WOMEN OF PURPOSE
Women are increasingly present in positions of influence — leading organisations, allocating
capital, developing talent, shaping policy, building enterprises and serving communities.
Representation matters. But purpose is the harder question: the intersection of leadership
excellence and collective impact — what your excellence is doing for others, not only what it
says about you.
Women of Purpose is the flagship platform of Under the Baobab, remembering and recognising
the women who build, convening and activating women carrying influence today, and developing
the leadership capacity required to build stronger institutions, wider opportunity and Africa's next
chapter.
We honour the women who built before
us and recognise women using their leadership, expertise and influence to create value beyond
themselves today.
Real people with life-changing results
2. Convene and Activate — Women of Purpose Summit
We bring women across sectors
and generations together to reflect on what they have inherited, what influence they carry and
what they must now build.
The Women Who Built Before Us
On Madaraka Day 2024, Lapid Leaders Africa gathered at Karura Forest to honour Njeri Kabeberi, Brigadier Ann Njoki, Wahu Kaara and Jael Mbogo — women representing different traditions of liberation, environmental stewardship, political resistance and public leadership.
The gathering formed part of a wider journey through Mathare, Mageuzi Hub and Karura that explored the unfinished work of liberation, the importance of recovering women’s historical contribution and the responsibility of each generation to continue building.
The gathering began as an act of remembrance. But it left us with a responsibility:
What must our generation now build with the freedoms and opportunities their courage made possible?
That question became the beginning of Women of Purpose.
“African women are not dying for Africa anymore. They want to live for Africa.”
— Wahu Kaara
Beyond the Individual
Women Who Build honours women whose leadership extends beyond personal achievement — women strengthening institutions, expanding opportunity and creating public value.
Women Who Build profiles women whose leadership strengthens institutions, expands opportunity and creates public value. Some are also honourees of the Top Purpose-Driven Leaders Award, Under the Baobab’s wider recognition platform for women and men.
Catherine Muraga and Dr. Anne Muendi Musuva, both Award recipients, offer two examples of what this looks like in practice.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
In October 2025, more than 80 women leaders from business, government, entrepreneurship, development and civil society gathered Under the Baobab.
The Summit created an intergenerational, cross-sector space for conversations on leadership, dignified housing, apprenticeship, governance and the institutions Kenya still needs.
Participants left with new relationships, sharper questions and renewed commitment to the work they were carrying. The conversations and collaborations continued beyond the gathering.
Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.
The Timeline
October 2025
First Under the Baobab gathering
October 2026
Next Under The Baobab summit
BRING THE CONVERSATION TO YOUR INSTITUTION
Women of Purpose can be activated in companies, churches, clubs, universities, professional associations and women’s networks.
Host a Women of Purpose Conversation Bring the facilitated dialogue What Did We Inherit — and What Must We Build Next? to the women in your institution.
Send a Summit Delegation Invest in women leaders by bringing them into a cross-sector conversation on leadership, institutions and the future.
Partner With the Platform Support the documentation, convening and development of women shaping Kenya’s institutions and communities.