Driving Change

Made in Africa: A Conversation with Elizabeth Wangeci Chege

Episode Summary

My motto is: “What we build today will form the Africa of tomorrow.” I actually expanded that to say, “What we build today will form the Africa and the Africans of tomorrow.” And that's looking at how we impact on our kids as well with the resources we have around them. And the built environment is one great place to start. In episode three of Made in Africa, Driving Change’s conversation series with African visionaries whose work impacts the public good, Elizabeth Wangeci Chege speaks with Sarika Bansal about her life and career. Chenge is the CEO and co-founder of WEB Limited, a sustainability design consultancy based in Nairobi, Kenya. Until recently, she was also the chairperson of the Kenya Green Building Society.

Episode Notes

In episode three of Made in Africa, Driving Change’s conversation series with African visionaries whose work impacts the public good, Elizabeth Wangeci Chege speaks with Sarika Bansal about her life and career. Chenge is the CEO and co-founder of WEB Limited, a sustainability design consultancy based in Nairobi, Kenya. Until recently, she was also the chairperson of the Kenya Green Building Society.

 

Chenge wants to transform how we think about designing buildings, and cities more generally. She believes the built environment can be designed to accommodate the needs of human beings as well as the environment.

 

She got her start working on high-profile design projects around the world -- from the UK to Australia to Dubai -- and then decided to bring her expertise back to Kenya, where she helped form the Kenya Green Building Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy, education and certification of green architecture in Kenya. She also frequently works with the Kenyan government, including helping them update their policy codes from the 1960s British ones that were passed on during independence.

 

Chenge has big visions for Africa’s future, and we hope you enjoy hearing some of them in this conversation.