In the former British East Africa capital Nairobi Kenya, there’s an enclave on Kabaranet road that is not very far from road trip roads that overlook the famous Ngong hills. At the foot of those hills, there is a view of the Karen Blixen museum which was the former home of the baroness. Her 1937 book Out of Africa which chronicles life in Kenya, is famous, and the epic plot of a movie that won multiple academy awards.
Kabaranet Ngong Road estates may not be among the first places that come to mind when people think about Kenya. But the suburb is close to the Ulinzi military base that is in close proximity with one of Kenya’s second head of state residences. It has produced an array of renown scintillating talented global citizens that continuously participate in problem solving tech ideation design thinking in their areas of expertise. Among them, Esther Gatuma is a christian woman in the tech space.
When you hear Karen Blixen’s name, what comes to mind?
Fond precious memories from my childhood in the sub-sahara. My family lived among expatriate and military families in a suburban estate on Ngong road. I am blessed to have grown up with childhood friends that did not resemble my race or even speak my dialect. I have friends from Germany, India, South Africa, England, America, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Our neighborhood was a stone throw away from one of Kenya’s second President’s residences, and I never will forget how our skipping rope games suddenly came to a standstill when we saw the presidential motorcade approaching our gated community. Some days, the motorcade slowed down, and we sang jubilant childhood songs and the head of state waved cheerfully from his back left view.
And we knew of Karen Blixen’s story, she was considered a Danish/Kenyan at heart and, infact I have friends and family members named Karen. Every time am in Nairobi, I try to visit the museum that was built in loving memory, and honor of her work and my childhood home on Kabarnet road.
But, there’s also the Adam’s arcade shopping center! When my dad frequently took us for family walks on Saturday afternoons, we always passed by the arcade to buy fresh baked cakes, bread, and baguettes at the bakery.
What was it like growing up in a country that had just gained independence?
Oh goody! when I was born, Kenya was a post-colonial state that had just a-little over 15 years of independence. I think I was blessed to live in an era of leadership that was spearheaded by the second president in an infant democracy. Most pre-colonial structures, and culture was still in place. Even today, “tea and scones” at 4 PM is a time for families to catch up, and I love my afternoon teas! Literally, every girl in my circle aspired to get her own tea time cups and pots because one of our childhood games was “acted out tea parties” using our little tea time cups and saucers.
One time, the British broadcasting TV, and radio station that was founded in 1928 before Kenya’s independence invited me as one of their children’s program guests. At that time, it had been renamed “Voice of Kenya”. I was only seven years old when I familiarized myself with studio lights, cameras, and TV program sets. My family, and I have vivid memories of my debut media appearance when they watched me reading my primary school academy’s history in fluent british english.
During the pre/post colonial years, my grandparents accepted leadership role appointments. My maternal grandpa was enlisted to serve in the british allied forces that served in the british isles of Burma during World War II. Upon his return, he was appointed Chief, and during his era, he passed laws that mandated, the availability of education for children. My paternal grandpa was among the initial high court judges in the African International Courts and Tribunals.
I also recall visiting guest houses where my grandparents hosted british Methodist church missionaries that had immigrated to educate, and provide medical services for people that lived in hard to reach remote sub-saharan areas.
When did your journey to the tech space begin?
It started during my formative childhood years. I was that little girl that remained curious until I found answers to my questions when I tried to decode how things work. Basically, I was gifted in searching for answers surrounded by a rubble of disassembled components of science project pieces that I could not figure out. So, my parents encouraged analytical logical reasoning because I seemed to veer towards trying to make sense of everything. My dad always bought me science and engineering experiment gifts when they travelled for work because I enjoyed logic.
You see, when I took my first software engineering classes, computer engineering had no ‘drag and drop’ functionality. We typed Ms Dos commands to execute a simple ‘cut’ and ‘paste’. So, my object oriented and database design skills have gone through an evolution of sorts. It started with learning hardware and software components in the IBM Aptiva, PS/1, NetVista and the unforgettable diskettes. I remember carrying those precious diskettes when I saved my software engineering graduate project in about 10 diskettes. Occasionally, I held my breath hoping that the diskette was not corrupted when it hanged, swirled and made squeaky sounds in the CPU especially when I was in the middle of a software programming demo for my graduate program.
Also, majority of my graduating class alumnus was a team of talented gentlemen. We were only four ladies in the graduating class, and the gentlemen treated us with much respect when we collaborated to decipher software delivery complexities.
Lets talk about an experience where you deployed technology for the good of society…
When I was growing up, my mom and I always enjoyed afternoon teas while watching the Oprah Winfrey show in Nairobi. In 2004, Oprah visited Dr. Catherine Hamlin. She was an Australian obstetrician, and christian missionary who served in Ethiopia. Dr. Hamlin and Oprah talked about finding meaning through the expression of talents and how a career can become a calling. Hot tears welled up on my eyes when I heard Dr. Hamlin talk about how her treatments and surgery restored the dignity of a child bride that had developed complications due to early childbirth in tears. I leaned on my mom’s shoulder, and told her that I would never view my career path the same way again. At that moment, I experienced a transformational ‘aha moment’ that stirred up a call to action within me. I became resolute in ensuring that my talents and skills as a woman in tech would be used for the good of society.
At the opportune time, in 2008, I led a team of women in tech volunteers and together we deployed a platform that amplified the plight of women and girls in last mile countries. We unanimously selected a cause where very little had been known about girls with no access to education and victims of child bride trafficking in East and West Pokot Kenya. Our technology tools and instruments created a platform for the world to learn about their challenges while still maintaining their dignity. Seeing the platform that we deployed highlighted on the Oprah Winfrey Show when I was among Oprah’s season 25 heroes, as well as being a women in tech SME on the ABC, and CBS news desk was an emotional experience for me. It made me honor my commitment to respect the expressions of my tech space talents as a sacred calling that is an instrument that innovates tech solutions for the good of society.
What is your latest milestone as a woman in tech?
In April 2020, I found myself being congratulated for being selected and interviewed by Sally Kohn as a candidate for the TED talk arena. I am a story teller at the intersection of faith and market place careers. I coach professionals and inspire the pursuit of purpose aligned successful career goals.
I use my platforms to communicate the plight of women in tech too! Only a declining 26% of the American workforce were women in the year 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017. Of the 26%, 15% were Caucasian, 6% Asian, 3% African American and 2% Hispanic. My commitment is volunteering my time to coach and mentor more women in tech so that we can achieve gender equity in the tech space. Including women in tech innovation ideation and design thinking is smart economics because women maintain influential retail purchasing power in their families.
What are your hobbies?
Am a Christian, I enjoy worshiping in song studying the Word thoroughly, I try to run a 5K every weekday. As a University of Oxford trained creative writer, I enjoy writing inspirational, and motivating vignettes.
Cooking five course meals, hosting family, and friends in different parts of my adventurous safari locations is one of my favorite things to do! Enroute, my stop-overs include visiting old libraries, and book shops around the world. I like to read a good book in a library building that has historical characteristics about the building architecture. My home library is a collection of classics and special editions that I enjoy reading!