Keziah Ntwiga - Kenya
African Drone and Data Academy Students
Keziah comes from Kenya and describes her family as a collection of problem-solvers. Each member of her family works to add value and meet the needs of their community in different ways. Some use technology, others are farmers, academicians, service-providers, while others lead on community projects, research and stewardship.
Keziah is a Mechatronic Engineer who studied at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. After graduation, she interned and worked for different companies including Phoenix Aviation, Copy Cat Group, Smart Automations Ltd., WomEng and PayGo Energy. “Through this work, my interest in innovation, especially automation and robotics engineering for social good, has nourished and grown,” she says. She applied into ADDA as part of her quest to continue learning and growing in this area.
“Since being at the Academy, I have learned how to design and fly drones, run a successful drone operation, the legal aspects of being an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) pilot, analyzing data drawn from UAVs, aviation best practices, and fundamentally important, safety culture involved in the Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) ecosystem. I have also learned teamwork and emotional intelligence. These skills will come in handy once I become a drone pilot,” says Keziah.
After ADDA, she plans to apply her new skills in her current work while exploring the use of drones in surveillance, connectivity, maintenance, delivery, music and arts outside her work. She also wants to contribute to UAV policy development process, which is currently already underway in Kenya. She is also looking forward to designing and flying drones in Kenya.
Through her volunteer work with WomEng team in Kenya, she plans to incorporate drone technology in capacity building programmes targeted to girls in high schools and universities.