Maurice Otieno is the Executive Director of Baraza Media Lab, a media incubator based out of Nairobi and operating across the African continent. He is an avid community and ecosystem builder who shines at the intersection of community design, innovation, and investments. He is equally motivated to help media, creatives, entrepreneurs, corporates, investors, and youthful audiences achieve their goals around innovation and sustainability. He takes pleasure in innovative ideas and collaborative problem-solving, especially if they lead to policy change.
He has been on the founding teams that have set up instrumental organizations in the growth of the Kenyan and sub-Saharan media, tech, and innovation ecosystems; Mettā Nairobi, Baraza Media Lab, Association of Startups and SME Enablers of Kenya, and the AfCTA creative and government sector working group.
He is currently pursuing his MBA at Warwick Business School in the UK. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce alongside three certifications in Project Management, Introduction to Human Centered Design from Acumen, and CPALevel 4 from Strathmore University in Kenya. He is privileged to have attended a fellowship on Impact Investing at the Frontier Market Scouts at the prestigious Middlebury College in Monterey California, to understand how capital flows and how to speak to capital owners and measure impact in change-making organizations. He has also attended a Design thinking and service delivery course at the Aalto University Executive Education. These skills enable him to immerse himself in the problem that he is solving and utilize the power of human-centred design to achieve results.He has been an advisor to Somo Africa since its inception in 2014. He has also mentored cohorts at the Global Disability Innovation Hub, Village Capital fintech accelerator, and Make-IT in Africa Cohort 2018. Giving back his time, money, and networks to the community is a core component of his life.
His most recent and greatest achievement is signing MoUs with three counties in Kenya. These MoUs allow him through his work to set up production and community spaces in peri-urban areas in Kenyan cities. These studios and spaces will eventually be creating employment in dignified jobs for over 240 people every year.