CIO Africa Magazine - Nov 2022

the africa insuretech summit 2022 in review How To Make Government An Ally Have you ever wondered about the bridge connecting tech companies with the government

8 Trends Transforming The Insurance Industry The insurance industry is changing, and it’s changing fast

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VOL 29 | ISSUE 20 | NOVEMBER 2022 EDITION

A High-End Classy Android Smartphone The smartphone manufacturer continues to set new standards in the market 1

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Contents

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GUEST EDITOR

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the lead

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INSURETECH REVIEW

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i.t leadership

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Boosting diversity and inclusion in a mission to drive tech skilling

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How To Make Government An Ally

How Digital Transformation Can Help Improve Insurance Penetration in Africa

8 Technology Trends Transforming The Insurance Industry Today

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40 MOST INFLUENTIAL women in digital transformation the round-up The Latest News From The Continent

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GADGET REVIEW

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hard talk

The smartphone manufacturer continues to set new standards in the market

No Longer A Funny Joke

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editor’s note

A MUCH-NEEDED ODE TO WOMEN IN TECH You might find this hard to believe but the number of women in IT seems to have peaked in 1990 – and plummeted ever since. According to a 2016 Fast Company article, “In 1990, about 31 per cent of jobs under the general heading “IT” were filled by women. After that the number fell 6 per cent, the report says, to 25 per cent in 2014. Meanwhile, the number of women in the workforce in general has grown from 38 per cent to 47 per cent.”

When it comes to tech, we are light years away from 2014 so let’s try something else.

There is the Computing Research Association (CRA-WP) who says, “Over the past two decades, as technology has grown to permeate nearly every facet of our lives, the percentage of women versus men in technology has declined nationally — both in terms of women earning university degrees, as well as women holding tech jobs.”

You might say this is an American concept that doesn’t have a place in Africa. And you would have a point. But one last thing from Retrospective: Have Opportunities for Women in Technology Decreased Since 1990? “Girls Who Code has reported that in 1984, the number of women computer science majors comprised 30 per cent of the total graduating class. Today the percentage is only 18 per cent. Also, women today make up only 5 per cent of CEOs for technology companies. There is a trickle-down effect occurring. Girls are not encouraged to love technology in school. So, they don’t pursue technology in university and then they don’t get involved in the tech space later in life.”

“Life doesn’t always present you with the perfect opportunity at the perfect time. Opportunities come when you least expect them, or when you’re not ready for them… Opportunities, the good ones… are hard to recognize.

They’re risky. They challenge you.”

— Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube. @dx5ve

@dx5group

Granted, there are hurdles experienced by women in tech along their path.

Hurdles that have been discussed by the women in tech. That being said, there are women who are making a difference in IT. Every year, we look for them and root for them, celebrating them across the continent. Sometimes they are like diamonds, and we must go mining, digging deep to find them.

Chances are you probably know of an amazing woman in tech, but you are wondering, why is she not on this list? We try to capture as many as we can, and as many as are nominated. To add to that, we limit the number of women to those who have been movers and shakers from November 2021 when we did the last list, to November 2022 when we close this list. I am a firm believer in ‘for everything there is a season.’

Now. I am aware that we are all aware there are fewer women in tech than there should be. Many a paper, thesis, documentary, books, and other platforms have contributed to this. Reasons have come up as to why the numbers are not reflective of society. They range from maternal instincts, the wage gap, a lack of interest in STEM from a young age, no female role models to the sky is falling…

So long as we keep urging and encouraging women in the tech space, I would say we have something going not just for us, but for them to.

So, welcome to our list. And if this reminds you of a badass you know, remember to share her name and who knows. Next year could be her year to shine. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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ARTICLE by

Catherine Muraga, Managing Director, Microsoft Africa Development Centre

Boosting Diversity And Inclusion In A Mission To Drive Tech Skilling At the most fundamental human level, encouraging diversity is a moral imperative; it is simply the right thing to do. Even for organisations that only consider their bottom line, diversity has been shown to improve revenues.

According to a 2018 study by the Boston Consulting Group, the revenues

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of businesses with more diverse management teams were up to 19 per cent higher of those without.

Granted, businesses benefit from diversity. Bringing people together from a wide range of social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds fosters innovation and creativity by allowing people to

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share their experiences and opinions.

Team members who vary in age, gender, and even disability benefit from each other’s perspectives, making it more likely that products and solutions will resonate with a wider market.

Being intentional in addressing diversity and inclusion requires us to broaden our

guest editor talent pipeline. This necessitates a shift in who we consider qualified for the profession, as well as broadening the net to include a diverse range of people from all backgrounds.

At the Africa Development Centre, we strive to be a diverse company with an inclusive culture. Each day, we apply the same relentless focus, willingness to learn, and creative thinking we use to develop products and services to help us collectively innovate for inclusion.

Our efforts to grow the tech talent pool has diversity and inclusion at its core.

We are casting a wide net from a young age to create a strong talent pipeline that will supply the tech talent pool in the future. We are attracting younger children to technology careers, for example, through our Game of Learners Junior initiative. DigiGirlz, on the other hand, focuses on girls in primary and secondary school to mentor them as they pursue STEM related courses.

At the university level, we have the Game of Learners competition, which brings students from all backgrounds together to learn and build solutions to real-world problems. We also have a mentorship program for women at the university level and in the early stages of their careers, with quarterly meetups that put them in the same room as tech professionals.

Yet another part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we have begun working with Sight Savers International to provide technology training to people with disabilities in Kenya. We hope that this collaboration will help them improve their skills and diversify the tech talent pool for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.

This directly builds on our disability inclusion ethos which has been baked into our business strategy for a long time. Every Microsoft product, for instance, contains ease of accessibility

features that are designed to help people with various disabilities make the most out of them.

Our goal is to empower the continent with technological tools and solutions, and diversity and inclusion are the best tools in our toolbox. Celebrating and embracing our differences as individuals increases our chances of developing solutions and products that work for everyone.

Even though diversity and inclusion have been discussed for a long time, there is still a long way to go before everyone has adequate representation in the tech industry, which will translate to products made for people like them. I would call on communities, individuals, businesses and government to consider the benefits associated with having a diverse team and embrace diversity and inclusion as part of their key initiatives and strategies.

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ARTICLE by

CAROL ODERO

the lead

How To Make Government An Ally Have you ever wondered about the bridge connecting tech companies with the government or asked yourself what, exactly, public policy is? Robert Condon is that bridge and that man.

How did you end up with an impressive title like Senior Director, Head of Government Relations & Public Policy?

Someone once said ‘the longer the title, the less important the job’. Hopefully, that is not true! Prior to joining VMware four and a half years ago, I was the managing director of a consultancy firm.

I started out working in public policy and strategic communication consultancy, in London. In fact, the person who hired me into that world was Liz Truss (now former Prime Minister, UK) in 2007. I first worked in government with the European Commission in 2006 in Luxembourg and Brussels, then agency and then moved to in-house with VMware.

I take it you didn’t train or go to school for this?

That’s something I am often asked. You get into public policy by being interested in government policy, how society works and political economics. If you are not interested in current affairs, policy or reading the newspaper, it might not be the thing for you. I studied history and economics and I wanted to work in that intersection of business, law, politics and public opinion.

What brings you to Kenya?

We are opening an extended office over here. Kenya is a forward-thinking country that is interested in tech utilisation and we want to enhance our relationships in the country.

What, exactly, do you do on a day-to8

day basis?

are quite optimistic.

I got this question a lot when I first arrived at VMware, I do any number of things. Government Relations’ main job is to protect the company and enhance the bottom line. We do this in several ways. We ensure VMware has a ‘license to operate’ when we go to a new country; good public policy allows us to do our jobs just the same way having great engineers works for our customers. We involve key government players who impact public policy. We ask, what is the right approach towards data, privacy, and security? What is our position on digital sovereignty – issues like that. We think about problems and try to solve them, using our partners to try and do this. In short, I am a corporate diplomat, working between VMware, governments, regulators and trade bodies around EMEA.

It sounds like you have some tech knowledge in your background. When you are meeting government officials who have no tech knowledge or context, how do you break down complex perspectives?

How distinct do you find the East African region? You cover three very diverse territories – Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and they couldn’t be more different.

I find the professionalism and talent that I get to meet around EMEA is very international and impressive. Kenya seems to be far ahead of many African countries when it comes to embracing technology and digital services. Of course, there are cultural differences.

I think everyone knows they need to use tech for their citizens’ benefit. The future is bright, not just for VMware but business in Africa to say the least. We

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I’ve noticed, and I think it is a truism, that businesspeople and government people speak different languages. They live in different worlds, and in a way, my team and I act as translators. We try to turn business speak, technology speak, and engineering speak into ordinary language, and convert government language into the language of the average citizen on the street because sometimes there’s talk at cross purposes. We’ve got to be able to explain complex things. That is part of the skills of the job. We try to do our best.

I simply need to know. What is the best way to change someone’s opinion?

You need to be honest, clear, and have an explanation. You’ve got to always be evidence-based. The best way of impacting public policy is to understand the person on the other side whom you are trying to engage with. What are they looking for? How do we meet in the middle? Compromise is important, I try and understand the other side, as this is the essence of modern socialdemocratic systems. Policymaking is usually not a zero-sum game. You then bring in evidence, good technology, and good engineering. We don’t make up

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our solutions on their own. They are designed to helps our customers and citizens.

Have you read The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene?

No, I haven’t but it sounds good. Tell us about it.

He talks about how to persuade people.

That there is nothing sinister behind it. He also has one called The Laws Of Nature.

I’ll get on to Amazon straight away…!

Just out of curiosity. Did our 2022 General Elections affect VMware in any way?

We always stay neutral, obviously.

But we are impressed by the desire the Kenyan government to harness technology. Kenya is further ahead than a lot of African countries. We are excited about the future in a pro-business environment.

That is a most diplomatic answer…

I’ll move on. How do you handle the C-Suite across regions?

There is an old saying in NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) that says, ‘In God we trust, but everyone else needs to bring data.’ My C-Suite is mostly engineers, and they want to hear from an evidence perspective. That does not just affect them or VMware. We try to put measurements along what we do and a lot of what we do is try to manage reputations and relationships. It is hard to put a measure on that, but we try, and that’s appreciated. A lot of people who deal with big bosses don’t want to take an opinion, they want to sit on the fence. Of course, at VMware we show the full context. We take decisions and make recommendations. The C-Suite need for things to be sure and to the point. It makes your life easier.

As someone who is in public policy, how do you go about working with government without getting mired in their politics?

It’s really tricky. And I’m just being honest. The key thing is not to go in and

We’ve got to get more talented people, encourage faster public policy, and encourage industries to work better with government. There are tough times ahead when it comes to dealing with technology. talk about what you want. You go in and talk about what the other person needs then try and meet each other halfway. We are also very careful about our compliance. There are rules and regulations in the way we operate. It’s ‘content, not contacts’ that win a debate and change opinions. If you present a good argument, with evidence, that positively affects society and citizens, then it will eventually take off.

Keeping in mind how wide a surface and how deep public policy can get, what would you say is the last policy you influenced then communicated?

We are working on the European Union (EU) Data Act. This is a huge piece of legislation. There are challenges and problems that need fixing but plenty of good things for businesses and European countries. For us, there is a cloud switching provision which we support in general. We are trying to push for interoperability in general, open multi- cloud systems, avoiding vendor lock-in. We’ve been talking that language for many years in Brussels, and we are happy to see a lot of those messages coming back in the form of draft laws and regulations.

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the lead The Data Act will certainly have a big impact so that’s pretty amazing.

It wasn’t just us working on it. We like the direction travel. Our vision is multicloud, as a cloud computing player. We are very strong in private cloud, but we also allow our customers to move workloads into the public cloud and towards edge cloud. We are very strong in hybrid cloud environments.

Without getting too technical, we see multi-cloud as the current reality businesses and governments need to get the best from their applications and data. Some workloads need the amazing power of public clouds to compute. Some workloads need to be protected by providers on-prem in a sovereign situation. We are big enablers of digital sovereignty and believe Kenya should be able to make its own rules about its data, workloads, and cloud, and we should stick with that. We are very happy to support that.

You must need to play well with others.

Who are some of the partners you work with and why?

We work with trade bodies. When the Kenyan government is thinking about cloud policy or data policy, they want to hear from the whole industry. They want to know what the industry is thinking. We are big believers in trade associations; they allow for trade bodies and local, and international companies, to come to together and think about issues. We also seek out the best advisors on the ground, people who live in Nairobi and understand the ecosystem.

It seems almost impossible to predict this, but what is the future of public policy?

It’s going to be very interesting. The reason I work in tech is because I am fascinated by the issues we must solve.

Take, for example, self-driving cars.

They are still a few years away, but there will eventually be many millions of professional drivers without jobs. How do we deal with that? Those types of societal changes. They’ll need training www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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and support. We’ve got to get better at dealing with policy and political issues.

We don’t have decades to deal with technological challenges we’ve got to speed up.

We’ve got to get more talented people, encourage faster public policy, and encourage industries to work better with government. There are tough times ahead when it comes to dealing with technology. It will enhance jobs, fantastic new types of jobs will be created, but it will also take some jobs. How do we deal with that? You mentioned books earlier. There’s this book; ‘The Technology Trap: Capital, Labour and Power In The Age Of Automation’ by Carl Benedikt Frey.

It analyses how we have dealt with technological change. Sometimes, we have dealt with it well, sometimes, not so well. We’ve got to get it right and technology is key.

I need a prediction again from you.

What is the future of cloud?

The future is multi-cloud. What we are seeing now is the previous idea that all workloads will end up in the public cloud, that we will pay of outsource our digital infrastructure, is gone.

Multi-cloud is what businesses and governments want. We are noticing our customers having up to seven cloud partners. It is exciting. Most businesses are still not in the cloud, and it is fundamental to everyone.

Isn’t VMware multi-cloud? Isn’t that where you are - going into the future?

Yes. It’s landing. It’s resonating and governments particularly really like it.

Considering what you do, would you consider yourself a VMware brand ambassador?

No… But. I am a VMware spokesperson.

There are dozens of us, much better than I. We try to keep our values and strong culture. I try and represent us well as I go about my job.

Public policy touches on a variety of things. Do you ever feel like your job is high-pressure?

If you are prepared, and know what you’re talking about, I don’t think pressure is an issue. Traveling is exciting. It can be tiring, but no pressure. We are all good. The culture is such that we don’t feel negative pressure. What about you guys?

Oh Lord…! It does come up because news comes is perpetual. It never rests, and we have to be on top of things.

Speaking of Kenya, which has been your best country so far?

Kenya, I would say.

Which one has been your second-best country?

What they’re doing in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is very interesting from the technological and business point of view. I’m not talking about politics and society. What they’re trying to do in Brussels is interesting because it is a completely new way of trying to govern 450 million people. What Germany is going through is also really interesting.

Germany wasn’t really thinking of security, but now they have to because of the war in Ukraine. I think EMEA is a really fascinating part of the world to

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work in and it is getting more and more interesting.

You work in a mix of territories with Europe which is first world, Middle East which is oil-rich and wealthy, and Africa which is a developing world. What philosophy brings EMEA together in your mind?

The GDPs are all different, but it is interesting how you find smart, talented, technology-obsessed highly skilled people everywhere. It is very competitive. Kenya has some of the best and brightest. Dubai, Paris and Greece have brilliant people. When you travel, you feel much more confident about the future. That is not true of every country. I think there are places across continents that are outside EMEA that are not doing so well. In certain countries, governments have a huge role not just setting the rules and regulations, but also as investors and business owners. In some countries in the Middle East, the government is key. The government is also critical to key decisions in Scandinavia and much of Europe, but you can still get on with your business. In the last 10 to

the lead 15 years, we have had economic and other crises where government has had to step in again and again to stabilize business and society. It’s an era of ‘big government,’ necessarily so. For example, with the COVID-19 crisis, with climate change, and with geopolitical issues with Russia and China where their decision-making is impacting business more and more.

You had mentioned VMware engineers when talking about the C-Suite. How has data and analytics pushed forward your enterprise and agenda?

We are an engineering company started by engineers from Stanford University 24 years ago; and we are still run by engineers. Data and analytics are also part of our job; we are making arguments saying this is where this

policy should go and why. We always need to present our own arguments.

and control. We can be an enabler, as is the case with a lot of tech companies.

What has been your biggest, most influential decision you have made that has had a ripple effect?

Public policy is gaining momentum as a career especially for tech companies.

What kind of advice would you give someone aspiring to do your job?

You mean like which coffee to order in the canteen…? We are strategic advisors to the business internally.

At the end of the day, the company is run by engineers and salespeople. A lot of business life is just making good decisions. We help them to do that. I think I am quite proud of our work in digital sovereignty and multi-cloud and expressing our point of view. It is a very important thing in Europe, and we have worked hard to exert influence and make sure they understand the deal. Governments and companies want more control over their digital destiny

It is a very satisfying career option that is very interesting. There is constantly something new. It’s growing. Countries are really thinking around tech and issues to do with technology. On that note, we are always looking for talent. If you are interested, get in touch with us.

What kind of talent, precisely?

Engineers, salespeople, managers, software people. We are starting off small here, but we will be growing.

VMware is a very good company to work for.

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Smart Risk Management Agile · Safe · Connected

During the Africa InsureTech held on 6 October at Radisson Blu, Upper Hill, Nairobi, CIOs, CEOs, insurance experts, technology vendors, start-up owners, and regulators, got to analyse problems affecting the industry and how digital transformation can be used to improve the sector.

Some of the topics discussed at the Forum include the use of latest technologies such as AI and Data to fight fraud, the latest trends redefining the industry, automation, improving the customer experience, effective collaboration between start-ups and large insurance companies among other topics.

There was an overall agreement among the CIOs, CEOs, speakers, panellists, delegates, and regulators that there is immense opportunity for insurance companies in Africa to improve penetration, processes, and customer experience through embracing digital transformation.

Watch all the engaging and insightful discussions of the forum on our You Tube channel, dx5 group.

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the africa insuretech summit 2022

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ARTICLE by

KEVIN Namunwa

How Digital Transformation Can Help Improve Insurance Penetration in Africa Insurance has existed in Africa for over a century, but its penetration within the continent leaves much room for improvement. Digital transformation, on the other hand, only became a huge topic in the globe after the onset of the pandemic.

Digital transformation has been fast tracked by the pandemic and multiple industries are looking at technology to improve processes and better serve the customer. These industries have seen massive improvement in customer satisfaction, but the insurance sector is still experiencing gradual improvement.

The CEO’s Breakfast at the Africa InsureTech Forum saw a discussion on what needs to be done within the insurance industry to improve penetration. Various insurance companies and CEOs from around the continent agreed that trust is one of the biggest obstacles to the growth of insurance penetration in Africa.

For years, the insurance industry has been trying to improve its penetration in Africa through face-to-face insurance agents and insurance brokers. The results have not been great as most Africans shy away from insurance products.

Gwen Kinisu, the CEO of Prudential

Insurance (which has been in the industry for a century), thinks the biggest issue is that insurance customers do not trust that they can get value from the insurance products that they are being offered. “The insurance industry needs to come together to improve trust in Africa and insurance companies need to pay claims to improve the trust.” She also noted that data is also critical in helping insurance companies in Africa build trust.

“We need to utilise data to help us gain the trust in the market because there’s a lot that can be done with data analytics which most insurance companies are not,” she said, “We also need to allow data sharing among industries and come up with products that will address Africans’ needs.”

Franco Stols, the Business Development Manager, Altron, said digital transformation is very important in the insurance sector because the customer has also changed. “Today and in the future, we are selling insurance to the Gen Zs and Millennials, and these are people who are always on their phones.

They will need solutions that speak to them and this will increase penetration.

We are implementing this in South Africa and the penetration is at a global level.”

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He further noted that South Africa has incorporated digital transformation in insurance, and it now ranks third in the world in insurance penetration. The US leads the way with Italy coming second in insurance penetration.

These countries have digitised insurance and are also selling riskbased insurance. In most African countries, people will buy insurance because the government has made it mandatory for them to have. This is mostly the case with motor vehicle insurance.

With the case of motor vehicle insurance, for instance, it has been raised that as people pay for the insurance, the products are not really risk based. Digital transformation needs to play a role in ensuring the customers are profiled as per the risk they are exposed to. Stols also talked about how telematics has helped make motor vehicle insurance risk-based because it collects data that helps study a driver’s habit. The insurance is valued as per the risk the driver is facing based on his driving patterns and habit.

The panel moderated by Ali Hussein had four panellists these being Franco Stols, Githanji Waiguru, Prassana Miapuram, and Gwen Kinisu.

the africa insuretech summit 2022

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ARTICLE by

STEVE MBEGO

8 Technology Trends Transforming The Insurance Industry Today

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the africa insuretech summit 2022

The insurance industry is changing, and it’s changing fast. The use of technology has been accelerating for decades, but it’s only recently that the sector has seen some major shifts in how insurance companies operate. Here are key trends that are transforming the industry today that were highlighted during the Africa InsureTech Forum: Predictive Analytics Predictive analytics is a method of using data to predict future events. This can be done through algorithms and machine learning, which are two popular ways of implementing predictive analytics.

Predictive analytics helps insurance companies anticipate customer needs and preferences, allowing them to better serve their customers. Examples include personalizing pricing, adjusting premiums based on individual risk factors like age or driving history, or sending reminders when it’s time for a yearly checkup with your doctor.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI is a computer system that mimics human intelligence. It can be used to automate tasks that are currently performed by humans, such as insurance claims processing or customer support.

In the insurance industry, AI has been around for quite some time, particularly in underwriting and risk management.

It’s used to predict risk and make decisions about whether an applicant should be approved for coverage or not. The more relevant information you have on your customer, the better off you’ll be at making these decisions based on data rather than gut feelings or hunches.

Machine Learning (ML) Machine learning is a type of AI that allows computers to learn without being programmed. This can be used to

predict risk and make better decisions, automate underwriting and improve customer service. ML can also be used for fraud detection by identifying unusual human behaviour and flagging them for further investigation by the insurance company’s fraud team.

Internet of Things (IoT) The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and connectivity which enables these objects to collect and exchange data. IoT allows objects to be sensed or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure such as the Internet via specialized software applications. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but can interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure.

trends. By using big data, you can predict the likelihood of certain events occurring in the future. This allows you to make better decisions about where to invest your resources, what products or services should be offered, and how much money should be spent on marketing.

Big data can affect the insurance industry in several ways: Companies use it for risk assessment.

Companies use big data algorithms to analyse records such as past medical history and determine how likely someone might be to file a claim in the future based on these past events.

They’ll also use other information like weather conditions or location when deciding whether an applicant will get approved for coverage.

In simple terms – anything connected through a digital interface can be considered part of an IoT system. This includes devices such as thermostats or home appliances like washers and dryers that can report their status back to their manufacturer; automobiles that send information about where they’ve been driven; medical devices such as pacemakers that monitor heartbeats; drones used in environmental monitoring efforts; even traffic lights!

Big data helps companies identify potential risk factors before they become actual problems. It allows insurers access to any type of customer group they want at any time with unlimited demographics available 24/7 via mobile devices. Using big data has become increasingly important because there’s more competition than ever before between insurers trying desperately not only survive but thrive against competitors who are coming up with innovative new ideas every day.

Telematics

Chatbots - Conversational AI

Telematics, the collection and analysis of data from a vehicle’s onboard computer system, is revolutionising insurance. The technology can be used to find out how fast you’re driving or if you are braking too hard. It can also determine whether someone is at the wheel or not. Telematics is also used for fleet management and ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft.

Chatbots are computer programmes designed to simulate conversation with human users, primarily over the internet. These conversational agents may serve in a variety of roles such as customer service representatives or personal assistants. Chatbots can be used to answer customers’ questions or provide technical support. A few insurance companies have already started using chatbots for various purposes including answering basic questions about insurance policies and helping in the claims process.

Big Data Big data is a collection of data that can be analysed and used to predict

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NOVEMBER2021 2022| CIO | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵ AFRICA 20 www.cioafrica.co ||NOVEMBER

For the third year in a row, we celebrate and appreciate women who are in the technology space. This year, we expanded our footprints in a quest to find women in digital transformation.

Digital transformation (dx) was never a conversation the way it has now become. BC, (before COVID-19), dx was a nice-to-have. Now, after the pandemic, it is a must-have. One of the biggest issues, when it came to dx, was remote and hybrid working spaces. It demanded that IT experts step in and step out, rethink their strategies, and cover our behinds as we ensconced ourselves in the most far-flung of places we could find to set up workstations.

But, as it so happens, there is more to digital transformation just like there was much to find when we looked up women in digital transformation. For a start, we produced categories that we thought expressed the end-result of digital transformation.

• • • • •

A leader who directly contributes to the growth and strategic direction of their organisation.

A woman who had continually driven innovation; the kind that inspires the wider tech community A role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology A woman who has contributed to the general development of the ICT sector A woman who doors have opened for over the past year owing to her overall contribution to the tech community and industry in 2021

It turns out digital transformation is not a walk in the park and quite a number of organisations are struggling with it. According to a report, How To Win With Digital: A Playbook For Successful Digital Transformation by Cognizant, “Only about a third of large-scale digital transformation efforts succeed,” adding that “The right skills for digital transformation are difficult to master. You must stay on top of the latest, most significant technology. You must keep pace with customer insights and understand how and where they (could) influence and amplify each other into disruptive scenarios. You need to translate these scenarios into a vision and a business strategy that is enabled by digital. You must design an organisation that is able to execute this strategy. And you must find, train, and retain the required skills and competencies.”

But what is this elusive digital transformation? Gartner describes it thus. “Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernisation (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimisation, to the invention of new digital business models. The term is widely used in publicsector organisations to refer to modest initiatives such as putting services online or legacy modernisation.”

It is on this skeleton that we built the list on. Digital transformation takes many forms and many technologies. It is still a shiny new thing getting figured out by the IT industry, and there are multiple ways to incorporate digital transformation. As many as 50.

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Sophia Alj, Co-Founder and COO, Chari Sophia is a renowned technology innovator with a couple of tech startups under her wing that consists of a plethora of companies she has founded or co-founded. She is currently stationed at Chari where she serves as the Chief Operating Officer (CCO) and is also a co-founder.

Chari is a B2B e-commerce app with embedded Fintech for French Speaking African countries which is also backed by Y-Combinator. In January 2022, they were valued at $100 million valuation in bridge round, in March they acquired the credit arm of Axa Assurance for $22 million, in Jun Chari acquired Ivorian B2B e-commerce site Diago, and got funding worth $1 million in September.

Like many start-ups playing in the B2B e-commerce space across the continent, Chari digitizes the largely fragmented FMCG sector in Morocco and Tunisia. It operates as a mobile app, allowing small retailers in these two countries to order products from partnering FMCG multinationals and local manufactures and get items in less than 24 hours.

Before Chari, Sophia was already in the innovating space with a couple of other start-ups she co-founded including Mondentiste, and Wib.co. Mondeniste is a platform that allowed Moroccans to find a dentist within their proximities while Wib. co is an API security platform that delivers continuous visibility across the entire API lifecycle, from code through testing to production.

Sophia holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree focusing on Civil Engineering from McGill University and a master’s in management in Programme Grande Ecole from ESCP Business School.

Sylvia Mulinge, CEO, MTN Uganda Sylvia Lillian is an established corporate executive in the East African telecommunications sector. She is a seasoned professional whose leadership has helped guide some of the leading telecommunication companies in strategy.

She is the newly minted CEO of MTN Uganda, a telecommunications company that provides a wide range of technologically driven services to approximately 16 million Ugandan subscribers.

Previously, Sylvia served as the Chief Consumer Business Officer of East and Central Africa’s biggest telco by market share Safaricom PLC. Sylvia is the recipient of several awards, with the most recent one being the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear 2022.

In 2020, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women and was feted as one of Kenya’s Top 25 Women In Digital in 2019. She has also been cited as one of Kenya’s Top 40 under 40 Women for three consecutive years and is a 2015 Young Global Leader (YGL) recipient.

She currently sits on several boards including her most recent appointment in 2022 as the Chairperson of the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancy Association.

She also serves as a board member for Food4Education and SHOFCO. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Nairobi where she graduated with First-Class Honours.

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the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Catherine Muraga, Managing Director, Microsoft ADC Catherine Muraga has directly contributed to the growth and strategic direction of different organisations in Africa.

She was appointed Managing Director of Microsoft African Development Centre (ADC) in June 2022. Before Microsoft, she was Head of Engineering at Stanbic Bank Kenya and Stanbic Bank South Sudan. Her previous employers include East African Breweries Limited, Kenya Airways and Sidian Bank, where she worked as the Director of IT and Operations.

Catherine is indeed a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology.

She is an alumnus of Columbia Business School Digital Strategies for Business, Oxford University Fintech Programme and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Africa Nazarene University.

Jihan Abbas, CEO & Co-Founder, Lami Technologies (Kenya) Jihan Abbas is a woman who has continually driven innovation in the African insurance sector through her insuretech start-ups. She has contributed to the general development of insuretech in Africa.

She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Lami Technologies, an Insurance-as-a-Service platform and Application Programming Interface (API). The platform allows insurers, banks, and others to provide consumers with affordable and flexible digital insurance.

In August 2022, Lami raised a $3.7 million seed extension adding to the $1.8 million seed funding the insuretech raised in 2021. The company said the funds will be used to hire, fasttrack its expansion plans, and drive underwriter partnerships.

According to Jihan, the mission of Lami is to ensure Africans from all walks of life have access to affordable insurance products that allow them to build financial security.

In 2016, Jihan founded Griffin, Kenya’s first digital-only car insurance platform, which enables people to buy and access insurance within minutes.

She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor’s degree in Investment and Financial Risk Management from Bayes Business School.

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Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh - Microsoft Strategic Partnership Lead For Africa With over 20 years of experience of work in finance and tech in Africa and Europe and has served different leadership roles, Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh has contributed immensely to the growth and strategic direction of organisations.

In January 2022, she was appointed the Strategic Partnership Lead for Africa at the newly formed Africa Transformation Office (ATO).

Before assuming her role at Microsoft, Angela was the Regional General Manager for IBM North, East and West Africa where she led the organisation’s business and strategy.

During her 11 years stint at IBM, she held different leadership positions including that of Chief of Staff to the Senior Vice President of Global Markets and Sales. She was also appointed General Manager of IBM Ghana in 2015 becoming its first female General Manager in Africa.

She holds a BA in Marketing and French from London Metropolitan University and has completed a Leadership Development Programme at Harvard Business School.

Angela is a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology. She is a recipient of the US African Women Forum’s Global Impact Leadership Award and African Achievers Awards for Excellence in Business. Angela has served on many boards and is currently a board member of the Central Bank of Ghana.

Kendi Ntwiga, Meta, Global Head of Misrepresentation Kendi is the Global Head of Misrepresentation at social media giant Meta based in Ireland, a role she assumed in May 2022.

Having served in different leadership roles, she has directly contributed to the growth and strategic direction of organisations in Africa she has worked in. She has worked as Country Leader at Microsoft Kenya, the General Manager of the East, West, and Central Africa Cluster at Check Point Software Technologies and held leadership roles at HP, Oracle, and Intel.

She is also a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology. She is the founder of She-GoesTech, an initiative that mentors young girls and women to take up STEM courses and remain in STEM careers.

For her efforts, she was named as Top 40 Under 40 leader in Kenya in 2019. She was also recognised as an Emerging Leader in Innovation and Entrepreneurship by the US government through the TechWomen programme.

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the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Cynthia Wandia, Co-Founder, Kwara Cynthia Wandia is a Kenyan electrical engineer, entrepreneur, and corporate executive who is among the techies advocating for the digitization of credit unions in Africa to meet customers evolving needs.

Cynthia is the CEO and Co-Founder of the fintech company Kwara Limited. The fintech was launched in 2019 to help credit unions (savings and credit cooperatives societies, SACCOs) in Kenya to shift to digital platforms by providing them with its proprietary Back-end-asa-Service (BaaS) software.

Kwara was also selected as a start-up joining the Mastercard Start Path programme.

In August 2021, Mastercard picked Kwara among 11 global startups to join its award-winning Start Path Programme. The programme is a springboard to help the best and brightest start-ups maximize their opportunity for success.

In December 2021, Kwara raised $4 million in a seed round to build a neobank app that will enable individuals to sign-up with their preferred credit unions to access various financial services.

Cynthia has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Yale University.

Faith Nkatha, CEO, Cellulant Faith Nkatha is the Country Manager, Kenya of one of the oldest and leading fintech and payments companies in Africa, Cellulant.

Nkatha is a leader who directly contributes to the growth and strategic direction of their Cellulant. The company has an office presence in 18 countries with a payment platform connecting thousands of businesses. In 2022, Cellulant achieved the feat of data sovereignty which has now enabled it to meet data and cloud sovereignty requirements across its regions. In October, Mastercard and Cellulant partnered to link millions of consumers all over Africa. It will allow customers to pay anywhere in the world with a Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to the Cellulant wallet, Tingg.

Before Cellulant, Faith worked with the Oracle Corporation leading their Digital Transformation efforts for the Public Sector. Her last C-suite role in banking was as the Director for Strategy, Monitoring and Transformation where she reported to the Board of Sidian Bank (K) Ltd. Nkatha is also a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology.

She sits on three boards. The Women on Boards Network board where she chairs the Finance, Partnerships and Administration Committee, the LVCT Health Board and the Inuka Africa Board.

She is a member of the African Women in Fintech and Payments, a trainer and mentor for the Presidential Digital Talent Program (PDTP) and Volunteers with the Mpesa Foundation Academy. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Juliana Rotich - Head of Safaricom’s Fintech Integration Solutions Juliana is a woman whose overall contribution to the tech community and industry in Kenya and around the world saw her appointed as the Head of Safaricom’s Fintech Integration Solutions in June 2022.

She is a fintech leader and technology entrepreneur of repute, keynote speaker, consultant, advisor, and Board Member/Advisor with years of experience spearheading and scaling technology companies, operating in domestic and international markets.

She is a Co-Founder of tech businesses BRCK Inc. and Ushahidi Inc. BRCK Inc is a hardware and services technology company that builds internet routers, software, and communications equipment for small businesses in Kenya.

Ushahidi is a non-profit tech company, which specializes in developing free and open-source software for changing how information flows in the world.

She is a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology.

She currently serves on the boards of Standard Media Group, Safaricom Money Transfer Service Limited, Girl Effect, Mookh Africa, Blue Consulting, Atlas AI and Kenya Vision 2030.

Her mantra is to build impactful technology, fix problems, and help others.

Rebecca Enonchong - Founder and CEO AppsTech Rebecca Enonchong is a Cameroonian technology entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of AppsTech, a global provider of enterprise application solutions. She is also co-founder of I/O Spaces, an inclusive coworking space in the Washington DC metro area.

She has contributed to the general development of the ICT sector by spending much of her career promoting technology in Africa.

She chairs ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures) supporting entrepreneurs from three tech hubs in Cameroon. She is Vice Chair of the WHO Foundation and sits on the boards of the International Chamber of Commerce, Venture Capital for Africa (VC4Africa), US Exim SAAC, and the UNECA Center for Digital Excellence. She served as Board Chair of Afrilabs, a Pan-African network of over 347 innovation centres in 52 African countries supporting over 1 million entrepreneurs in Africa.

She is the co-founder of the Cameroon Angels Network and cofounder and VicePresident of the African Business Angels Network. Rebecca currently serves as a mentor/advisor to several technology startups.

A recipient of numerous awards, Rebecca was named a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) by the World Economic Forum of Davos, Switzerland. Forbes Africa ranked her as one of Africa’s 50 most powerful women in 2020.

NewAfrican magazine named her one of the most influential Africans in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2020.

Jeune Afrique magazine named her as one of Africa’s 50 most influential women of 2017 and as one of the world’s most influential Africans in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Elected International Fellow, UK Royal Academy of Engineering, 2022, she was also Forbes - 50 Over 50: EMEA Award (2022) with Business Insider honouring her as the Female Leader of the Year in Africa (2022) 26 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Phyllis Migwi, Country General Manager, Microsoft

Odunayo Eweniyi Odunayo Eweniyi has continually driven innovation which inspires the wider tech community in Africa. In March 2022, Odun won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Innovation Award.

She is the cofounder and COO of Piggyvest, an Phyllis is tasked with managing the operations of global tech online savings giant Microsoft in Kenya having assumed the role in August platform and the co-founder of 2022.

PushCV, a platform that connects top employers to recruiters.

Before joining Microsoft this year, Phyllis served as the In 2021, Odunayo co-founded First Check, a platform of female Regional Hybrid Cloud & AI Leader-Africa Growth Market business angels centred on supporting women-led and for IBM. She has a background in strategy and operations women-focused start-ups in Africa. leadership, brand development, marketing and programme She is a recipient of many awards for her innovations. In March management.

2022, Odun won the Forbes Woman Africa Technology and Her two decades of experience in the corporate world have Innovation Award. seen her hold several leadership roles in diverse sectors She graduated from Covenant University in 2013 with a firstincluding Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and ICT class degree in Computer Engineering. sectors across the continents: India, Europe, and Africa.

Maya Horgan Famodu Maya Horgan Famodu is a venture capital investor and entrepreneur. Through the investment vehicles that she helped found, she has contributed to the general development of the ICT sector in Africa.

She founded Ingressive Capital, a $10 million VC Fund I and $50 million Fund II focused on early-stage African tech; Ingressive for Good, a non-profit providing micro-scholarships, technical skills training, and talent placement; as well as Ingressive, an advisory firm providing market entry and tech research for corporates and investors. Ingressive Capital turned 5 in July 2022 hitting that tricky mark where start-ups are expected to fail and still going strong. Ingressive Capital is focused on levelling the playing field for female entrepreneurs. 40 per cent of its portfolio is dedicated to companies founded or co-founded by women.

Ingressive Capital portfolio companies include Paystack, Bamboo, Carry1st, Mono, Tizeti, Lenco, Jetstream, 54gene, and OZÉ among many others.

Ingressive LLC has worked with over 50 venture firms and tech companies eyeing the Sub-Saharan African market. Ingressive past passive clients include Y Combinator, 500 Start-ups, New Relic, USAID, GitHub, and Techstars--to name a few. The clients have made over 70 investments into Africa-based tech, and several have started numerous joint ventures through Ingressive market entry services. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Shikoh Gitau, CEO Qhala

Dr Shikoh Gitau has contributed to the general development of the ICT sector in Kenya. She is the CEO of Qhala, a digital innovation company that catalyses digital transformation capabilities for organisations across Africa.

Dr Gitau was the Head of Products – Innovation at Safaricom and acted as its Chief Innovation Officer. Previously she worked with Africa Development Bank (AfDB), where she was leading and advised governments across Africa to adopt ICT for service delivery. She has also worked with Google and Microsoft in their emerging markets teams. Dr Shikoh seats on various boards in ICT companies and contributes to several steering committees and think tanks on Africa and technology.

She is also the founder of M-Ganga and Ummeli, mobile applications for promoting health and medicine and matching unemployed workers with employment opportunities.

She has received numerous awards in recognition of her efforts in driving digital transformation in Africa. Tthe British government through UK-Kenya Tech Hub in partnership with the digital innovation firm launched a corporate venture building programme. Designed to bolster partnerships between corporates and start-up companies in Kenya, it was dubbed iHelix. The programme is expected to give companies a platform to showcase and leverage their key strengths all the while scouting for better ways of working allowing them to unlock billions in untapped opportunities in the digital economy.

In 2013, she became one of three people to win the ABIE Change Agent Award. She was the first African to win the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship.

Shikoh holds a PhD and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Betelhem Dessie At 23 years, Betelhem Dessie is an inspiration to young women in Africa with tech ambitions.

She is the founder and CEO of iCog, an artificial intelligence lab in Ethiopia. She was a partner at Kuda Ventures, a Venture Capital & Private Equity, where she managed Kudu Women, a program by Kudu Ventures focused on investing in women founders and cofounders across multiple sectors.

Betelhem has four software programmes copyrighted to her name, including an app developed for the Ethiopian government to map rivers used for irrigation.

She is named the young pioneer in the Ethiopian emerging tech scene by CNN and BBC. Also included in the list of African innovators to watch for in 2019 by Quartz. She was nominated as a Woman of Excellence (WoE) 2022 by the Africa Women in Business.

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the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Yemi Keri With a career spanning 22 years, Yemi Keri has not only contributed to the general development of the sector but is also a role model who inspires a new generation of women in technology.

Yemi wears different hats. She is the CEO of Heckerbella Limited, a digital transformation company.

She has also operated at the C-suite level across the public and private sectors. She was the Director and Regional Manager of West Africa for SAP Africa and was the pioneer Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Edo State Directorate of Information Communications & Technology Agency.

Yemi is also the co-founder of Rising Tide Africa, a women’s movement initiated with a vision to increase women’s participation in angel investing as an asset class and promote education, cross-border investing and investor-mentoring across Africa. She is a Director of the Lagos Angel Network and serves as a mentor to various digitally and technology-enabled start-ups.

She is a founding member of IDC West Africa CIO Technology Advisory Council in May 2015. She was honoured as Nigeria’s most outstanding Public Sector CIO at the ICT Centenary Awards in 2014.

Rising Tide Africa and Providus Bank launched their second cohort of RTA with participants from Nigeria, Mauritius, Gambia, Zambia, and Egypt. The RTA Entrepreneurship 101 Accelerator Programme is designed as a 25-session program structured around 3 modules and taught over a 5-week period. It is to be delivered both online and offline.

Regina Honu To fuel digital transformation in Africa, the continent must keep generating new tech talent. Regina Honu not only helps in churning out new tech talent but also inspires the next crop of young women in technology.

Regina is the CEO of Soronko Academy, a technology, coding, and digital skills development centre in Africa. It equips young people especially women and girls with the technical and soft skills needed necessary for their careers in IT. Soronko Academy has trained over 20,000 women & girls and has expanded to train boys, men and children with disabilities.

For her efforts, Regina has received numerous awards.

She received an award for the Most Impactful Initiative at the Women in Tech Global Awards for 2020. She was also named the Winner of the Challenging Norms, Powering Economies initiative by Ashoka, UN Women and Open Society Foundations for work to challenge gender norms in women’s economic empowerment.

In 2022, she made the list of Glitz Africa Top 100 Inspirational Women. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Celia Mantshiyane As digital transformation gains roots in Africa, cybersecurity remains a major threat to the efforts. For this reason, the role of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)s has become critical for organisations to protect their digital resources.

Cecilia is an experienced Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with a demonstrated history in multiple industries.

In April 2022, Celia was appointed CISO at MTN South Africa.

Before that, she was the Group CISO at Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.

She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on business administration and management from GIBS Business School (Gordon Institute of Business Science), South Africa.

She has previously been named in the Global Top 100 CISO and Top 50 Cybersecurity Women in Africa.

Irene Irungu, Head of Programme Delivery, Innovation at Stanbic Bank Kenya Irene became the Head of Programme Delivery, Innovation at Stanbic Bank Kenya Limited in July 2022, and boasts over 14 years of experience in diverse industries. Over the years, she has gathered a wealth of experience and successfully inspired women and girls from all walks of life. Among the industries that have felt Irene’s impact over time are banking, insurance, telephony, and transportation (aviation).

She is a versatile, detail-oriented, and accomplished leader in ICT and project management who is skilled in situational analysis, supply chain management, change and release management, cross-functional leadership, risk, and stakeholder management, as well as creative problem solving.

Irene holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and a Master of Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi.

Prior to her position at Stanbic Bank, Irene was the Senior Manager, PMO at Equity Bank Limited Kenya, a position she held for over 8 years. Before that, she was the Business Analyst for Airport Systems at Kenya Airways for over 3 years. She has also worked at Spectrum Engineering Limited as a member of the Business Development team for over three years.

Throughout the industries she has been in, Irene has mentored a lot of young girls to strive and achieve the best out of their capabilities. She continues to help women looking to get into the tech space and is also a member of the CIO Africa community.

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the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Lillian Barnard With more than 25 years of experience in the ICT industry, Lillian is a seasoned professional who provides leadership and is a role model to young women in tech.

Currently, Lilian is the CEO at Microsoft South Africa where she is tasked with delivering the global tech digital transformation ambitions in South Africa.

Before joining Microsoft, Lilian served as Chief Sales Officer for Vodacom’s Enterprise Business for two years. During her 15-year career at IBM, she held several key leadership positions.

Lilian previously served on the boards of Vodacom South Africa, Mango Airlines and Dad-fund Non-Profit Organization. She currently sits on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Gauteng Provincial Government 4IR Commission.

She also serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Institute for Intelligent Systems at the University of Johannesburg.

Microsoft South Africa is currently in the process of expansion and are going through a hiring spree. It has also doubled Azure product sales, and expanded its Johannesburg and Cape Town-based Azure data centres by November 2022.

Barnard was also recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Inaugural Africa Women in Tech - Global Movement Awards this year.

Emily Mochama, Manager, Financial Crime Risk at Afriex Emily was appointed as Manager, Financial Crime Risk, at Afriex in February 2022. Inspired by her wealth of experience working in the financial crime compliance field, she handles cases of online financial fraud that have been rampant in the recent years as the world digitises. She has over five years of work experience in risk, compliance, anti-money laundering, and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT).

Over the years, she has worked in various industries including FinTech, banking, advisory, automotive, and government.

Emily has solid experience in finance operations including account receivables, payables, asset verification, and cash management.

Emily holds a Bachelors’ degree in Business Management with a focus on Finance and Banking and a Master of Business Administration from The University of Nairobi.

Besides her day-to-day roles at Afriex, Emily has been involved in the development of the AML guide for Accountants in Kenya (ICPAK-2020) and has also been a Financial Crime compliance Train the Trainer (ToT) member with a tier 1 bank in Kenya with operations across East Africa (2019). She has influenced more women who aim to get into the financial compliance space.

Furthermore, she has also been involved in Enhance Due Diligence checks for Ultimate Beneficial Oeners for Telecommunication and Insurance Companies across East Africa.

She is a firm believer of attempting and failing rather than never attempting and all. Going for her passion in the career path has been her number one goal to exceeding expectations. She believes that for women to rise to new heights in their industries they need to focus on what they are good at and do it with passion. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Itumeleng Makgati Itumeleng is a seasoned Information Technology Executive with over two decades of expertise spanning different sectors.

Currently, she is a Group Information Security Executive within the Standard Bank Group where she directs the provision of the group’s cyber security services.

Itumeleng is a recipient of the 2021 Global Top 100 Leader in Information Security (Corinium) and 2020 & 2021 Global CISO Top 100 (HotTopics.ht).

She is currently studying for an MBA at the University of Suffolk, and earned herself an MIT Sloan Executive Education. She also made the 2022 Global Top 100 Leader in Information Security.

Maureen Chebet, AWS DevSecOps Engineer at Safaricom PLC Maureen is the AWS (Amazon Web Services) DevSecOps Engineer at Safaricom PLC as of December 2021. She is an AWS Community Builder, cloud computing crusader targeting girls and an active member in the cloud space.

Her experience in the technology sector spans over eight years, where she has been a part of various organisations in East Africa. Her main expertise and skills lie in DevOps and Cloud technology. In detail, she is conversant with containerisation technologies, AWS technologies, scripting, CICD Pipelines, events streaming, and web & content management technologies.

Before Maureen started her position as the DevSecOps Engineer at Safaricom, she held a similar position at eBiashara (Africa) Ltd. Her career took off at Digital Divide Data where she also rose up the ranks and gained a lot of experience. She joined as a Data Management Operator and was later promoted to a Cloud Engineer.

Maureen is an inspiration to a lot of young girls who are looking to get into the tech industry. Technology has fueled digital transformation in Africa and Maureen is one of the iron women who are driving the conversation in digital transformation.

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Fatuma Haghe Adan, Senior Project Manager at Sama Kenya Fatuma, the Senior Project Manager at Sama Kenya – an Artificial Intelligence (AI), and data annotation firm, is a leader in the African IT industry. She won the PMI Young Professional of the Year award in 2021. Being a young leader in the industry, Fatuma is an inspiration to women who look to get into tech leadership which has been dominated by men for a very long time.

She is an experienced management professional and technical troubleshooter with advanced experience coordinating multifunctional technical projects. Fatuma has in-depth knowledge of ERP environments including approach, core processes, and architecture applied SAP module FI/CO/FM processes. She is also highly effective in monitoring project progress to ensure consistent progress and alignment with operational objectives.

Fatuma’s role at Sama entails leading a team of about 600 team leaders, quality analysts and project managers in managing computer vision programmes at the company.

She is the youngest of seven project managers at Sama.

She won the Young Professional of the Year award, at the PMI Kenya 1st National Project Management Excellence Awards on 3 December 2021.

the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Lucia Musau, CEO at African Elite Group Ltd Lucia is the CEO at African Elite Group Ltd and also doubles up as a Luxury PR consultant. She has greatly diversified and reimagined African Elite Group PR by adding a tech line of business. African Elite Group-Tech that has been successful in implementing cloud solutions address market requirements.

Being at the helm of African Elite Group, Lucia is a great inspiration to many who look to get to unimaginable heights in their career. Lucia is an inspiration to those who look to play a bigger part in Africa’s Digital Transformation journey.

Lucia has expanded the African Elite Group service offering to technology under African Elite Tech to form the digital transformation team that delivers cloud ERP implementation services and Robotic Process Automation. She holds an MBA from USIU - Chandaria Business School, BBA - First Class Honours from Kenya Methodist University, and a Certificate in Design Thinking for Innovation from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing from Kenya Methodist University, and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from the United States International University.

Dr Lydiah Kemunto Bosire, Founder & CEO of 8B Education Investments Dr Lydiah Bosire is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 8B Education Investments, a financial and education technology platform specialised in lending to African students to attend world-class global universities and supporting them to succeed. 8B is on a mission to strengthen Africa’s human capital by equipping the continent’s future leaders and ecosystem builders to innovate, compete, and thrive in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.

She has done great work on financial inclusion for African students to allow them to study abroad, something that would normally be difficult for African students.

for the UN-World Bank Partnership at the Department of Political Affairs of the UN Secretariat. She has also co-founded Oxford Transitional Justice Research, which she did while completing her studies at the University of Oxford.

Lydiah was a pioneer of the global youth movement around HIV/AIDS. She co-founded the YouthForce advocacy platform used at all international HIV/AIDS conferences since, and served as a founding board member of the non-profit Keep a Child Alive.

Lydiah currently serves on the board at WorldQuant University and is a member of the UWC Atlantic College Advisory Council. She publishes and speaks on a wide range of topics, including on the role of innovative finance in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN and the World Bank in conflict-affected states, and the role of world-class human capital in African development.

Lydah has over 18 years of experience working on issues of international politics, development, innovative finance, and human rights.

Lydiah completed her doctorate (D.Phil) in Politics at the University of Oxford. She also holds a Master of Science from Oxford, where she attended as a Clarendon Scholar.

She received an undergraduate degree with honours in government and a Master of Public Administration at Cornell University.

Before founding 8B, Lydiah worked at the United Nations, the World Bank, and leading global NGOs. She has served as lead

She joined 2022’s Clinton Global Initiative, a platform that brings together established and emerging global leaders. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Mary Onguko, Regional Business Development Executive at Avanti Communications Group

Mary became the Regional Business Development Executive ISPs EA at Avanti Communications Group plc, a UK Satellite operator in April 2022. A well-earned promotion thanks to her contributions towards the growth of Internet connectivity in Africa with investments coming out of Africa. Her goal is to change the narrative and have Africa be recognized as a region to not only invest in but also run life transformative projects.

She has represented Africa consistently within the telecommunications space and more precisely within the satellite industry. Her input both within technical and commercial has ensured that the remotest parts of Africa get online and stay connected in all corners of the continent.

At Avanti Communications, Lydiah forms part of the team that is involved in shaping the region’s digital connectivity to the internet.

Prior to her role at Avanti Communications, she worked for leading telcos in Africa namely iSAT Africa Limited, iWayAfrica Limited, and MTN Business Kenya (formerly UUNET Kenya) in different capacities: Head – Customer Relations, Business Development (West and Central Africa), Service Delivery ,Strategic Projects and Customer Support – respectively.

Lydiah is also the founder Board Member of Project Management Institute of Kenya and a former mentor at Akirachix and Safaricom Technovation Challenge where she provided guidance to young girls on how to excel within the technology / digital space. She has also mentored a number of girls within the tech space and continue to offer my guidance on the same.

Lydiah also sits on the supervisory committee of the ISAVE. Her vision is to lead and grow commercial enterprises across Africa and beyond through impactful and intentional leadership. She is passionate about matters of connectivity in Africa.

Anastacia (Stacy) Chege-Gitonga, Head of Technology Risk and Security at Kenya Airways Limited Anastacia is a cyber security enthusiast who was bumped up to Head of Technology Risk and Security at Kenya Airways Limited in July 2022. She has been in the industry for over nine years.

Prior to her position at Kenya Airways, Anastacia was at Cellulant for six years having joined as an Information Security Engineer and was later bumped up to be the Head of Information Security at the FinTech. She has also worked as the Chief Information Security Officer at Integrated Payment Systems Limited (IPSL) Kenya, which was the position she held immediately before joining Kenya Airways.

She aims to pursue a dynamic career in computer security using her qualifications and experience with information systems and business. She is proactively working towards the attainment of outstanding performance, leadership, and professionalism in all fields.

Before joining Cellulant, she held various positions in different organizations including Cerberus Solutions where she worked as an IT Consultant.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology (Information Security, Cybercrime, and Forensics Concentration) from the United States International University (USIU). She also has a Masters of Business Administration in Strategic Planning from USIU as well 34 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Dr Precious Kaijuka Mwongera, Senior Manager & Technical Learning Content at Microsoft Dr Precious Kaijuka Mwongera became the Senior Manager, Technical Learning Content at Microsoft in June 2022. She is a global technology professional with over nine years’ experience across multiple sectors including technology, digital consulting, financial services engineering, public sector, and academia in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, United States, Kenya, and Uganda.

Over her nine years’ experience, she has worked at various global giants including Goldman Sachs, CITI Bank, Loughborough University, KPMG, Rolls-Royce, and now Microsoft. Precious brings to Africa the experience and skills she has gathered from around the globe.

She is an inspirational figure to look at for young girls in the continent who aim to reach new heights in technology or any other sector they may be interested in. She started out with a global wide brand (CITI Bank), as a Technology Summer Intern, and has maintained the tempo throughout her career.

Precious has been very instrumental in mentoring young girls in the content and is even a founder of a mentoring program, sheSTEMs Network. This is a mentoring platform for women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers and education.

She holds a Masters in Engineering focusing on Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the same institution.

Loretta Songola, Regional Chief Business Officer for Southern Africa at Liquid Intelligent Technologies A Zimbabwean national, Lorreta Songola is the Liquid Intelligent Technologies Regional Chief Business Officer for Southern Africa. The writer on digital transformation opinion pieces is a champion of women in tech and has been on the forefront of mentoring girls in Zimbabwe to get into the tech sector. As of 2022, Liquid is targeting SMEs which account for 73 per cent of employment in Zimbabwe.

In February, it unveiled a six-month internet promotion for enterprise customers, including SMEs, allowing them to enjoy additional bandwidth with increased speeds of up to 50 per cent faster than they had been paying for previously, free of charge. Liquid later announced it would offer unlimited high-capacity bandwidth to users of its Hai retail fibre service.

Loretta has over 15 years’ experience in strategic marketing, business development, and operations. She has a proven track record of improving company performance and exceeding company sales revenue and targets through improved business strategies.

She is also a collaborative leader who places emphasis on team dynamics, transparency, and professional development. She always advises that women who are aspiring women leaders to soar to new heights. She believes that these women need to focus on their goals, dream, believe, challenge, and review their vision bearing in mind that diversity is real www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Hildah Moraa, CEO & Co-Founder, at Pezesha This award-winning innovator and author has more than 10 years of experience in Fintech, regulation, developing innovations, entrepreneurship, and working with multinationals such as Coca-Cola to develop mobility innovations for Africa. She is an innovator who has been part of the founding teams of a couple of start-ups that deal with technology and leverage on digital transformation to bring solutions to Africa, for Africans.

Hilda previously founded WezaTele, a Fintech start-up in Kenya which was acquired in 2015. She is currently the founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pezesha, a digital financial infrastructure enabling SMEs and institutions in Africa. Pezesha have raised $11 million pre-series A equity-debt round that it used to expand into Nigeria, Rwanda, and Francophone Africa.

In 2015, Hilda was featured as one of the top 40 under 40 women. In 2018, she was recognized by Quartz Africa as one of the top 30 innovators in Africa. She has always continued to champion local tech, innovation & entrepreneurship scene in Kenya by supporting and mentoring other young techpreneurs through sharing her lessons, entrepreneurial knowledge, and experiences in inspiring ways such as through her first book which was published when she was only 26 years old – ‘A Kenyan Startup Journey – 10 Key Lessons I Learnt’ Hilda is also celebrated across Africa as one of the 50, Africa’s most promising innovators by Global Shakers because of the impactful work she leads at Pezesha. She holds a Business Information Technology Degree from Strathmore University.

Madonna Ononobi, Co-Founder and COO at ThankUCash

and the lot In

Madonna is the cofounder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at ThankUCash.

With her influence work at ThankUCash, fintech has achieved a of great milestones in 2022.

January 2022, the company closed a $5.3 million funding round, which came shortly after it has raised an undisclosed sevenfigure seed in 2021.

The platform was launched in 2018 by Connected Analytics, and has managed to thrive, proving that not all is gloomy in the deals, coupons and rewards business.

Normally, loyalty, deals, and rewards services are a rarity in most African markets. The unit economics and other factors such as currency instability make such businesses hard to pull off in the region. However, Madonna managed to achieve this 36 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

through ThankUCash.

After raising the funds earlier in the year, the Company expanded within its home market of Nigeria – where it operates in Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja – and outside to Ghana and Kenya. Madonna always makes sure the company is improving its product offerings and add more staff.

Prior to co-founding ThankUCash, Madonna also co-founded MyAds Global and Ladon Entertainment.

MyAds Global won the 2016 Nigerian technology awards for startups, mobile app of the year, and the most innovative technology company of the year.

The app was aimed at end users, businesses and organizations in Nigeria, India, and Dubai with plans to expand to twenty other countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.

Ladon Entertainment, on the other hand, is a fully engaged entertainment company specialized in video on demand (VOD) online video LIVE streaming.

Madonna holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Madonna University Okija, and a Master’s degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Lagos.

the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Jemila Abdulai Jemila is the creator of multiple award-winning digital platform Circumspecte.com. Her influence spreads across the continent as she works from Ghana and connects to the rest of Africa at the intersection of digital media, strategic development communications, economic policy, and creative business. She is a digital transformation advisor, digital skills trainer, and bilingual (ENG-FR) strategic communications and policy consultant focused on African development.

She has successfully guided over 2,500 Africans to leverage digital skills and tools for their brands and businesses. She has done this through her engaging career and digital skills workshops. Jemila is a digital transformation consultant and strategist who provides research, strategy and policy advisory services for Africa-oriented organisations looking to thrive with digital transformation.

Apart from her training career with Circumspecte, Jemila also currently serves as Head of Digital & eCommerce at Stanbic Bank Ghana. She got this position in 2022 following her work and successful mentorship programme with Circumspecte which she has held onto for 15 years.

Jemila received the Digital Skills Champion award for Ghana by the Digital Equality Coalition in 2021 for over a decade’s work in promoting digital inclusion and transformation. In 2020, the Millenium Excellence Foundation under the patronage of Otumfuo Nana Osei

Tutu II honoured her with the 2020 President’s Youth Prize for Excellence in Digital Media. She was also recognised as Ghana’s Most Influential Female Blogger and one of Ghana’s top 50 most influential youth in 2018 by Avance Media.

She is a TEDx Speaker, published author, public speaker, and host of a TV show on food cultures and climate change in Africa. She holds an M.A. in International Economics and International Affairs from John Hopkins SAIS, and a B.A. in Economics and French from Mount Holyoke College, both in the United States.

Ifeoluwa Esther Obafemi, Sub-Saharan Africa Head of Digital Media & Insights (& Digital Transformation) Esther is the Sub-Saharan Africa Head of Digital Media & Insights (& Digital Transformation) at FrieslandCampina, a position she fir into in December 2021.

She has worked with multinational companies doing sales, marketing, branding, channels (new and specialised), field operations strategy, digital, and business development; with vast knowledge and understanding of the Nigeria market.

She was very instrumental in helping FrieslandCampina Professional (FCP) sign a 10-year sponsorship with ASEAN Coffee Federation (ACF) as its Founding Partner and exclusive dairy milk brand. The partnership that was signed in February 2022 will see FCP and ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI), ACF’s official coffee training and education body, co-develop a Milk Science module, which will form part of its existing Barista Certification Programmes.

Esther possesses skill-sets able to provide cutting-edge, innovative, enthusiastic, and transformational leadership, moving the team easily from vision and strategy to hands-on implementation and results is a multisystem approach while inspiring team for continuously enhanced individual and business performance.

She is also currently serving as a board member at ROISCRAFT LIMITED which is a team of investment experts and consultants helping individuals and corporate organizations grow revenue and secure long-term financial success.

Esther holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Adon-Ekiti in Nigeria. She also has a Bachelor of Business Administration and Management degree, and a Master of Business Administration, both from Edinburgh Business School. On top of that, she has a Doctorate in Business and Management from Waldon University. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Joanne Esmyot, Digital Transformation Director, Africa Joanne is an experienced Head Of Technology with a demonstrated history of leading global technology projects and teams. Currently, she is serving as the digital transformation Manager at Public Digital in Mauritius. She has played a critical role in promoting digital transformation in Mauritius.

She is skilled in Process Improvement, Service Delivery, Project Management, Agile Methodologies, and Quality Assurance.

Immediately before joining Public Digital, Joanne was the Executive Director of the National Computer Board (NCB) of Mauritius for 3 years. Under her leadership, the NCB successfully delivered on several digital transformation initiatives for the Government of Mauritius such as the setting up of the first Mauritian Certificate Authority which enabled the launching of online birth certificates in Mauritius. She also laid foundation for many more trusted digital services.

Joanne was also leading the Government of Mauritius and the national CIRT (Computer Incident Response Team) of Mauritius namely CERT-MU. Promoting digital inclusion has always been very important to Joanne.

She has led several nation-wide capacity building initiatives to improve digital inclusion in Mauritius. One of those programmes targeted to women entrepreneurs was named champion in its category at the World Summit for Information Society prizes 2021.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with multimedia and a Master of Philosophy in Business Process Management both from the University of Mauritius.

Lindiwe Matlali, CEO & Founder at Africa Teen Geeks Lindiwe Matlali, CEO & Founder at Africa Teen Geeks, (South Africa) Lindiwe is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Africa Teen Geeks. She is a multiple tech industry and business leader award-winner who holds a number of board memberships and has been – and still is – involved in both grass-roots and government-level initiatives that aim to inspire Africa’s next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

She has won multiple awards, among them Excellence in STEM from the Charlotte Maxeke Institute, Social Innovator of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, and was named one of the Mail & Guardian 50 powerful Women in SA in 2021.

Her exposure to some of the world’s leading educational institutions has led to an exciting position with the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which aims to help the government seize opportunities presented by the digital industrial revolution.

The work she has done with Africa Teen Geeks this year has brought the most impact to technology in South Africa and the continent. Africa Teen Geeks’ goal is to educate, inspire, and equip young people with skills, resources, and experience to pursue STEM careers and close the opportunity gap through quality education.

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics and Statistics from the University of Cape Town.

38 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

the most influencial Women in digital transformation

Confidence Staveley, Exec Director at Cybersafe Foundation Confidence is one of the continent’s most celebrated female cybersecurity leader, cybersecurity talent developer, and global speaker. She is the founder of, and currently serves as, Executive Director, Cybersafe Foundation, a non-governmental organisation on a mission to facilitate pockets of changes that ensure a safer internet for everyone with digital access in Africa.

Her most recent award is October 2022’s Cybersecurity Woman of The Year Award in the Cybersecurity Merit Award organised by the Cybersecurity Experts Association of Nigeria (CSEAN). She has also received other awards in the cybersecurity space over the years.

She has achieved numerous professional certifications and industry.

Here are some of the awards she has bagged in the recent past; Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Award winner in 2021, 2021 Obama Africa Leader, U.S State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) Impact Awards, IFSEC Global Top Influencers in Security & Fire (One-to-Watch) for 2021, Won the Young CISO of the Year Award 2021, and named CovenWorks Top 10 Powerful Women in Technology 2021.

Prior to founding CyberSafe Foundation, Staveley served as the Managing Partner at Gidinerd; Country Manager at DIGISS LLC; AND Cybersecurity Analyst at UIC Innovations.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology & Business Information Systems from the University of Middlesex, and a Master of Science in Information Technology Management from the University of Bradford.

Nyari Samushonga, CEO of WeThinkCode Nyari is the CEO of WeThinkCode, a South African tech academy that operates in Johannesburg, Burban and Cape Town. She is an entrepreneur and tech executive who is passionate about seeing Africa take its place as a maker of cutting edge technology.

The WeThinkCode CEO recently made to the finalists for this year’s Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa’s (IITPSA) annual President’s award. This follows the impressive work that she has done in the past year as the CEO of WeThinkCode.

In her role as CEO of WeThinkCode she has driven effective initiatives to scale the impact of the organisation. These include doubling the recruitment capacity, launching a homegrown curriculum that caters to the South African market and accelerating the recruitment of women students to the point of parity within the academy.

A Chartered Accountant, Nyari has previously operated as the Managing Director of ThoughtWorks Africa, a subsidiary of the global software development consultancy, and a Manager in Deloitte’s Audit and Assurance division operating in both Harare and New York. Born in Zimbabwe, she also lived and worked in Tanzania. She holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science degree in Accounting and Auditing. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Pauline Koelbl Pauline Koelbl is the founder of female-focused venture capital fund ShEquity which aims to close the gender funding gap in Africa. Apart from funding, the VC fund provides the start-ups with technical support and access to high value networks.

In May 2022, ShEquity received a co-investment of $1.2 million from USAID Trade Hub to invest in women-led businesses in West Africa.

ShEquity has so far invested in three companies – Kenyan insect-based feed manufacturer Ecodudu, Kenyan data and AI start-up Superfluid Labs, and Zambia’s WidEnergy, a last mile distributor of clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions.

Koelbl is also in the process of setting up ShEquity West Africa VC Fund, which will focus exclusively on countries within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

She is a Fulbright Fellow & Scholar and seat on various boards of companies involved in supporting African entrepreneurship and innovation.

She is also an international public speaker on topics related to Africa’s sustainable development inclusivity, innovation, as well as women and youth empowerment.

Matsi Modise Matis Modise is the Founder and CEO of Furaha Afrika Holdings an organisation dedicated to enable and leverage growth we unearth opportunities in the digital domain and in its human capital development across the African continent.

Matsi was also appointed as the Chair of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) of South Africa in January 2022. TIA is a national public entity that serves as the key institutional intervention to bridge the innovation chasm between research and development from higher education institutions, science councils, public entities, and the private sector, and commercialisation.

Matsi appointment was aimed at improving South Africa’s start-up ecosystem which is currently ranked among the most vibrant in Africa.

Matsi is also the Non-Executive Chair and Investor at Finclusion Group, ViceChair of SiMODiSA, a South African entrepreneurship industry association, Chair of Kuehne + Nagel, a global transport company and sits on the board of The Innovation Hub. She is a subcommittee member of the South African Venture Capital/ Private Equity Association (SAVCA) and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Innovation Management committee.

In 2016, she was selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of the Top 50 Global Shapers to attend the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

She has won numerous awards and global recognition. She was named one of the Top 100 Young Independent Disruptors by Independent Day Media, and the Coca –Cola Young Achiever of the year award at the Women In Leadership – Africa Summit. She was also named as one of the Top 30 African leaders in technology, business, art, science, politics, design and media by Quartz Media Africa.

40 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

Kerissa Varma Kerissa is an experienced IT and Information Security Executive currently serving as the Managing Executive: Cybersecurity at Vodacom in South Africa as of November 2021. She has a demonstrated history of working in the financial services, healthcare, telecommunications, and transport industries as well as government.

She is known as the first female Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in finance in South Africa. This was when she was appointed as the CISO of Old Mutual Limited in 2019. She has proved to be an inspiration to a lot of young women in South Africa who are looking to get into the cyber security space, especially after becoming the first female CISO in the country.

Kerissa is also currently doubling up as the president of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) which is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the cybersecurity field. WiCyS is working to improve diversity and pipeline in the cybersecurity workforce, and it does so through numerous initiatives, together with strategic partners and an army of energetic volunteers.

She is skilled in Information Security, IT Governance, IT Service Management with extensive experience in both building and running security strategies and large-scale programmes across geographically dispersed and complex environments.

She has also served as a Senior Manager: Information Security Policy, Governance and Compliance at SITA Soc (Ltd); Information Security Manager at Electronic Toll Collection (Pty) Ltd.; and as Lead Information Security Consultant at Barclays.

Olajumoke Oduwole, Co-Founder & CEO, Alajo Oduwole is the creator of Alajo, a fintech app, is designed for direct and partner agents. Described as targeting “money collectors who digitise cash and tackle problems that comes with cash savings and theft, thereby improving personal financial management and collating data for financial opportunities.”

Nominated for Tech Start-Up of the Year by HackFest 2022 Tech Awards, Alajo, referenced as the people’s piggyback, Oduwole is also the founder of KJK Africa, a software design company. She has worked in finance and communications and was once a digital transformation manager and process analyst. She has been an IT Manager cum Senior Developer, Technology Process Analyst and Lead, Web/UX-UI Developer to Ag. Group Head at the RegCharles Group. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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Noreen Njoroge Noreen Njoroge is a cybersecurity executive professional with vast experience in multi-faceted, complex, fast-paced environments in both public and private sector. She is currently serving as the Director of Global Cyber Threat Intelligence at Nike. She is also the President and co-founder of North Carolina women in cybersecurity.

This year, she was recognised as the top IFSEC Global Influencers in Cybersecurity in June 2022. Noreen was also ranked among the Top 50 Cybersecurity Influencers & Ambassadors in the industry by Engatica Global leaders’ platform in April 2022.

She is also the award winner of both 2020 &2021 Cybersecurity Woman of the year, named 2019 Cisco Cybersecurity Champion, and is listed among the Top 30 Most Admired Minority Professionals in Cybersecurity in UK. Noreen sets an example for others to follow in her hard work to keep ahead of the pack in a rapidly changing industry. Her commitment to generously share insights on an ongoing basis, and her desire to help clients protect their business and their data in a complex and uncertain world.

She is a strategic thinker with proven leadership experience on issues concerning Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Blockchain security, IoT, Cloud Security, Metaverse digital wallet Identity and Security. Noureen demonstrates consistent client & business success by delivering strategic solutions, applies creativity and judgement, to effectively negotiate mitigation solutions and proactive threats prevention.

Before joining Nike, she was the Senior Leader, Cyberthreat Analytics & Intelligence Team at Cisco Systems.

Noreen holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology & Cybersecurity from University of Massachusetts & MIT.

Ethel Cofie, CEO & Founder, EDEL Technology Consulting Ethel’s EDEL Technology Consulting is based in West Africa and the UK. The Founder of Women in Tech Africa which spans 30 countries and Women in Tech Week that attracted over 10,000 participants, Cofie is a force to reckon with. While digital transformation was something inspired by COVID-19, for Cofie’s employees it was business as usual. They were already working from home. She doubled down on how to survive the pandemic all while making the effort to better understand her clients. In December 2021, Cofie was named as one of the five women breaking stereotypes in STEM by stemprize.org and made the 100 Lionesses Playbook Digital Transformation in March 2022.

42 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

Zineb Drissi-Kaitouni, Founder & CEO, DabaDoc Zineb is the Founder and CEO at DabaDoc. With this start-up, she set out to democratise access to healthcare with its practice management solution and disruptive online booking technology in several countries in the continent.

Today, DabaDoc is rapidly changing the regional healthcare landscape in North Africa with its telemedicine services. It is a leading partner of healthcare constituencies (health professionals, hospitals, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies…) in its markets which has allowed it to meaningfully improve the healthcare journey of millions of patients.

With DabaDoc, Zineb has developed a disruptive technology allowing instant doctor appointment bookings by streamlining the patient-doctor relationship. She launched the platform in 2014 to help democratize access to healthcare and it is now the largest online booking platform for doctors in Africa with more than five million patients and thousands of doctors.

This innovative and integrated platform is present in all of Africa.

This year, DabaDoc partnered with Orange to launch DabaDoc Consult, a brand-new service allowing the African diaspora residing in Europe and the United States to instantly offer a video medical consultation to their relatives living in their country of origin.

Before founding DabaDoc, Zineb was the co-founder of Ruby’s and has also worked as an analyst at Goldman Sachs for almost four years.

She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Finance, & General from Baruch College and a Master’s degree in Finance & General from HEC Montreal.

Digital Transformation Awards

DIANI · MOMBASA

Come join us at the Africa dx100 Awards as we celebrate and award organisations that have made enormous strides in ditigal Transformation in various sectors in business.

Banking Sector Sacco Sector Hospitality Sector Education Sector Government/Public Sector Health Sector Manufacturing Sector Insurance Sector Transport/Logistics Sector

Go to dx100.cioafrica.co Contact us at: events@cioafrica.co

www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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ARTICLE by

STEVE MBEGO & KEVIN Namunwa

What’s Trending The Latest News From The Continent

46 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

the round-up

Mastercard To Bring Crypto Trading Capabilities To Banks

Mastercard has introduced Crypto Source, a new programme to enable financial institutions to bring secure crypto trading capabilities and services to their customers.

In partnership with regulated and licensed crypto custody providers, Mastercard’s financial institution partners will gain access to a comprehensive suite of buy, hold, and sell services for select crypto assets, augmented with proven identity, cyber, security and advisory services.

This Crypto Source offering is complemented by Mastercard Crypto Secure to bring additional security to the crypto ecosystem and support card issuers in their compliance with complex regulations.

Now, Mastercard’s suite of cryptorelated offerings for banks and fintech includes: •

Technology and partnership

support to enable buy, hold and sell of select crypto assets •

Security management including Mastercard’s identity solutions, crypto analytics, transaction monitoring, antimoney laundering, ‘Know Your Business’ and lifecycle stages, cybersecurity, and biometrics

•

Crypto spend and cash out capabilities offered through a range of products, including crypto cards, open banking, and cross border services. Financial institutions would also be able to offer additional functionality using Mastercard’s technology such as digital receipts and loyalty solutions

•

Crypto program management including program design, product development and technology implementation, as

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well as go-to-market optimization and marketing consultancy services, providing end-to-end support for banks, fintech and issuers to offer crypto programs at scale “At Mastercard, trust is our business.

What we are announcing today is a connected approach to services that will help bring users safely and securely into the crypto ecosystem.

Our recent investments in this space, such as the acquisition of CipherTrace and Ekata, are providing us with a unique set of capabilities to help provide our customers and consumers with the most technically advanced solutions available in the market,” said Ajay Bhalla, President, Cyber & Intelligence at Mastercard.

To support this programme, Mastercard is expanding its partnership and work with Paxos Trust Company, a leading regulated blockchain infrastructure platform. The partnership aims for Paxos to provide crypto-asset trading and custody services on behalf of the banks, while Mastercard will leverage its technology to integrate those capabilities into banks’ interfaces, resulting in a seamless experience for the consumer.

Over the past few years, Mastercard has been working alongside its customers and partners to bring new services and capabilities that help make crypto more accessible, safe, and secure. These efforts have been complemented with the addition of new technologies through Finicity, Ekata, RiskRecon and CipherTrace.

This unique combination of services provides eligible financial institutions the opportunity to directly manage crypto asset investments for consumers. Mastercard also continues to support banks, governments and others through its crypto and digital currencies consulting services.

Mastercard Crypto Source is currently being prepared for pilot programmes.

Additional details on broader availability will be made available later.

Konza to Partner With VMware For Emerging Tech Talent Safaricom, we are delighted to be taking this first step together with Konza on building Africa’s smartest city. This is the first step towards aligning on shrinking the IT skills gap in Kenya, which will ultimately have a positive effect on the country’s employment market,” Lorna said.

Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA), held a meeting with US-headquartered VMware, an innovator in enterprise software and cloud computing, to discuss areas of partnerships and collaborations.

A VMware team led by Robert Condon, EMEA Head of Government Relations and Public Policy; Lorna Hardie, Senior Director of Sub-Saharan Africa; and Everline Wangu Kamau-Migwi, Senior Territory Manager East Africa, agreed to explore aligning around capacity building for emerging tech talent and data centre solutions in the region.

Discussions were also held around the potential of working with KoTDA around the IASP World Conference 2024.

Speaking during the meeting, Robert Condon and Lorna Hardie said that VMware is impressed with the vision behind Konza Technopolis as well as the ambition and insight displayed by the Kenyan government in driving innovation through such initiatives.

“A leader in multi-cloud, we are delighted to explore areas of cooperation and collaboration with the Authority. A key technology provider to several Kenyan government departments and agencies, alongside providing software and services to private sector organisations such as

48 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

Josephine Ndambuki,the Chief Manager Business Development, and Innovation, said that Konza is keen to work with VMware to help bridge the skills gap and to develop the number of youths entering the tech space. She added that Konza is positioning itself to better support the government’s digitalisation efforts through its national data centre.

A recent study by UNESCO and Africa Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) notes that by 2030, a huge percentage of jobs in Kenya will be dependent on digital skills and the adoption of 5G network cloud technologies and data centre solutions.

KoTDA has partnered with local and international software vendors and solutions providers to provide bundled software solutions to complement Konza’s National Data Centre services.

Onboarding of the software and cloud vendors has been finalised.

The partnerships include technology, MSSP, innovation and R&D, managed consulting services, and reseller partnerships.

As part of the Phase 1 anchor projects, the Authority has completed the implementation of a neutral carrier tier III data centre currently being operationalised to support the government, business enterprises and smart city facilities with cutting-edge cloud computing products and services.

The Konza National Data Centre is a facility located in a smart and sustainable city with assured multiple internet connectivity points and a reliable power supply.

the round-up

African Women Trail World In Digital Finance Skills

A new report has revealed persistent barriers in the digital finance sector that limit women’s economic empowerment in Africa while recommending policy responses to overcome them.

Commissioned by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the latest edition of the biennial African Women’s Report was published. The report analyses the digital finance ecosystem in Africa to examine all its components and how they impact women’s economic prospects.

other regions. For instance, the share of women with digital finance skills in North Africa has doubled from 12.5 per cent in 2014 to 25.7 per cent in 2018 – surpassing the global average of about 20 per cent.

However, the same figure stands at only 12 per cent for the entire continent.

•

Only 33 per cent of women in Africa have a formal bank account compared to 43 per cent of men.

This gap, together with limited access to economic assets, escalates women’s vulnerability and exclusion from profitable sectors and formal jobs. Fourth, social norms as well as inherent biases in financial practices, products and services adversely impact women.

•

The lack of women’s participation in decision-making processes, as well as in financial and technology fields, means digital finance policies and products are unlikely to include women’s perspectives and meet their needs. In addition, in some

Barriers The report pinpoints five key issues affecting the use of digital finance as a catalyst for women’s economic empowerment in Africa.

•

•

Despite having more mobile money services than anywhere else in the world, women’s access to digital services, mobile and internet in Africa is limited due to illiteracy, cost, skills gap, and social norms.

While impressive gains are made in improving women’s digital finance skills, Africa still lags compared to

African countries, women are nine times less likely to have formal identification than men, which impedes their ability to access, own and use digital finance services freely and safely.

Speaking about the report, Edlam Yemeru, Ag. Director of ECA’s Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division said, “Africa is a global leader in several transactional technologies such as mobile money but there remains considerable scope to scale up digital finance and ensure that women can take full advantage of the resulting opportunities. This requires addressing a number of barriers related to connectivity, digital literacy, cost, laws and culture.”

She continued, “Our report takes a holistic approach in looking at the digital finance ecosystem and defines policy options for governments to develop the sector further and accelerate financial inclusion while paving the way for women’s economic empowerment – leaving no one behind.”

www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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50 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

HO CHI MINH, AUGUST 19 2022, Hands on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 · photo by tinhkhuong · shutterstock

gadget review

ARTICLE by

KEVIN Namunwa

A High-End Classy Android Smartphone

Galaxy ZFlip 4 When Samsung came out with the foldable, there was a generous amount of buzzing in the smartphone industry. Why, we asked, would we want a phone with a hinge when we could have one that well, didn’t?

Let’s find out.

www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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For many years, South Korean multinational electronics corporation Samsung, has been considered a leader in the smartphone industry with its highly rated android phones. The smartphone manufacturer continues to set new standards in the market as it has released a new range of its foldable phones.

Foldable phones’ technology is a formula that has been in use for years now. And, it seems, technology cannot advance as fast as smartphone makers are bringing in newer versions of their phones.

I got my hands on the Galaxy Flip4, a foldable phone that Samsung released on 25 August 2022. This phone is an upgrade of the Galaxy Z Flip3 released a year to the day on 27 August 2022. The Flip 4 has apparently addressed all the issues plaquing the Flip3.

The newer Z Flip4 won’t make many (if any) Z Flip3 owners upgrade, but it improves enough bits to make even more people think of getting a new foldable flagship phone. Here are the main specifications of the Galaxy Z Flip4 at a glance.

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Body: 165.2x71.9x6.9mm, 187g; Plastic front (opened), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame; IPX8 water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins), Armour aluminum frame with tougher drop and scratch resistance (advertised).

Display: 6.70” Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak), 1080x2640px resolution, 22:9 aspect ratio, 426ppi; Cover display:, Super AMOLED, 1.9 inches, 260 x 512 pixels (Gorilla Glass Victus+).

Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.

Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.

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OS/Software: Android 12, One UI 4.1.1.

glass panels, this one has a glossy frame finish and matte glass.

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Rear camera: Wide (main): 12 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1.8µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 123˚, 1.12µm.

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Front camera: 10 MP, f/2.4, 26mm (wide), 1.22µm.

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Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+; Front camera: 4K@30fps.

While this finish swap changed how the Flip4 feels in the hand, including its grip, it is still a so-so experience. The Flip4 feels more secure in hand when closed than when opened. The phone is waterresistant with an IPX8-rating for water protection, meaning it can withstand up to 30 minutes in 1.5m-deep clean water. The X means it does not have a dust proof feature.

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Battery: 3700mAh; Fast charging 25W, 50% in 30 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 15W, Reverse wireless charging 4.5W.

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Misc: Fingerprint reader (sidemounted); NFC; stereo speakers; Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified).

Design And Handling The phone looks a lot like the Flip3 with Samsung focusing more on design refinements than innovation or transformation. Its aluminum frame has been enhanced with stronger material coated with glossy polish and a flatter profile. This applies to the hinge too.

The most easily noticeable change, however, is the smaller bezels around the foldable screen, which in turn made the whole Flip a tad shorter. Looking at the back, the phone has thinner framing around the Gorilla Glass Victus+ panels.

Instead of a matte frame and glossy

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Software And Performance The Galaxy Z Flip4 runs on Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI on top, a proprietary layer that most people seem to prefer. In software exploration, it is always important to look at the cover display.

You can have an always-on display feature active on the cover screen the same way you can have it on the main display – there is, in fact, no separate setting for the two. The cover screen does get its own specific clock designs though, and you can match what’s displayed there with the watch face on your, say, Galaxy Watch.

Clicking on the power button twice when the Flip4 is closed will activate the rear camera, and the external screen will act as a viewfinder. Swiping in different directions switches between shooting modes and cameras. And if you double tap on the screen, you will get full-size photo mode and viewfinder - something

gadget review that was not possible on the Flip3.

In terms of performance, the Z Flip4 runs on the most current Qualcomm chipset – the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 – a slight refresh over the non-plus version.

Among the key improvements is the better efficiency and a minor bump in performance.

The Galaxy Z Flip4 always comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage space (this is my review unit), but there are options to purchase it with 256GB storage space or 512GB UFS 3.1 storage.

So, the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset is undeniably the fastest Android platform right now on the market, and it is a chart-topper when it comes to benchmarking.

Note that the Galaxy Z Flip4 has a lot less space than conventional smartphones for the motherboard and chipset and, hence, cooling solution, so if you buy it, you might expect throttling along the way.

Camera, Photo And Video Quality

On photo quality, the inner selfie camera is based on the 10MP Samsung S5K3J1 sensor, which is also taken from the Galaxy S20 series. The 12MP photos from the ultrawide camera are quite likable. They are surprisingly detailed for such type of camera/lens combo, and the per-pixel sharpness is satisfying even if not a match to the primary shooter.

The portrait mode on the main camera delivers superb portrait shots with incredibly detailed subjects, wellexposed and colorful. If you need to blur the background even more, you can always enable the portrait mode. It does an impressive job.

The Galaxy Z Flip4 also offers Auto Night Mode as part of the default Photo mode. You can decide to ignore it by tapping on the small Moon icon or leave it be.

This phone captures videos with all its cameras. The main camera record videos up to 4K at 60fps, and there’s

1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. The ultrawide and selfie shooters max out at 4K at 30fps.

Optical stabilisation is available on the primary camera, while electronic stabilisation can be enabled/disabled for all three cameras. If enabled, it does an outstanding job at stabilizing the footage at the expense of a bit lower FoV and a slight drop in the sharpness.

The 4K footage gets 48Mbps video bitrate when using the h.264 codec.

The audio bitrate is about 256kbps. The sound is stereo.

Pricing This phone varies in pricing based on storage space. The Galaxy Z Flip4 with 128GB storage space goes for $649.00, the 256GB goes for $644.97, while the 516GB one goes for $750.00. (All prices are from Amazon). If you want to get the Z Flip4, I advise you to get the one with 256GB storage space as the pricing is not much different from the 128GB one, and you get a better device.

The Galaxy Z Flip4 features a dual camera setup on its back and a single selfie camera within a small perforation on the foldable screen. The three cameras are a 12MP primary, 12MP ultrawide cams on the outside, and a 10MP shooter on the inside. The only upgrade from Z Flip3 is that the primary camera now features a larger sensor with a different lens.

The primary camera on the Galaxy Z Flip4 uses a Samsung S5K2LD 12MP sensor, behind a 24mm f/1.8 lens. The ultrawide relies on the same 13MP Sony IMX258 sensor as the Flip3, a Type 1/3.06” unit with 1.12µm pixels, but the phone still outputs 12MP photos.

The inner selfie camera is based on the 10MP Samsung S5K3J1 sensor, which is also taken from the Galaxy S20 series.

The camera app on the Flip4 is, for the most part, identical to what you’d get with any other recent Samsung phone, but with a few tweaks to make use of the Flip4’s unorthodox form factor. www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

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ARTICLE by

ROBERT YAWE

hard talk

No Longer A Funny Joke As I had predicted months before the elections that, based on the statements being made by our politicians, the presidential election petition will solely delve on issues to do with IT articulated by people who have never even done a document mail merge.

The fiasco that played out in the tent symbolically placed outside the high court meant the nation was kept entertained with confused nursery rhythms and tales of sorcery. As is the norm, the IT practitioners kept quiet.

Then we wonder why the country refuses to embrace technology beyond money transfer, nudity and gambling.

Since the situation has repeated itself consistently over the past 20 years and five elections means it is now a culture fully engulfed in us. It is therefore no surprise that our industry’s poster child isn’t from within the core of the industry but from the periphery.

Due to this abdication, the country continues to spiral into the abyss of technological mediocrity where quacks rule the space.

We can live with the political shenanigans that drag us through the mud once every five years. But not the loss of lives as we remain insular to the need for advocacy for the application of technology in solving real human problems.

A few days before penning this, the headlines in the mainstream media was about the drought ravaging through a third of the country. The images are something we seem to have become immune to as they have become so frequent they no longer stir any emotions in us.

Drought isn’t an event but a systemic failure of us to analyse existing data to produce information for decision making and thus shape interventions.

The metrological department as well as those birds flying high above provide huge data spanning decades.

It is interesting how we were able to hold elections in those same locations currently experiencing drought from digitally verifying the voter details to transmitting the tallied results. Yet for some strange reason we weren’t able to detect that the rains in the same locations had failed.

Even if one is not able to collect data directly from the locations, the internet has enough websites that have weather data for those locations. All that is required is for our globally recognised data scientists to access the data sets, extract insights, then share them on the various social media platforms for the public to get angry enough about that the governments - we promulgated many governments - are forced to take action.

54 www.cioafrica.co | NOVEMBER 2022 | CIO Africa Magazine | by dx⁵

Sadly, that is not what happened.

Instead, those skills have been used to participate in “global” challenges which offer the hope of winning dollar-pegged rewards or some bragging rights while all around us, our brothers and sisters die of starvation.

Now that images of death and destruction are circulating, we have remembered that social media can be used to rally the masses to raise funds while on the other end, they are fodder for political commentary. When you listen to the “experts” discussing the drought, one would think it has never happened before.

Until we start applying technology to solve our own problems, all that knowledge we have acquired is of no value. We shall keep being shoved to the periphery as we share screen shots with statements like “data is the new oil” and “Africa’s leading technology destination.”

By the time this is published, the new government shall have been fully constituted with the cabinet secretaries and principal secretaries in office. It is my sincere hope that they shall not allow what is happening now to happen again on their watch. That we do more than just oppose bills to rein in the quacks amongst us.

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