Laila Macharia

Biography

Raised in Kenya, Namibia and Somalia, Laila Macharia is the Founding Director of the Aspen Institute's Africa Initiative. The AAI is dedicated to advancing the Aspen Institute’s mission of driving change through dialogue, leadership and action to help solve the greatest challenges of our time.

A serial entrepreneur and investor, she is also Co-Founder and Chair of the Africa Digital Media Institute (ADMI). From its base in Nairobi, ADMI is Eastern Africa’s premier learn-and-work creative technology community, which over the last decade, has trained over 5,000 students from some 37 different countries.

Laila is the Chair of Absa Life Assurance (Kenya) and Vice Chair of Centum, the latter listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Admitted to practise law in Kenya as well as Maryland and New York, Macharia holds a B.A. in Planning & Public Policy from the University of Oregon, a JD and LL.M from Cornell University and a doctorate in law from Stanford University, all in the United States.

Macharia was honoured in 2021 as one of the Top 100 Kenyans, in 2010 as a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Africa Leadership Institute and in 2012, was named one of the Top 20 Women to Watch in Africa by the Times of London.