Tatu Gatere

Architect, Change agent, Entrepreneur

Tatu Gatere is an entrepreneur, architect, and the Founder and CEO of Buildher, a social enterprise transforming Kenya’s construction and manufacturing sectors by advancing women’s leadership, technical excellence, and workforce development partnerships. With over 20 years of experience across architecture, workforce development, and social enterprise, she brings together design, business, and systems thinking to build economic power where it’s been historically denied. At Buildher, she has: - Trained more than 700 women from low-income communities into skilled trades - Achieved an 80% job placement and entrepreneurship rate - Launched Buildher Shop, a sustainable furniture brand known for excellence in craftsmanship - Created Buildher Fundi Desk, Kenya’s first platform connecting employers with a vetted network of professional tradeswomen Her model is closing critical labor gaps while reshaping how inclusive economies are built from the ground up. Tatu’s leadership has been recognized globally, and she is a sought-after voice at international forums and leading convenings on women in construction. Her work has been recognized by the Royal Institute of British Architects, Dezeen, Okay Africa’s 100 Women of Excellence, and the Clinton Foundation’s CGI 2024 Greenhouse program. She continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible when women lead in spaces they’ve long been shut out from and when skill, dignity, and opportunity are the standard.

- Building systems that unlock economic power for women who’ve been excluded from opportunity. - Redefining what leadership looks like in the trades where skill, dignity, and impact go hand in hand. - Creating models that are measurable, replicable, and grounded in local context. - Restoring women’s rightful place in construction—not as exceptions, but as leaders. - Proving that social enterprises can deliver both excellence and equity, without compromise. - Choosing intentional, courageous paths over inherited systems that no longer serve.

In Africa, women have always built. Long before gender equity became a conversation, African women shaped the foundations of our communities carrying, crafting, and constructing the spaces we lived in. Our grandmothers and the mothers before them were tradeswomen, artisans, and builders of both home and society. The idea that women belong in construction is not new. It is not a disruption. It is a return. Integrating women into the construction sector today is not about introducing change. It is about reclaiming a truth that colonial systems, modernization, and imported biases erased. When we put women back at the center of building, we honor a deeper history and we build stronger, more resilient societies for the future. Africa doesn’t need to catch up. Africa needs to remember.

Architecture and social impact design, Inclusive economic growth strategies, personal transformation + conscious leadership., Systems change and social enterprise leadership, Women’s leadership in construction, Workforce development and skilled trades