Mwihaki Muraguri

Mwihaki loves words – spoken, written, set against a rhythm, in a book or a poem. Words have always been central to her creative process. Her superpower – the weaving of words. For over two decades Mwihaki worked across Sub Saharan Africa delivering social change primarily through public health, development and philanthropy and through institutions as diverse as AMREF Health in Africa, the KCB Foundation, IDRC and the Rockefeller Foundation. She has been a keen supporter of the growth of the philanthropic sector in Africa through myriad platforms including the African Grantmakers Network, the East African Philanthropy Network and the African Philanthropy Forum. Throughout her career, advancement of Africa has always been at the core. An excellent communicator and insightful professional, in 2017 Mwihaki established Paukwa, a creative social enterprise dedicated to using the art of storytelling to celebrate and spotlight positive yet underappreciated aspects of Kenyan history and contemporary life. Paukwa hosts an open-access online repository of these non-fiction stories and curates them using various media for both children and adults.  To support its mission Paukwa works across the globe with organisations and individuals, helping them articulate their impact through advisory support, documentation and storytelling training. A wordsmith at heart, Mwihaki is happily based in Nairobi, Kenya where she plays house with her husband and three children.