Michelle Watiki is a Nairobi-based entrepreneur and co-founder of Duck, a startup building Africa’s retail data layer. She began her career in the UK nuclear sector before moving into consumer markets and data infrastructure, driven by the realisation that most retail decisions in Africa rely on incomplete or inconsistent information.
At Duck, Michelle works with leading supermarkets and modern-trade retailers, as well as major FMCG brands across hygiene, homecare, dairy, and food. Her work centres on making retail data accessible and practically usable, giving commercial teams granular visibility into what is happening on the shop floor; from pricing and promotions to stock-outs and product performance.
Her interests lie at the intersection of consumer behaviour, market research, and applied data, informed by a deep curiosity about how everyday products move through African retail systems. Beyond Duck, Michelle writes and speaks about entrepreneurship, early-stage execution, and what it takes to build in emerging markets where systems are fragmented but opportunities are significant.
