Dorcas Muthoni is founder and Chief Executive Officer of Openworld Ltd, a specialist computer software company she established in Kenya when she was just 24 years old. Today, Openworld is a leading e-Government and business software services firm involved in the delivery of some of the most widely used Web and Cloud applications in Africa, such as ARIS, an African Union reporting application used by all 54 member states; and the Performance Management System for the Government of Kenya, automating performance contracting in the public sector.
OPENWORLD has been involved in the delivery of some most widely used Web and cloud applications in Africa, such as ARIS, an African Union reporting application used by all 54 member states; the Performance Management System for the Government of Kenya, automating performance contracting in the public sector; and OpenBusiness, a revolutionary cloud-based small- and medium-size business management tool.
Dorcas Muthoni is also the founder of the regional organization AfChix, a mentorship and capacity building initiative for women in computing across Africa. Since 2004, AfChix activities have included organizing annual Computing Career Conferences with a special emphasis on encouraging computing careers for young women and high school girls; continuous career development for women in technology and role-modeling for upcoming women in computing. This passion and involvement has made her a role model herself, for women and girls in the African community. Dorcas is passionate about using technology to positively transform African society through the lives of its ordinary people, businesses and governments and is a co-founder of the regional organization LinuxChix Africa. She also serves as a Director at Ushahidi; is a Member of the council of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa – FOSSFA.
Muthoni has been an Internet Society (ISOC) Fellow to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and World Bank infoDev Global Forum. In 2008, she was an Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology’s Change Agent award winner and in 2009 she was selected as a Women’s Forum Rising Talent, a network of highly talented women with the potential to become influential figures in the future. In 2013, she was selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a panel of distinguished leaders from around the world under the age of 40.
Through her work as an entrepreneur and computer scientist, Muthoni seeks to see technology positively transforming the lives of African society, governments and enterprises.