is why I created Ustawi Afrika after working with a charitable organization for more than 14 years. Ustawi Afrika is a social enterprise that invests in the resilience of rural women for sustainable development and sustainable livelihoods. We empower rural women through trainings, enabling them to mitigate the major challenges they face i.e lack of capital, land, knowledge and technology to save time and labor, as well as solve the lack of agrarian services and knowledge. By joining them together we are able to build strong partnerships and foster a sense of community to ensure greater success and wellbeing for rural women most at risk of starvation and malnutrition.

Currently, we are developing technology driven solutions which include A.I scarecrow drones that will assist rural women who are farming rice, sorghum and wheat in areas where birds have become a major threat. We are also introducing A.I to rural areas through instant A.I soil sampling machines and IOT Sensors to assist rural farmers control water, soil humidity and detect pests before damaging crops.

As a woman in Tech, I believe WE ARE THE FUTURE and technology must be in service to us.

I believe safe technologies can help us heal the world, heal the ecosystem, heal the oceans, increase food production and help us reduce malnutrition and hunger in Africa. Women in Africa, specifically in the agricultural sector, need safe technologies to increase food production and mitigate the very real growing climate change challenges, which increasingly threatens our day to day livelihood and a sustainable future for all of us."