She federated law professionals to give African countries the required expertise for the development of adequate innovation frameworks. Her works earned her the recognition of several renowned institutions and agencies. 

Linda Bonyo (photo) is a Kenyan lawyer specializing in digital law.  Her works focus on data governance, digital identity, internet governance artificial intelligence, intellectual property, Etc…, help improve digital regulations and policies in Africa.  

She is also an entrepreneur who founded Lawyers Hub, a legaltech company, in 2017.  As a pan-African lawyers’ network, Lawyers Hub specializes in digital law training and consulting. Through her legaltech, Linda organized, in 2020, Africa’s first lawtech festival. Baptized Africa Law Tech Festival, it gathered more than 20 African countries and over 1,000 participants.

To support tech startups and promote collaboration between tech and law professionals, she created Lawyers Innovation Hub. All those achievements surely contributed to her selection to this year’s edition of the RoW100: Global Tech's Changemakers list that celebrates those who are “shaping national policies,” among others.   

As an attorney at the Supreme court of Kenya and member of several legal organizations such as the Pan African Lawyers Union and the East Africa Law Society, she wants to get fellow lawyers more involved in innovation policies. “The place of policy in innovation I believe should be passionately pursued by lawyers, however, this is not the case presently. Many lawyers, regulators, and policymakers are caught in a maze on what exactly innovation and tech means for the future of regulation and entrepreneurship,” she believes. 

Linda began her professional career in 2010 at CRADLE Child Rights Foundation. The same year, she joined the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Ombudsman's office as the Legal Director. From 2013 to 2014, she worked for Transparency International as a governance and policy lawyer. Then, from 2014 to 2017, she was an immigration lawyer at the law firm Bonyo & Co. She was also a member of the 2020-2021 cohort of the Tech Women Emerging Leaders Fellowship. Since 2021, she is a contractual Digital ID & Data Governance consultant for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She is also a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, in charge of content moderation decisions. 

Melchior Koba