Google Hires Kenyan Activist toShape Africa Policy

Kenyan Blogger Ory Okolloh has
been hired by Google to oversee
that company's policy in Africa.
Most people outside the
continent imagine Africa as
being the size of a France or
two. ( In reality it's the size of the
U.S., China, Japan and most of
Europe.) So it's a big job for a big
company that has big plans over
a big area of the world.
Okolloh seems like a good
candidate to handle such a job. A
Harvard-educated attorney, she
was involved in the global
blogging project Global Voices
early on and is the co-founder of
crisis mapping outfit Ushahidi
and a TED Fellow. She steps
down from Ushahidi as
Executive Director to take the
Google job.
On her blog, Okolloh described
the new position of Policy
Manager for Africa.
"The role will involve developing
policy (and) strategies on a
number of areas of relevance to
Google and the Internet in Africa
and will involve working with
different parties including
government leaders, policy
makers, regulators, industry
groups and so on. It is a huge
opportunity to bring Google's
resources to bear as far as the
growth and development of the
internet in Africa (and hopefully
a reminder of why I went to law
school in the first place!)."
Jon Gosier, Director of Product
for SwiftRiver at Ushahidi told us
he thinks Okolloh might help
make Google's actions on the
continent more coherent.
"Google Africa hasn't really been
as focused as it has been in
other parts of the world. I think
hiring Ory is the right move as
she's a lawyer, so she
understands the policy side of
things, but she also founded and
ran a technology company for
three years. There isn't a better a
choice for the position, although
it's bittersweet to lose one of my
colleagues."
Okolloh told ReadWriteWeb she
would be based in
Johannesburg, RSA, starting in
mid-January, with a portfolio
that includes the whole of sub-
Saharan Africa.
"Overall, I'll be working to get
more people online and policies
favorable to that, also (cultivate)
support for local content and an
environment which supports
innovation."