Appreciating tech community’s Top 100 at #5YrTechBash

This is belated but it can’t go without making it here. During the Saturday March 7 event held to mark @iHub’s fifth-year anniversary (#5yrtechbash), co-founder Erik Hersman used the occasion to recognize and pay glowing tribute to 100 individuals who have been involved in various ways with the country’s tech community. Below we reproduce @WhiteAfrican’s tribute from iHub blog:

There are certain people who have done amazing things, who have mentored people, who have built great businesses, who have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of the tech community in Kenya. All of the people on this list have given of themselves to make the Kenyan tech ecosystem one of the strongest in Africa.

Here is the list, in no particular order, and made up of names that were both submitted by the community as well as people that the iHub Advisory Board added. Each was given an award, designed and created by the Gearboxteam.

To everyone on this list, THANK YOU for all you have done!

Michuki Mwangi – For being one of the first to get things started, from the .co.ke TLD to the IXP
Evans Ikua – Always flying the Linux Flag since 2000 with Linux Professionals Association Kenya and early User Group
Dr. Shikoh Gitau-Nyaga – Researcher, ex-Google, Mentor, Entrepreneur
Joe Mucheru – A pioneer in tech in Kenya with ISPs, then with Google Kenya, and still as an Angel Investor
Laban Mwangi – For starting Skunkworks
Brian Longwe – Early Network Engineer, KIXP team
Dorcas Muthoni – Entrepreneur, Mentoring and Training school girls in Tech
Phares Kariuki – Revived skunkworks. iHub Mentor program
Antony Njoroge – iHub Network Volunteer, Mentor to many young entrepreneurs
Sam Kitonyi – Wezetele, Mentor to many developers
David Kiania – Started Skunkworks and Revived Barcamp Nairobi, Noisemaker, Initiated iHub Media
Mikul Shah – Founder EatOut Kenya, Connector to many businesses, Mentor
Daudi Were – Started the Kenya Bloggers Webring in the dark ages of the internet
James Orengo – The always active and smiling face that so many see when they first enter the iHub
Edwin Kaduki – Started Stocks Kenya (now wazua) back in the day, and is now one of the main people at M-Kopa today
Ken Njoroge – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with Cellulant
Ngigi Waithaka – Started Alliance Technologies back in the day and mentors young entrepreneurs
Washington Odhiambo – Old hat on the KICTANET and Skunkworks lists – manages them
Grace Githaiga – Getting people talking policy stuff on KICTANET
Wesley Kirinya – One of the first game developers around
SEACOM – For being the point of the spear in getting undersea cable to Kenya
Ali Hussein – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with 3 Mice – Kictanet
Victor Kyalo – ICT Authority – maintains a useful link between the govt and the tech community
Paul Kukubo – First ICT Board/Authority boss, helped bridge govt and the tech community – started 3 Mice
Fady Rostom – One of the best designers in Kenya, also volunteered to help design the iHub
Kwame Nyongo – Designed the iHub and is one of the great animators of Kenya
Rebecca Wanjiku – One of the great tech journalist of Kenya, and a proven entrepreneur building Fireside Communications
Boniface Mwangi – Started Pawa254 and helped the creatives connect
Sam Gichuru – Helped get Nailab off the ground and made it a home for so many young tech companies
Nikolai Barnwell – Got 88mph started and started funding tech companies in Nairobi
Mbwana Alliy – Savannah Fund managing partner and a great voice for tech entrepreneurship in Kenya
John Matogo – Helping run iBizAfrica at strathmore, an all round nice guy
Johnni Kjelsgaard – For starting Growth Hub, helping entrepreneurs get a step up in Nairobi
Ken Mwenda – A staunch supporter of tech training at Emobilis, board member at the mLab
John Kieti – The man behind the mLab since it’s inception; A great thinker
Kevin Chege – KENET (and now ISOC) – getting universities connected to the internet
Dr. Kamau Gachigi – Gearbox and FabLab – Was at the very first Barcamp ever at UON
Richard Bell – For bringing real broadband to Kenya – Zuku. And others – KIXP, TESPOK, TEAMS cable, KENIC
Dr. Kamal Bhattacharya – For spurring the tech meets world research in Kenya by bringing IBM Research to the country
Kamal Budhabhatti – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with Craft Silicon
John Waibochi – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with Virtual City
Segeni Ngethe – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with Mama Mikes
Dr. Monica Kerretts-Makau – For representing the tech ecosystem at CCK/CAK and Strathmore
Hilda Moraa – Passion for supporting startups, helping start iHub Research, Wezatele Cofounder
Ahmed Maawy – Heavily involved in the tech community in Nairobi for years, now started Swahili Box in Mombasa
James Odede – A champion for the techies near Lake Victoria through the Lake Hub
Vincent Ngundi – KENIC, helping get Kenya online
Kenneth Kinyanjui – Google Dev Group – Kenya lead
Akirachix – For getting more young women involved in tech in Kenya
Tyrus Kamau – For keeping infosec in front of us
John Gichuki – For keeping infosec in front of us
Michael Joseph – For taking early bets with Safaricom, including putting up the $20m that helped get everyone off the sideline for fibre
Jesse Moore – A pioneer in mobile payments with Mpesa, now the man behind the huge succcess of M-Kopa
Wambura Kimunyu– One of the great voices of reason, a true operator that has made great things of Cheki and Cellulant
Joseph Sevilla – For getting people started young in tech at Strathmore and being a foundation for tech in the country
Conrad Akunga – He started as one of the great Kenyan bloggers, and continues as a voice for sanity around tech
Sam Wakoba – One of the great Kenyan tech bloggers in our community, who has stayed true to his roots at TechMoran
Limo Taboi – Where business and technology meet, you will find one of the great bloggers of Kenya at Bankelele
Njeri Chelimo – For having the courage to build something like the Nairobi Dev School while still in her teens
Agatha Gikunda – Working with the tech community from her days at Nokia and now Intel
Carey Eaton – We deeply miss Carey Eaton, who was shot last year, the founder of Cheki was a true legend in his own time
M-Farm – Starting as 3 women in the iHub in 2010, now a 30-person company bridging the world of agriculture and tech
Kopo Kopo – Starting with 2 guys in the iHub in 2010, now in multiple countries in Africa, and stretching into South America and Asia
Mike Macharia – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with Seven Seas
Kachwanya – One of the great Kenyan tech bloggers in our community
Paul Muchene – Started as a volunteer for the iHub network team, worked many nights with Fireside team, when network was being shaped
Anthony Nandaa – C4DLab Mentor, Trainer, and #SCICodeJam co-founder
Skyline Design – A company dedicated to WordPress, who always deliver, a good example of what all small companies should aspire to
Frank Tamre – Helping start Moringa School
Mbugua Njihia – Gave a talk as “Timothy Mbugua” at the Jacaranda Barcamp in 2008, hosted the initial iHub website with Symbiotic, advocate for tech entrepreneurship
Agosta Liko – One of the early tech entrepreneurs who made it with both Verviant and PesaPal
Joseph Kamau – For a dedication to bringing companies great network connectivity at Fireside
Twahir Mohamed – Government webmaster 2009-2012
Ushahidi – For helping to underwrite the costs of getting the iHub started, and for putting community first
Ndaka Mutisya – Teaches primary school kids computer skills, most of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds
Wilson Nyabera – Deaf engineer. Every year, he participates in the mentorship of deaf youth, like students from Machakos School for the Deaf and Safaricom interns who are deaf
Joshua Ogure – Joshua together with his Map Kibera colleagues have developed Kibera Education Data portal that has all Kibera schools in it http://openschoolskenya.org
Riyaz Bachani – Built the Zuku Fiber and TV network, started skunkworks, Founder at Angani
Josiah Mugambi – For starting Skunkworks and Barcamp Nairobi
Eric Magutu – For starting Barcamp Nairobi
Jessica Colaco – First iHub Manager, started iHub Research
Ory Okolloh – Early blogger, Ushahidi co-founder and policy work at Google
Tosh (aka Hammy) – The first iHub Community Lead and a decent football player
Jimmy Gitonga – iHub community lead and mentor to many entrepreneurs
Mugambi Kimathi – Early skunkworks contributor – created “Jahazi” – the first real Kenyan app we could showcase
Larry Madowo – For helping to mainstream tech with his voice in the media
John Gitau – For helping get the service provider community connected via the EANOG
Ken Ndirangu – For helping getting Kenya get connected to the internet
Juliana Rotich – For mentoring many of the women in tech in the iHub community, Ushahidi and many more things
Martin Gicheru – One of the great Kenyan tech bloggers in our community
Angela Okune – For growing iHub research into a powerhouse of technology research in the region
Sylvia Mulinge – One of the great proponents of women in tech, getting Safaricom to start “women in tech” talks series, women in entreprenuership
Isis Nyongo – Early Google Kenya team, and a long-time champion of the tech community and entrepreneurship in it
Mombasa Tech – The community who got things going at the coast 4 years ago
Liz Ondula – For starting the robotics club and helping get the kids hacker camps started
Muuo Wambua – For starting the robotics club and helping get the kids hacker camps started
Mark Kaigwa – Long-time member, speaker and social media brain
Moses Kemibaro – Dotsavvy Founder, m:lab co-convener, tech blogger
Robert Yawe – Noise Maker :), Mentor for many startups, entrepreneur
Dr. Bitange Ndemo – For fighting for the good of the tech community from a high government office for many years