Her perfume announces her arrival before she shows up. And when she finally appears, Yolanda Muyonga compels you to confront every lazy assumption you’ve held about what a woman in engineering should look like. Yet she’s every bit the engineer, as much as an avocado is a fruit.
Currently serving as Chief Engineer (Research and Innovation) at the Kenya Pipeline Company, Yolanda has 15 years in civil engineering, infrastructure development, and public service leadership.
Engineering in Kenya is still a sea of men. She’s also only one of the 28 women consulting engineers in Kenya. Only 4.5 percent of Kenya’s consulting engineers are women.
Recently, Yolanda was awarded the prestigious Fellow Membership Honor by the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) — making her one of the youngest ever recipients and the youngest female Fellow to receive this distinction.
These numbers disturb her, and you would know that’s a pertinent thing given her passion—even obsession—for numbers. “These numbers tell a story, but so does every girl who chooses to rise despite it.” These days, she’s taken to holding every girl’s hand she can get, guiding TVET trainees, graduate engineers, and young professionals in a mentorship programme, one promising hand at a time.
That is a great scent!
Thank you! It’s Carolina Herrera, Good Girl. I change perfumes depending on my mood. I have quite a number of perfumes, but this particular one is my signature, my favourite.
Why? What does it say for you?
Oh! I’ve never quite thought about that. What does it say for me? [Pause] I think I like it because it carries many memories for me. It’s also my date perfume, if I may say. I always keep it in my handbag. I wear it when I want that boost in confidence.
What are some of the notable projects you have been engaged in?
Wow, there are so many. In total, 40 projects so far but from the top of my head? The Ultra-Modern Complex at Government Training Institute in Mombasa, pipe work water reticulation for Sarmach Village in West Pokot, where we brought clean, safe, and accessible water to a remote and historically underserved area.
I was involved in design and implementation of the project. There was also the civil works and warehouse in Nyeri – REREC, a modern warehouse facility that supports rural electrification efforts. And then maybe the Garissa Solar Power Plant Water Reticulation System, which was one of Africa’s largest grid-connected solar projects that supports Kenya’s renewable energy agenda.
What natural talent does one have to have to get where you are?
I have always been extremely good with numbers. My mind works in numbers. I remember even when I was a child, coming from school with my mom, I would be multiplying, subtracting the number plates of vehicles on the road. I don’t just see numbers, I see challenges, narratives and I don’t forget numbers. This started when I was very young, maybe six years old.
I think it comes from my mother who was a math teacher. She always encouraged it. She'd make us compete with math challenges, like adding numbers on license plates for treats at home.
My dad was also a huge influence, especially in the choice of my career. We were many girls — six girls and one boy — and back then there wasn't much push for girls to pursue certain careers, but my father always believed we should explore our potential. He has always stepped in at the key, life-changing points in my life, whether it’s choosing between job offers or pursuing further studies.
When people meet you, do you feel like they have certain expectations of you as an engineer?
Of course, people often have a certain idea of what an engineer should be like. They don’t expect someone like me — someone who cares about perfume. [Laughs] Now it’s better, but it was more shocking when I was younger. I used to try to conform to what I thought an engineer should be, based on the few female engineers I used to see. I felt I should always be in overalls, but then I realised, I’m an engineer but I can still retain my personality.
Accepting myself has helped me excel. I don’t try to conform or feel I have to be a specific way. I do a lot of mentorship now and I love telling girls they can enter this field as themselves. I'm invited for many mentorship talks, so I think I’m relatable to those girls.
What are you very good at? Something that nobody can take away from you.
That’s a very good question; Swimming! I’m very good at backstroke. I was on the swimming team as a child in Kilimani Primary School, on top of being the head girl. I’m so comfortable in water. I haven’t swum in a while, but I’m yet to find someone who can beat me. Swimming comes naturally to me, like walking. Now with my daughter learning, it’s brought me back to it.
What have you struggled with as an adult?
[Long pause] Without being politically correct?
Yes, please.
Relationships. But then again, who hasn’t, right? [Chuckles] Yeah…I mean…[Pause], sometimes people are intimidated by ambition. When you say things like, I’d like to do my Masters or I want to do this certification, it causes a…change in the air. [Laughs] It’s like a threat.
It would be nice to have supportive partners who encourage and challenge. I know of so many female engineers — very brilliant women — who kind of got married or got into serious relationships and just…stopped.
You look at them and think, this girl was an amazing engineer once upon a time. Which is sad, really, because we need more of us because when we “lose” one, it is dishertening. [Sad face] The field is already so lean.
What are you afraid of at this stage of your life?
The idea that I have to keep proving myself. When you've reached a certain level, like I have, I still have to keep upping my game. I think I’m harder on myself now than, say, when I was much younger. Because it's a different ball game now — you are playing at a different level — but you are always thinking, what next? It's something I should stop doing, you know?
Why?
Because as you grow older, you realise that there are things you don't know, you can’t and don’t have to know everything.
What are you very bad at?
I wish I was those people who walk into a room and shake hands and tell jokes or engage in deep conversation, moving from one person to the next, talking and laughing and listening. People like and enjoy such kind of people.
When they leave, they are remembered because they were fun. It’s an amazing skill. I’m bad at that. I’m also not good at public speaking. I said I’d get out of my comfort zone this year, and work on some of these things. And this is a start; I’d never have agreed to come to this interview. I’m also thinking of joining Toastmasters to hone my skills.
So, you aren’t one to take major risks, I assume. It would be interesting to know what you think has been your biggest risk so far.
Oh no, I don’t do those. [Laughs] If numbers don’t agree, I’m not doing it. The math has to make sense. I listen to numbers — they never lie.
Kenya Pipeline Company Limited Chief Engineer Yolanda Muyonga poses for a photo during an interview at Nation Centre in Nairobi on July 16, 2025.
Photo credit: Lucy Wanjiru | Nation Media Group
I know, I must sound so boring with all these numbers talk. [Laughs] I was telling my mom that I want to move from my house, where I have lived for the past 15 years… I know, don’t even put that in your story, it’s embarrassing! [Laughs] But I’m moving — the math has said I have to move.
I don’t like great surprises in my life, randomness, spontaneity. For example: I can tell you what I'll be doing on Saturday at 2pm. Or tomorrow at 11:30am. I know what my daughter is doing right now. I like that level of control. I like structure.
What is happening here — me doing an interview — isn’t structure, because I have little control of it. [Laughs] There is no math that can predict its outcome.
The outcome will be favourable.
Yeah, people will think I’m boring. [Pause]
People will think you are yourself. How did motherhood change you?
Wow. What can I say? [Pause] It's the best part of my life…the very best. Just to see life through her…to see her talents, her growth… [Suddenely tears]
What’s making you tear?
I’m sorry…[pause].... my daughter is everything to me. She’s called Zuri, she’s 10 years old. When people talk of unconditional love, I think they mean that. It's just so pure.
[Pause] We do a lot together — my weekends are structured around her activities. Having her has made me push myself to limits that I didn’t think possible.
Something about having a child makes you want to give them the best version of yourself. Push yourself. Give a lot of yourself. I know she's a bit spoiled now, but she made me aspire for more than I think I would on my own.
What mistake don't you want her to make?
Wow, these are serious questions that I have never thought of. [Pause] I wouldn't want her to limit herself. I think I've limited myself in some ways and somehow I survived it.
I want her to just go all out and not think some things are not meant for her. I also want her to make her own mistakes because are we not just made from our mistakes — beautiful mistakes? Bad mistakes? I want her to make her mistakes but not to see herself only through them.
What would you do if you had superhuman powers?
I’d teleport. My siblings are scattered all over the world. Like most guys, some left after Form Four. There's something that breaks at that point, when your siblings leave. After that, life just happens and it gets so hard to coordinate, to connect.
I remember even as a child, it was like saying bye to someone leaving the country and not knowing if you will see them again. But then you see them again, but they aren’t the same people and you aren’t the same person. You are different people. That is difficult — lost time and connections.
Four of my siblings live all over the world. If it were up to me, I’d teleport to each one of them. When they go abroad, I don't know — it’s like seeing a part of you gone.
They go have children and they all get assimilated, and when you see them you have to get socialised again. It’s like you start again with them and they start again with you. I don't know how to explain it.
What's your idea of happiness? And are you happy based on that idea?
I’m happy. I’m happy when I set goals, and I have achieved quite a number of them. I’ve achieved most of my goals. There is something to be said about achieving goals, and I don’t know if happiness is in the pursuit of it or in the achievement of those goals.
What I know is that it feels like a cycle. I am happy, though. I wake up every day absolutely fulfilled. I love my life, even with the structure. It might sound boring, but it’s fun. I like my friends. I like my family.
