Prof. Mugendi K. M’Rithaa is a transdisciplinary industrial designer, consultant, educator and researcher currently teaching at Machakos University, Kenya. He studied in Kenya, the USA, India and South Africa and holds postgraduate qualifications in Industrial Design, Higher Education, and Universal Design. He is widely traveled and has taught in Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Sweden and is passionate about various expressions of socially conscious design, including Design Thinking/Human-Centred Design (HCD); Designerly Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change; Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability; Distributed Renewable Energy; Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Participatory/Co-Design; and Universal/Inclusive Design.

Mugendi has a special interest in the pivotal role of design thinking in advancing the developmental agenda on the African continent. He is a founding member of the Network of Afrika Designers (NAD), and is associated with a number of other international networks focusing on design within industrially developing (or majority world contexts) including the Association of Designers of India (ADI). Mugendi is also President Emeritus and Convenor of the Senate of the World Design Organization (WDO). Much of his work with the WDO focuses on the importance of supporting the aspirations of designers worldwide in the industrial design profession’s collective quest to resolve wicked problems in diverse contexts.