e-Citizen is a popular website in Kenya. It hosts government services, allowing citizens and non-citizens to access key government services with ease online.

However, not many know that the platform was founded by James Ayugi a graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

In a past interview, the tech guru revealed that his journey to developing the platform began in 2008 after he graduated with a bachelor’s in mathematics (Statistics) and computer science.

In 2009, he teamed up with friends to implement an e-registry launched by former President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was the then Finance Minister.

Ayugi said Uhuru had foreseen a time when Kenya would be able to make payments for government services online.

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He noted that his Eureka moment was in 2013 when Uhuru took power. During the campaigns, Uhuru’s teams promised to digitize government services, so Ayugi and his team were invited to present a system to help solve the issue.

Although the government’s main focus was on automated payments, Ayugi challenged them to automate services for the benefit of Kenyans as well.

”We presented a working system, and that’s what the government wanted. When the government said digital payment, there were guys who were thinking about ATM cards; they were only focusing on the payment side.

”So during our presentation, I told them that although they wanted payment, the citizens wanted services. The payment would not have been successful if the service had not been automated,’’ he said.

They were brought on board and started working on the project through the World Bank. eCitizen platform went live for the first time in June 2014, with NTSA being the first agency to onboard its services to the platform.

Today, the platform hosts all government services including personal registration, immigration services, NHIF services, business registration, and social services, among others.

Regarding the ownership of the platform, Ayugi noted that it is 100 percent owned by the government, and they’ll be transferring the IP rights to the government.

He explained that his company, Webmasters Limited, owned the technology that powered the platform

”The platform called eCitizen is 100 percent owned by the government. We own the intellectual property, but the government has its license to scale and improve the system,’’ he said.

In addition to eCitizen, Ayugi has developed other popular websites, including eResident, a bill management and rental payment service company in Nairobi, and KopeshaClub, a digital lending platform.