Wamuyu Mahinda

DAEA Resource Mobilization and Finance Chair

Wamuyu Mahinda is catalyzing entrepreneurship among Kenya’s rural and urban youth by focusing on re-designing the entire infrastructure that these youth-led businesses need to grow to scale, while inspiring youth from disadvantaged groups to engage in entrepreneurship.

Over 20 years, Wamuyu has had a hand in creating a movement of young Kenyan entrepreneurs and is building on this success to support more young people in rural and urban Kenya to succeed in their entrepreneurial ventures. She founded Youth Banner to work with youth serving organizations all over Kenya in applying the success principles she has learnt over the years to better empower their target groups.

She has worked for several years at the helm of organizations focused on youth enterprise development, including the Kenya Youth Business Trust, Technoserve, and Allavida. In 2007, while at Technoserve, Wamuyu led the largest business plan competition in Kenya’s history in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and launched 100 youth led enterprises. At Allavida she raised US$1M to support a youth development program before stepping down to found Youth Banner.