Ory Okolloh, born in 1977 in Nairobi, Kenya, is a Kenyan lawyer, activist, and blogger whose work has contributed to documenting and publicizing government actions in her country. Through her websites, she reported on malpractice and positioned herself against political violence in Kenya. She also promoted the use of technology as a channel through which Kenyans could express rejection of violent actions and make them visible.
Okolloh currently lives in South Africa with her family and relocated there to work with non-governmental organizations through consulting. She has gained international recognition for her stance against violence and for exposing harmful government practices.
In recent years, she was included among the world’s 100 most influential people. She founded two technology-focused platforms that functioned both as personal blogs and as spaces for broader public participation. She also worked at Google in a role focused on leading policy and strategy related to Africa, tied to the region’s global digital impact.
Today, she participates as an active member of several councils and serves on the board of GSMA, an organization that represents and advocates for the mobile communications industry. Her trajectory positioned her as a reference point for civic uses of technology and collective initiatives that expanded channels of visibility and response across African communities.
Lawyer, blogger, and activist: Okolloh’s roles
Mzalendo is presented as the first key milestone in her activist trajectory. It operated as a website aimed at monitoring and analyzing parliamentary activity and legislative projects in Kenya. The platform was created in 2006, ahead of Kenya’s presidential election, and in 2007—after the election—Okolloh founded Ushahidi.
The second platform is described as more direct, riskier, and more technologically oriented. With the aim of reporting malpractice and violence after the presidential election, it enabled people to speak out and report repressive actions through channels such as SMS, email, and messages. Both projects framed technology as a method for deepening public understanding of events and expanding citizen participation.
A central feature attributed to Ushahidi was the use of real-time technology. The platform is described as a real-time crisis-management tool, with the ability to monitor and track the effects of government actions as they unfolded. On a personal level, Okolloh also maintained a blog called Kenyan Pundit, which appeared on Global Voices Online, a recognized community of bloggers and writers.
Okolloh’s role at Google
Her work at Google is described as an opportunity to connect the company’s resources with the growth and development of the internet in Africa. She was selected to lead strategies related to African technological development and policy within one of the world’s largest technology companies.
Her official position is presented as a Google policy manager role. From that post, she worked on initiatives aimed at expanding access to the internet in Africa, building on her earlier experience with civic platforms and blogs that highlighted political violence in Kenya and promoted technological participation across society. When she took on the commitment at Google, she stepped away from her executive leadership role at Ushahidi.
Part of her work at the multinational is described as being shaped by efforts to promote internet expansion in Africa, portrayed here as a continent with limited technological resources and restricted access. Within this account, her prior innovation at the intersection of activism and technology helps explain why Google approached her.
Harvard academic training
After growing up in Africa, Okolloh moved to the United States to pursue her education. She earned a degree in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. After that, in 2005, she entered Harvard Law School, where she completed a Juris Doctor.
In a TED talk she gave some years ago, she emphasized that, despite being trained at a prestigious institution, she remained focused on the poverty affecting parts of the continent. In that same context, she underscored the importance of prioritizing people living within poverty rather than treating development exclusively through market frameworks.
The talk is presented as both a personal narrative and an attempt to illustrate realities described as existing outside conventional market logics, aligned with her broader efforts to confront political violence in Kenya and its social consequences.
Activist, lawyer, blogger, and policy manager at Google are among the roles attributed to Ory Okolloh within this profile.
