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Shikoh Gitau Wins Innovation Award In New York
Dr Shikoh Gitau, founder and chief executive of Qhala, has received the Innovation Award at the African Leadership Roundtable, held in New York during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The award recognises innovators whose technologies and models make products and services more accessible, affordable and effective across the continent.
Gitau was honoured alongside Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji of Future Africa and Eric Osiakwan of Chanzo Capital, both investors in African technology companies.
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Aspen Initiative Nairobi nominated Gitau, an alumna of the Aspen New Voices Fellowship, citing Qhala’s work on artificial intelligence governance and adoption across the continent.
Qhala’s position, as outlined by the nominating organisation, is that African states should participate in shaping how artificial intelligence is governed rather than simply adopting rules developed elsewhere.
The company’s work focuses on three areas: training policymakers, convening cross-sector dialogues and building tools that allow governments to assess their AI readiness.
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The portfolio includes the Africa AI Village, the first edition of which Qhala staged in Paris in February 2025 to coincide with international AI policy discussions in the French capital. Aspen Initiative Nairobi sponsored the event.
The nomination also cited Aspen Initiative Nairobi’s Africa AI Dialogues, a continuing series that brings together policymakers, technologists, investors and civil society organisations to discuss AI adoption.
Gitau is a Kenyan computer scientist. She completed her undergraduate studies at Africa Nazarene University and holds a doctorate from the University of Cape Town.
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In 2013, she became the first African to receive the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, awarded at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. She has previously held roles at Google’s emerging markets division, iHub Research, the African Development Bank and Safaricom.
Her earlier development work includes M-Ganga, which focused on healthcare access, and Ummeli, a mobile platform launched in 2010 to connect job seekers with employers in South Africa and other African markets.
Gitau founded Qhala in 2020. She also sits on the board of the Kenya National Innovation Agency and the council of Africa Nazarene University.
The recognition comes as African participation in AI governance structures continues to expand.
The United Nations General Assembly appointed the 40 members of the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence in February 2026, with African states holding eight seats. The companion Global Dialogue on AI Governance convened for the first time in Geneva in July 2026.
Kenya has also adopted a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy covering 2025 to 2030.
The governance push comes alongside infrastructure constraints. The African Actors of Data Center Association’s 2026 economic report puts the continent’s installed data centre capacity at about 0.6 per cent of the global total.
Nompilo Morafo, a group executive at MTN, received the Catalyst Award at the same roundtable on the final day of the operator’s engagements around the General Assembly.
The organisers of the African Leadership Roundtable have not published a full list of honourees, the selection criteria for the Innovation Award or the composition of the judging panel. No monetary value has been attached to the award.