Iddah Asin is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

corporate executive Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit org ...

in Kenya. She is the director of Government Affairs and Policy for the pharmaceutical company

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

in the countries of the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes (; ) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. The series includes Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world by area; Lake Tangan ...

. In 2017, she was named among the "Top 40 Women Under 40 in Kenya" by the

Nation Media Group Nation Media Group (NMG), formerly known as East African Newspapers (Nation Series) Ltd, is an East African media group based in Kenya and listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. It is owned by Aga Khan IV. History NMG was founded in 1959 by A ...

Background and education

Asin was born in Kenya circa 1983. She attended Kenya schools for her elementary and high school studies. In 2003 she was admitted to

Makerere University Makerere University (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922, and the oldest currently active university in East Africa. It became an independent national university in ...

, in

Kampala, Uganda Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa, and Rubaga. Kampala's metropolitan area consi ...

, the largest and oldest public university in the country. In 2007, she graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. She returned to Kenya and obtained a Diploma in Law from the

Kenya School of Law The Kenya School of Law (KSL) is the only bar school in Kenya. After completing an undergraduate degree in law from a recognized university, students attend the Kenya School of Law to prepare for admission to the Kenyan Bar. History The Kenya ...

, and was admitted to the Kenya Bar in 2008. Later in 2016, she graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in Public Policy and Management, from

Strathmore Business School Strathmore University Business School (SBS) is the business school of Strathmore University. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, it offers Doctoral, Masters and Undergraduate programmes, as well as executive education programmes. It was started in 2005 thr ...

, in Nairobi. She also holds a Certificate in Global Leadership, awarded by the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Career

For a period of nearly two years, from January 2008 until September 2009, Asin worked as a legal assistant in the law firm of Rautta & Company Advocates. In October 2009, she joined JetLink Express Limited , as the airline's legal counsel, based in Nairobi. She worked there for nearly four and a half years until December 2013. In January 2014, she was hired by

Kenya Airways Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its Airline hu ...

, the county's national airline, as the Manager, Government and Industry Affairs. In this role she negotiated bilateral service agreements that enabled KQ to open new routes to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. After three years at KQ, in February 2017, she was hired by the American pharmaceutical conglomerate

, as the director of Government Affairs and Policy in the countries of the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in East Africa. The EAC's membership consists of eight states: Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, S ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, a total of seven countries. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asin, Iddah 1983 births Living people Kenyan business executives Makerere University alumni Kenya School of Law alumni 21st-century Kenyan lawyers 21st-century Kenyan businesswomen 21st-century Kenyan businesspeople Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service alumni Kenyan women business executives 21st-century Kenyan women lawyers