James Odede is on a life-long mission to fix two key failures holding Kenya back: the structural barriers that keep smallholder fish farmers unproductive, and the widening digital skills gap that locks young people out of work.
He is an Acumen Fellow, Africa Visionary Fellow, and a Mandela Washington Fellow.
In 2019, Facebook honoured and named him among the 40 young Icons of Change in Africa for his contributions in accelerating growth and building an incredible future for the continent. He serves as a council member in the Kisumu Economic and Social Council.
At Aquarech, he is rebuilding an entire aquaculture value chain so farmers can thrive—giving them access to high-quality feeds, financing, training, and markets. “The biggest challenge is access to high-quality feed, and aquaculture is one of the least financed value chains.”
"It is the farmers’ stories — their increased yields, their ability to educate their children, their shift from subsistence to stability — that keep me grounded."
At LakeHub, he is confronting what he calls Kenya’s silent digital famine. “For us to take advantage of technology, we must develop local talent.” That belief drives the apprenticeship model at LakeHub and the Zone 01 initiative, which he says aims to train “the next one million AI-skilled Kenyans.”
The foundation has reached 15,000 young people, helping them to launch start-ups and careers in tech.
Growing up in Homa Bay, he spent weekends at his father’s printing shop observing technology turn blank papers into useful documents. He studied Computer Science at Maseno University and immediately went on to work at LakeHub that he set up in his final year at university.
“It is the farmers’ stories — their increased yields, their ability to educate their children, their shift from subsistence to stability — that keep me grounded,” he says.
-Ndugu Abisai