Kendi Ntwiga's extraordinary rise within global technology circles is the literal grass-to-grace story. On Monday, June 6, she was a pointed by Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media platforms - to serve as the Global Head of Misrepresentation.
In her new role, Ntwiga, who started her new role in May, is tasked with leading the social media giant's Misrepresentation team aimed at scaling its Meta's enforcement of the community standards which touch on Facebook, Instagram as well as Whatsapp.
The position, which she will be based in Ireland, easily ranks her among the top-level women working in the technology industry today.
Her rise to the top has, however, not been a walk in the park since her childhood days on her parents' farm in Embu where her tasks involved fetching firewood and water.
"I was born in Embu and stayed there until I was 11 years old then moved to the village. I was this bubbly nice outgoing girl," she narrated.
In the interview, she noted that the decision to return to the village from Embu town, was necessary after her dad re-enrolled to school to study computer science which strained the family income.
"She thought that the best idea, 'Let's get out of this town where we are struggling to make ends meet and go to the village," she explained in 2020.
After completing her high school education, she endeared moving to the city to create a better life for herself - her grit and hard work paid off.
Her interest in tech was pricked by her father's enrolment in the field and the excitement he derived from accomplishing his codes.
"He spoke with so much admiration and he made me love it. At that point, in my teenage years I knew there and then I wanted to study computer science," she said of him.
Ever since, Ntwiga has occupied prominent roles in various multi-national corporations among them Oracle and Microsoft.
In January 2020. she was appointed by Microsoft to serve as the Country Manager for the company's operations in Kenya for her discipline and IT savviness.
"Passionate about the potential of technology to streamline trade and commerce on the continent, Nderitu has proved instrumental in helping various organisations develop strategic digital roadmaps, ultimately enabling them to improve efficiencies and reduce cost," Microsoft said of her.
She has also worked in leading tech giants such as Hewlett Packard (HP), Oracle, Check Point Software Technologies and Intel.
So good is her work that during her tenure at Oracle, he won the Oracle Excellence Award, granted to the top 2 per cent highest performing employees globally.
She also founded She-Goes-Tech to mentor young girls to pursue careers in science and technology, a program that enrolled 3,100 young girls as of 2019.
