Mwende Gatabaki: Sociopreneur Contending for Kiambu Gubernatorial Seat

Mwende Gatabaki-Ndii is one of the contenders for the governor of Kiambu seat.

She is running on a Safina Party ticket.

She has in recent days gained popularity by making stern comments that were well received by the electorate. This further exemplified her extraordinary 20 years of experience working with businesses in the public, private, and governmental sectors as a sociopreneur.

Early Life and Family

She is most known to the general public as the spouse of former NASA economist and strategist David Ndii.

Gatabaki is the daughter of former Githunguri MP and Senior Chief Peter Gatabaki of the Thakwa tribe.

She was born and raised in Githunguri, Kiambu County.

Education

She attended Githunguri Primary School and Limuru Girls High School before enrolling at Kenyatta University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science in 1990.

She obtained a master’s degree in management and organizational development from United States International University (USIU) Kenya in 1996. This was after completing a postgraduate diploma in computer technology at Salford University.

Career

After four years with USAID as a network administrator, she moved on to KWS where she worked as an IT manager.

She joined the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA) in 2004, and from then until 2010, she served as the ICT Group General Manager.

A turning point in Gatabaki’s professional life came when President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed her as Director General of the Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service (KCFNMS) and Chair of the Presidential Digital Transformations of Government in 2014.

Later, she managed strategy creation as the Senior Public Sector Advisor for East Africa at consultancy firm McKinsey & Company.

2018 saw her advancement to Practice Leader at Lattice Consulting Limited.

She is now the founder and managing director of Africa Aquaculture Development Company Ltd. (AADeC), a pioneering agricultural company seeking to develop and market Africa’s value chain for smallholder fish farming.

Politics

Gatabaki will be competing against other well-known leaders like Senator Kimani Wamatangi, William Kabogo, incumbent James Nyoro and Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, for the county’s top seat.

Gatabaki has said that if elected governor, she will prioritize the three-pillar program, which aims to reduce climate change, empowering young people economically and expanding smallholder agriculture.