Professor Mugendi M’Rithaa is an industrial designer, educator and researcher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He holds postgraduate qualifications in Industrial Design, Higher Education, and Universal Design. He is passionate about various expressions of socially (responsive and) responsible design, including Participatory Design, Universal Design, and Design for Sustainability. Mugendi has a special interest in the pivotal role of design in advancing the developmental agenda on the African continent.

After completing his masters degree in industrial design at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, he returned to Kenya, where he taught at and started both the industrial design and interior design programmes at the University of Nairobi. He then went on to teach at the University of Botswana, where again he helped launch the industrial design programme.

Cape Town Partnership wrote that M’Rithaa is, “….a believer that design significantly impacts society. Mugendi maintains that it’s imperative that designers of the future have a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of social issues if they’re to bring about change; transformative design means that designers seek to genuinely improve the quality of life of all people, not just their paying clients.”

M’Rithaa believes that the African continent is not fully appreciated in terms of its creativity and humanity and that Africans should tell their own stories more often – especially stories of achievement, innovation and community. “One of the biggest advantages of being in Africa is the sense of community. This sense of communal solidarity is strongly embedded in our collective consciousness and social fabric.”

He is associated with a number of international networks focusing on design within industrially developing/majority world contexts, and is currently serving a third term on the executive board of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design. He is also the President-Elect of ICSID.