Despite the traditional male dominance in the aerospace sector, women are now making notable progress in a variety of positions, such as pilots, engineers, and industry leaders. An excellent example of this is Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, an influential figure in the aerospace sector.
Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Wanjiku has a strong academic background. She is currently enrolled at the University of Florida, pursuing a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and certifications in Engineering Leadership, Engineering Innovation, and Engineering Project Management. With distinction, she graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, with a minor in Space Operations.
Wanjiku is the CEO and chairwoman of the renowned firm Vicillion, which she co-founded in 2021. Vicillion is a forward-thinking US-based company dedicated to revolutionizing the aerospace and technology sectors. Wanjiku’s amazing creativity is demonstrated by the organization’s goal of building the world’s first equatorial commercial spaceport—the Omega Spaceport. Her amazing entrepreneurial success at a young age may inspire the next generation of women to pursue entrepreneurship, which is the key to their economic empowerment and autonomy.
Apart from being an entrepreneur, Wanjiku is employed/involved with several organizations, such as the European Space Agency as a citizen scientist, the University of Florida under a graduate assistantship (MAE), Deep Space Initiative as a space architecture researcher (Andromeda Pioneer Program), and Project PoSSUM as a scientist-astronaut candidate program graduate. She is also a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council. Previously, she worked with Switched Source, SPARC (K), Birds Eye Aerial Drones, Southwest Airlines, and Gulfstream Aerospace.
Wanjiku’s story is truly inspiring. She has always been interested in redefining the impossible, the unknown, and the unobtainable, which led her to the space sector from a young age. Her older brother’s studies at the esteemed Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the USA further fueled her interest in space and her desire to learn about the workings of the cosmos. During her high school years, she showed a strong will to succeed and follow in the footsteps of her brother, as well as her late father’s footsteps with her pursuits in entrepreneurship.
Equipped with her love of space exploration, her ambition to follow in her brother’s footsteps started to come true in 2016 when she was accepted into Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where she studied for a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. She also pursued a minor degree in Space Operations.
In addition to attending Embry-Riddle, she furthered her education by joining the Advanced PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) Academy, a citizen-scientist group devoted to enhancing our knowledge of upper-atmosphere processes. She became the first Kenyan-born to graduate from this academy’s scientist-astronaut program in 2018. While pursuing her education, she began an entrepreneurial career in 2021, after receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2020.
She is presently managing her own business, working for many, and pursuing a Ph.D., showing the next generation of women that balancing work and education might be difficult, but it is not impossible if you have passion and ambition.
Wanjiku’s accomplishments set her apart from other professionals in her industry. She was recognized as one of 2024’s Top 40 Under 40 women leaders in Kenya. She has received several awards, including Global Infrastructure Firm of the Year (2023), Best Collaborative Aerospace Infrastructure R&D Partner (2023), Most Collaborative Aerospace R&D Partner (2023)—USA, Graduate Student of the Year 2020-2021 Award, Outstanding Undergraduate Student Professional Development Award, and 2020-2021 Resident Advisor of the Year Award.
Wanjiku has shown exceptional leadership acumen and creativity in everything from overseeing flight operations and certifying various aircraft vehicles to collaborating with internationally renowned powerplant and aircraft manufacturers. Her areas of expertise include Engineering Project Management, Flight Operations (Aviation and Space), Independent Research (Aviation and Space), Airworthiness and Certification Engineering, and Entrepreneurship.
Outside her pursuits in the aerospace industry, she enjoys a variety of extracurricular activities including, but not limited to, taekwondo, kickboxing, fencing, playing the piano, golfing, swimming, Shaolin kung fu, tai chi, capoeira, and archery.
There are too many achievements for Wanjiku to mention them all here. Due to her outstanding accomplishments, she has emerged as one of the most inspiring aerospace engineers and entrepreneurs.
Her ultimate goal in life is to contribute significantly to research and development in transformative, innovative products and concepts within the aerospace, mechanical, and civil industries to enhance human ingenuity in a positive way (while making history along the way) and to solve critical global challenges. To show that the impossible is possible.
Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba: One of the Most Inspiring Aerospace Engineers and Entrepreneurs
