Leonida (Leo) Mutuku is a Nairobi-based entrepreneur and researcher working at the intersection of inclusive AI and development. She is the founder of Intelipro, an African company building financial management and analytics tools that enable entrepreneurs to make sustainable and profitable decisions for their businesses. She is also a Board Director and AI Research Lead at the Local Development Research Institute, a Nairobi-based think-tank whose work contributes to the efforts of African governments to end extreme poverty, hunger and reduce inequalities. Previously, she led the Research and Data Science teams at iHub, Nairobi’s Innovation Hub. In these capacities, she spearheaded a team of local researchers to conduct groundbreaking research on the uses and approaches to technology in Africa. She is an experienced data scientist, published in several peer-reviewed journals and a sought-after global keynote speaker on the opportunities of open data and AI to improve access to financial services, climate-smart agriculture and good governance. She holds a BSc. in Actuarial Science and a Masters in Business Analytics and Big Data. She was privileged to be named one of Forbes Africa’s Top 30 under 30 in 2018.
