Community

In 2022, Uzma Qureishi, Senior Manager of EHR Operations at Aga Khan Hospital Nairobi, led one of the boldest bets of her career, overseeing the institution's transition to a paperless system. The transition wrote the hospital into the region's history books as the first hospital in East Africa to run a full Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, namely MEDITECH Expanse.

A 2025 PwC report placed knowledge and skills gaps among the top challenges organisations face when implementing AI for cyber defence. Mpesa Africa’s head of cybersecurity Tim Theuri, Ecobank Uganda’s head of IT Juliet Kyomugisha and WASREB’s head of IT Brenda Anzagi weigh in on the challenge of finding talent in IT.

At the recent CIO of the Future Summit held in Kampala, Uganda, participants identified AI as one of their main concerns with loopholes in AI governance emerging as one of the greatest hindrances towards its effective use.

CITO East Africa's CIO of the Future Summit brought together Uganda's technology leaders to explore what it takes to lead through changing business expectations and a faster technology cycle.

When Ecobank Uganda's Juliet Kyomugisha, Nation Media Group's Russell Akuom and AAR Hospital's Ibrahim Juma took to the stage at the CITO East Africa Data and Cybersecurity Summit to report back from the roundtable sessions, the consistent message was that implementation is the hard part of data governance.

The first-ever CITO East Africa Data and Cybersecurity Summit took place at the Villa Rosa Kempinski Nairobi on 17 July. During the event's keynote address, Jamila Aroi, partner for technology consulting at PwC Kenya, urged business and technology leaders to develop the ability to withstand, recover from and adapt to cyber incidents. 

As CIOS weighed in on topics of data access, governance, cyber security and cyber resilience at the CITO East Africa Data and Cyber Security Summit held at Villa Rosa Kempinski Nairobi, it was apparent that human actors have a bigger role to play than the tech. 

Over 35 CIOs and technology leaders from across Tanzania gathered on June 11 in Dar es Salaam to help shape the future of the country's technology leadership community. The inaugural CITO East Africa Tanzania Summit served as an agenda-setting forum, creating space for candid discussions on the priorities that will define the community in the months ahead.

The Uganda edition of the CITO East Africa Summit began as a room full of technology leaders comparing operational challenges. By the end of the evening, the conversation had evolved into a discussion about community, collaboration and the need for CIOs across East Africa to stop working in isolation.

The evening of 14 May brought together about 50 CIOs from various organisations across Uganda, united by a shared goal: to shape the agenda for the country’s CIO community.

Rwanda’s technology leaders say their biggest challenge is getting risks funded before they escalate into costly failures. Critical warnings around cybersecurity, infrastructure, and system upgrades are often raised early, but not always approved in time.

Rwanda's top technology executives gathered in Kigali for the country's first CITO East Africa Summit, and the conversation they had was candid and built on a simple premise: the problems IT leaders face in isolation are better solved in company.

The evening of 16 April marked a defining moment for Rwanda’s technology leadership community, as an exclusive group of chief information officers and senior IT leaders gathered at the Kigali Marriott Hotel for the country’s first CITO East Africa Summit.

The question facing technology leaders in East Africa is no longer whether to adopt artificial intelligence, but whether the foundations beneath it are ready, whether the people it is meant to serve will actually benefit, and whether the organisation has the courage to put the technology in its proper place.

Dr Leah Miano, head of information communication and technology at the Universities Fund, Geoffrey Gitagia, CIO at Avenue Healthcare and Jaine Mwai, chief technology and operations officer at Standard Chartered share their perspectives on how technology leaders are shaping organisations to become future ready CIOs.

Vinod Sharma has spent years working at the intersection of technology and financial services. At the Future Ready CITO Summit organised by CITO East Africa, he made a case for keeping AI in its proper place, reminding the room that the people using the tools matter more than the tools themselves.

More than 50 chief information officers gathered in Nairobi for the CITO East Africa Future-Ready CITO Summit at Villa Rosa Kempinski on 12 March 2026. The event created space for candid discussions about artificial intelligence, data and the realities of digital transformation. CIOs arrived eager to exchange experiences and learn from one another.

CITO East Africa joined the graduation of the CIO Leadership Programme Class of 2025 at Strathmore University, celebrating 11 senior IT executives as they transitioned from technical experts to strategic, business-focused digital leaders. The graduates expressed enthusiasm to join CITO East Africa, expand their professional networks and continue learning while driving impact across the region through the CITO community.

In a panel discussion titled Vision of an African Technology Future, three senior technology executives, Jay Patel, director of technology at Jacaranda Health, Kenya; Jamila Aroi, partner for technology consulting at PwC Kenya and Tom Juma group CIO at Britam reflected on how East Africa can shape the next chapter of its digital development through homegrown talent, stronger infrastructure and solutions centred on local realities.

For Laolu Akindele, partner and leader of PwC’s Technology Consulting practice in East Africa, technology is no longer a support function; it is the engine that will determine whether organisations grow, stagnate or fall behind.

Faith Nkatha Gitonga, Russell Akuom and Moses Okundi shared their insights into the importance of local development at the CITO East Africa launch. 

During the CITO East Africa launch, participants broke into four interactive groups to reflect on the region’s technology challenges and opportunities. Their discussions revealed the issues that CIOs and technology leaders believe the new community must address in the year ahead.

East Africa’s top IT leaders came together at Emara Ole Sereni in Nairobi for the launch of CITO East Africa, sharing insights on technology leadership, innovation and shaping the region’s digital future

Founder KC Rottok Chesaina says the organisation is making great inroads into the region, meeting IT leaders and learning what they most want from their community.