Wandia Gichuru
Wandia Gichuru is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vivo Fashion Group, East Africa’s leading women’s fashion house. Since launching Vivo Woman in Nairobi in 2011 with business partner Anne Marie Burugu, she has grown the portfolio to three in-house labels—Vivo Woman, Safari, and Zoya—plus the multi-brand e-commerce marketplace ShopZetu. As of mid-2025 the group operates 30 brick-and-mortar stores: twenty-six in Kenya, two in Rwanda, one in Uganda, and its first U.S. outlet in Atlanta, Georgia, opened in May 2024 and inaugurated by President William Ruto. All garments are designed and manufactured in Kenya, sustaining over 450 employees, 70 percent of them women, and dozens of local supply-chain artisans.
Gichuru spent fifteen years in international development with the World Bank, DFID, and the United Nations before pivoting to fashion at age forty. She holds a BA in Economics from Western University, Canada, and an MBA from the University of Cape Town. Beyond Vivo she invests in early-stage ventures, mentors entrepreneurs, and served as an investor on Kenya’s “Lion’s Den” television show. In January 2025 she was named to Forbes’ global “50 Over 50” list for championing job creation and proving that African craftsmanship can compete on the world stage with style and sustainability.