Ory Okolloh
Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ory Okolloh (or Ory Okolloh Mwangi) is a Kenyan activist, lawyer, and blogger. She is a partner at Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures, a pan-African investment firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, with offices in Nairobi.[1][2][3]
Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Safaricom
GSMA FoundationOry Okolloh | |
|---|---|
Okolloh in 2006 | |
| Citizenship | Kenya |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh Harvard Law School |
| Occupations | Activist, Lawyer, and Blogger |
| Organization(s) | Covington and Burling
Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company Safaricom GSMA Foundation |
She previously served as the managing director at Omidyar Network,[4][5][6] and as the policy manager for Africa with Google.[7][8] Ory was named 100 most influential People in 2014. .
Education
Okolloh earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, summa cum laude, from the University of Pittsburgh.[9] She graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005 with a Juris Doctor.[10] After graduation, she turned down a job offer from a D.C. law firm to return to Kenya to work on government accountability.[11]
Career
In 2006, Okolloh co-founded the parliamentary watchdog site Mzalendo (Swahili: "Patriot").[12][13][14] The site sought to increase government accountability by systematically recording bills, speeches, MPs, and standing orders.[12][15]
When Kenya was engulfed in violence following a disputed presidential election in 2007, Okolloh co-created Ushahidi (Swahili: "Witness"), a website and tool that collected and recorded eyewitness reports of violence using text messages and Google Maps.[13][16] The technology has since been adapted for expanded purposes (including monitoring elections and tracking pharmaceutical availability) and used in a number of other countries.[17][18][19]
Okolloh has a personal blog, Kenyan Pundit, which was featured on Global Voices Online.[20][16]
She has worked as a legal consultant for NGOs and has worked at Covington and Burling, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and the World Bank.[21][22]
Okolloh was appointed to the board of Thomson Reuters Founders Share Company, the body that acts as a guardian of the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles in May 2015.[23] She retired from the company in December 2024, having served as the deputy chair in her last year.[24]
Okolloh has also served as an independent director at Safaricom since February 2023.[25][26][27] She departed from the position in July 2024.[28] She previously served on the board of Stanbic Bank Foundation Kenya, from April 2020 to July 2024,[29] and as a non-executive director of Stanbic Bank until December 2020, when she resigned.[30][31]
In February 2025, she was appointed to the board of GSMA Foundation.[32]
She was appointed to the Board of Kepple Group in Japan in May 2025, as an Outside Director.[33]
Ory is a member of the Africa Advisory Board of Harvard University's Centre For African Studies.[34]
Additionally, she is involved in the following organisations' boards:
| Organisation | Role | Appointment date | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van Leer Group | Board trustee | July 2020 | [35][36] |
| East African Breweries Ltd | Non-executive director | October 2020 | [37][38][39] |
| Deloitte Africa | Non-executive director | June 2021 | [40] |
| Adecco Group Foundation | Board member | July 2021 | [41][42] |
| GSMA Foundation | Board member | February 2025 | [32][43] |
| Kepple Group Japan | Outside Director | May 2025 | [44][33] |
