Global technocrat Professor Elijah Bitange Ndemo was born in Kisii County, South Western Kenya, on December 4, 1959. He is now Kenya’s ambassador to the European Union and the Kingdom of Belgium. In addition, Professor Ndemo writes columns for the Kenyan newspapers Daily Nation and Business Daily, which are sibling publications.
| Website | bitangendemo.me |
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He is presently employed with the University of Nairobi’s Business School as a part-time professor of entrepreneurship. He is an instructor and researcher in the fields of entrepreneurship and research methodology. The majority of his study focuses on the use of ICT in small and medium-sized businesses and how it affects Kenya’s economic growth. held the position of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication under former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki from 2005 until 2013. In 2006, he received the esteemed Chief of the Burning Spear of Kenya (CBS) presidential honor in recognition of his outstanding contributions.
Ndemo is recognized as one of the major figures in the change that the Kenyan ICT sector underwent. In his capacity as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication, he achieved this through a range of ICT policies and initiatives, including the establishment of underwater cables, the growth of the business process outsourcing sector, the decrease in mobile termination rates (MTRs), the launch of Kenya Open Data, and the establishment of tech hubs like iHub and mLab in Kenya through efficient regulation.
Early life and education
Education
- PhD in Industrial Economics, University of Sheffield
- Master of Business Administration – University of St. Thomas(Minnesota), Minnesota, USA, in 1991
- Bachelor’s degree in Finance – Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA, in 1988
Career
- Kenya’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union, 2022 – Present
- Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Nairobi . 2013–Present
- Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication , Government of the Republic of Kenya . 2005 – 2013
- Senior Advisor at the GINI Centre for Applied Sciences in Emerging Technologies. 2019–Present.
Publications
- Ndemo, E B (2015) Political Entrepreneurialism: Reflections of a Civil Servant on the Role of Political Institutions in Technology Innovation and Diffusion in Kenya. Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 4(1):15
- Ndemo B and Smallbone D. (2015) Linkage Dynamics between MSEs and Multinational Corporations in Kenya. A longitudinal review of a 2005 conference paper –DBA Africa Management Review 1 2015.
- Dennis M. A. and Ndemo B. (2014) What drives women out of Entrepreneurship? The joint role of culture and access to finance. DBA Africa Management Review 2 (2014).
- Ndemo B. Rushda Majeed (2012) Case Study: Disseminating the Power of Information: Kenya Open Data Initiative. Innovation for Successful Societies. Princeton University Press (2012)
- Ndemo E. B. (2007) Women entrepreneurs and strategic decision making. Management Decision 45(1), 118-130 (2007).
- Ndemo B. (2006) Assessing sustainability of faith-based enterprises in Kenya. International Journal of Social Economics 33 (5/6), 446-462 (2006)
- Ndemo B. (2005) Maasai Entrepreneurship and Change. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship Vol. 18 No. 2. Spring 2005 pp 207–219. (2005)
- Ndemo, B. and Aiko, D. (2020). ‘Mobile technology and development’. In: N. Cheeseman, K. Kanyinga and G. Lynch (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Kenyan Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Ndemo B. (2020) Slum Digitisation, Its Opponents and Allies in Developing Smart Cities: The Case of Kibera, Nairobi. In: Hawken S., Han H., Pettit C. (eds) Open Cities | Open Data. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
- Ndemo, B., (2018) Toward the Transformative Power of Universal Connectivity. In Mark Graham Digital Economies at Global Margins. MIT Press.
