US ambassador Margaret Whitman has revealed why she accepted to become an ambassador in Kenya.
In an interview with the Sunday Nation the 66 year old revealed that President Biden explained to her how Kenya is one of the most important countries in Africa something that persuaded her to take the job.
“So, I was called by the President of the United States and he asked whether I would be willing to be an ambassador. And the next sentence was, ‘We want you to go to Kenya.’ And I said, ‘Okay, tell me why. Tell me more’,”
“And he said, ‘Kenya is one of the most important countries in Africa, and so I’d really like you to take up a post there. The other thing that I think would be a good fit for you and the United States is that Kenya is the East Africa leader in technology; with Safaricom, M-Pesa and the start-up community’,” she revealed.
Given Kenya’s key role on the African continent, the US president believed that having an American ambassador with such extensive experience, particularly in technology, would be beneficial.
Meg has a real time net worth of $3.1 billion (Sh373 billion), placing her among the richest women in the United States.
According to Forbes, her net worth was $5.8 billion in 2021, the year she was chosen to be ambassador to Kenya. This has been affected by a variety of things, including stock markets.
The ambassador has over 40 years of experience in business, technology, leadership and politics.
Meg Whitman studied mathematics and science at Princeton University (1974) and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (1979).
She has worked in some of the biggest firms in US including ebay, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Walt Disney, Procter & Gamble and at American animation company DreamWorks.
She is married to neurosurgeon Griffith Harsh and is a mother of two children.
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