Mugure Njendu
Mugure Njendu is a Kenyan architect, urban planner, and green-building consultant whose two-decade career spans design practice, policy reform, and climate advocacy. A graduate of Florida A&M University (B.Arch) and the University of Cambridge’s IDBE programme, she founded EvioK Architects in Nairobi in 2010, delivering bioclimatic housing, net-zero schools, and solar-powered clinics across East Africa.
Today she serves as Africa Program Development Consultant at the Global Buildings Performance Network (GBPN), where she guides governments and city authorities on building-sector decarbonization. Her work shaped Kenya’s 2024 Building Decarbonization Roadmap, now a model for Rwanda and Senegal, and she is drafting minimum energy-performance standards for affordable housing under the Africa Green Stimulus Programme.
Njendu is a past president of the Architectural Association of Kenya (2019-2021), the first woman to hold the role in 50 years, and sits on the International Union of Architects (UIA) Council, Region V, championing resilient design and gender equity. She is also an EDGE Expert, a World Green Building Council “Africa Voices” ambassador, and technical advisor to Nairobi County’s Climate Action Plan.
Named to Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 Women and the Africa40: Most Influential Architects list, Njendu mentors young professionals through the “Green Future Fellows” programme, believing every African building can be a solution to, not a driver of, the climate crisis.