Kenya: Emma Miloyo

Born in 1981 in Nairobi, Kenya, Emma Miloyo is co-founder and architect at Design Source in Nairobi, Kenya (2007). She served as the first woman president of the Architectural Association of Kenya (2017–2019), and was a Founding Board Member of Women in Real Estate (WIRE). Miloyo holds a bachelor’s of architecture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Juja, Kenya, where she the first woman to graduate with first-class honors in architecture; she also holds a Stanford Seed Transformation Program Certificate in Business Administration and Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in Stanford, California.

Miloyo was an Eisenhower Fellow (2015). She served as vice-president of Women in Real Estate Kenya (WIRE) (2016–2021), vice-president of the East Africa Institute of Architects (2015–2017), treasurer for the Eisenhower Fellowships Kenya, vice chair of the Kilimani Project Foundation, and chairperson of the Nairobi Forum. She served on the Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors (BORAQS), the Board of the KEPSA Land and Housing Sector Board, and the Board Audit Committee for Konza City. She was a member of the Steering Committee for Buildings of Architectural and Historical Significance and was a member of the Ex-Bomarian Education Trust Fund. Miloyo was named amongst the “50 Influential African Women Architects” by African Column (2024), one of five “Emerging Female Architects of East Africa” in the African Great Lakes region by Archinect (2016), and one of the “Top 40 Under 40 Women” in Kenya by Nation Media Group’s Business Daily Africa (2018 and 2011). She also earned the DuraCoat Award for Overall Best Graduate for Bachelor of Architecture at JKUAT (2006) and the Babaroa Trust Academic Excellence Award (2004 and 2000).