Rachel Kumwenda builds technology for places that do not appear on most maps. Her work begins before artificial intelligence, before models and predictions, at the level where data does not yet exist. In many parts of Malawi and across the Global South, planning fails not because of poor intentions, but because decisions are made without reliable spatial information. Roads are uncharted. Farmland is unmapped. Flood paths are assumed rather than measured.
Drone Link was founded to close that gap.
About Rachel Kumwenda Kaunda
Founder & CEO, Drone Link
Malawi
Kumwenda is trained as an earth scientist and drone pilot. She studied Earth Sciences at the University of Malawi and later specialized in drone and data technologies through the African Drone and Data Academy. She also completed training in precision agriculture, grounding her technical skills in the realities of land use, food systems, and environmental risk.
Drone Link, founded in 2021 and based in Lilongwe, provides aerial mapping, surveying, and geospatial data services using drones. The company works across agriculture, disaster response, infrastructure, environmental monitoring, and development planning. Its value proposition is not speed alone. It is accuracy where accuracy has historically been unavailable.
In development contexts, maps are often outdated, incomplete, or nonexistent. Satellite imagery can be too coarse, too infrequent, or too abstract to support local decision-making. Drone-based data fills that gap. It captures current conditions at high resolution and translates them into usable insights for planners, engineers, humanitarian responders, and policymakers.
Drone Link’s work gained visibility during Cyclone Freddy, one of the most devastating storms to hit Southern Africa. Kumwenda and her team supported humanitarian response efforts by providing aerial mapping that helped organizations assess damage, identify inaccessible areas, and plan recovery. This data informed decisions about road repairs, bridge restoration, and resource allocation at a moment when time and accuracy were critical.
Kumwenda has been careful in how she frames the company’s role. Drones are not the solution. They are a tool. The goal is to integrate spatial intelligence into decision pipelines that already exist, not to overwhelm them with novelty. Drone Link works with governments, international organizations, and private sector partners to ensure that data collected translates into action.
Beyond operations, Kumwenda is active in building local capacity. She mentors young people, particularly women, in drone piloting, geospatial analysis, and STEM careers. She has participated in regional and continental innovation programs and has represented Malawi in youth and technology forums across Africa. Her selection as a Mandela Washington Fellow reflects recognition not only of her technical work, but of her leadership.
What distinguishes Kumwenda as an entrepreneur is her attention to sequence. Before AI can optimize decisions, data must exist. Before data can be analyzed, it must be collected responsibly. Drone Link positions itself upstream of the AI conversation, providing the raw spatial intelligence upon which predictive systems can later depend.
This positioning matters. Much of the AI discourse assumes clean datasets and digital infrastructure as a given. Kumwenda’s work reminds us that in many regions, the challenge is more fundamental. Intelligence begins with visibility.
Drone Link is not a software company chasing scale through abstraction. It is an infrastructure intelligence company grounded in physical terrain, weather patterns, and human settlement. Its success is measured not in dashboards, but in whether communities are better prepared, better planned, and better served.
Rachel Kumwenda Kaunda is building where maps end and reality begins. In a world increasingly driven by data, she is ensuring that some of the most vulnerable places are no longer invisible.
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Designed as a seasonal publication, Voice of Development brings together research, reporting, and analysis meant to be read deliberately and revisited over time. Winter 2026 is a starting point: an attempt to answer, with clarity and restraint, what AIs can actually do—and what they cannot do.
Disclaimer: VoD Capsules are AI-generated. They synthesize publicly available evidence from reputable institutions (UN, World Bank, AfDB, OECD, academic work, andother such official data sources). Always consult the original reports and primary data for verification.
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