Njeri Rionge Information

In the year 2000 Njeri co-founded East Africa's first mass market oriented ISP, Wananchi Online (a Swahili word meaning citizen) which made Internet connectivity affordable for the average household for the first time. Njeri helped to grow the business from a typical start-up to become the largest ISP in East Africa, with a network of five regional offices and a recognized brand in a particularly challenging regulatory and economic environment. In her capacity as CEO, Njeri raised a first tranche of $500,000 and a second tranche of $3M for Wananchi. The company eventually went on to raise up to $238M. In 2008 Njeri was headhunted to spearhead the restructuring of Telkom Kenya, a previously state owned corporation soon after the merger with France Telecom. She was instrumental in the retail brand launch of the Orange brand into Kenya and, in doing so, handled a commercial budget of up to $44M. Njeri commercialized the GSM network, and was responsible for 826 employees spread-out regionally in her portfolio. Njeri is a seasoned corporate director, having held board positions with Unilever Tea (Brook Bond Kenya), Institute of Directors (IOD) Kenya, Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA), Ambulance Air Rescue (AAR) Holdings, Wananchi Nominee Holdings and Wananchi Online Ltd. Njeri has had the pleasure of living and working in seven countries, Greece (Athens), Italy (Rome), UK (London), Canada (Toronto), USA (Dallas, Texas), Spain (Barcelona) and in her home in Nairobi, Kenya. She is regularly called upon as a mentor, facilitator and public speaker by industry, government and civil society groups.