Elizabeth Mwangi, who is the founder of Gwiji, has won $30,000 (Ksh. 3.8 million) in the 2023 Aurora Tech Award for her app that empowers women in Kenya. She won the award for her startup that connects cleaners in Nairobi’s slums with local clients.
Elizabeth managed to beat 11 other African women who had been shortlisted for the award to take home the $30,000 winning prize. . The startup empowers women from Nairobi slums by linking with them with cleaning jobs in and around Nairobi. The startup was co-founded by Elizabeth Mwangi, together with Samuel Njiru.
The project which was launched in May 2022 and has so far been able to complete more than 2,000 cleaning orders and increase a cleaner’s income from $2 (Ksh. 258) to $10 (Ksh. 1,292) per day.
Elizabeth indicated that the idea to start Gwiji was inspired by the roadside women who usually sit outside residential estates hoping to be picked for cleaning work. With a mobile app, these women can be able to get work at the comfort of their homes from a pool of clients, exposing them to predictable as well as sustainable work.
Gwiji is split into two parts that is, Gwiji Clients, which allows clients to post jobs if they need cleaning services and Gwiji Cleaners that connects cleaners with cleaning jobs. The app is available on the Google Play Store for Android devices.