Who is Ian Mangenga?
I'm a researcher, designer, strategist and founder working at the intersection of technology, AI, democracy, policy and culture. Over more than a decade, I have built initiatives reaching hundreds of thousands of people, shaped policy frameworks, and contributed to global conversations on AI governance.
The why behind the work.
"The most consequential questions about AI are not technical. They are political, democratic and moral."
Currently a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, and a Chevening Scholar completing an MA in AI Ethics and Society at Birkbeck, University of London.
My path has run through UNICEF South Africa, where I worked on digital youth engagement reaching over 500,000 young people, and through founding Digital Girl Africa, a pan-African organisation advancing women's participation in the digital and AI economy across nine countries.
Alongside my MA thesis on algorithmic credit scoring, I'm building Gigi, an alternative creditworthiness platform for gig workers, and continuing work on Circular Legibility, an original framework for participatory algorithmic governance.