CIO Africa May 2022 Edition by CIO Africa

VOL 26 | ISSUE17 | MAY 2022 EDITION

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Inside >>

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Group Director IT & Operations Director, Equity Group Holdings Plc. 5 REASONS TO CARE ABOUT THE WAGE GAP Sylvia Anampiu MAKES HER NEXT MOVE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS LISTEN UP! SAYS GEN Z THE VERY TALENTED MR. MURIMI

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The CIO Africa Highlights SURVEYS · OVERVIEWS · TECHNOLOGY · EXPENDITURE · PROJECTIONS Compiled by Insight Wells Research, this year’s edition of CIO Africa highlights a case of the three A’s - namely adaptation, analysis and adoption. Throughout the CIO100 Africa submissions, we witness companies not only brace for the pandemic’s impact, but also adopt new ways of doing things as a business survival strategy with IT taking centre stage as a key enabler to business profitability.

Megatrends Report Highlights 2021

GET YOUR COPY TODAY! FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: MARKETING@CIOAFRICA.CO 2

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>> Contents VOL 26 | ISSUE 17| MAY 2022 EDITION

THE TEAM Editor-in-Chief Carol Odero

WRITERS

>> GUEST EDITOR

>> THE ROUNDUP

Kevin Namunwa Steve Mbego Tasha Francis

TECH COLUMNISTS Robert Yawe Michael Michie

Chairman and CHIEF Content officer Harry Hare

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER KELLY BENTLEY

Chief Transformation And Development Officer

>> THE LEAD

>> IT LEADERSHIP

Andrew Karanja

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER GILL BOWMAKER

OPERATIONS MANAGER Naomi Kangethe

MARKETING MANAGER Vanessa Obura

EVENTS MANAGER Ellen Magembe

FINANCE MANAGER Teddy Mukabane

EVENT EXECUTIVES

>> HERNOVATION INTERVIEW

Mellisa Dorsila Justin Maganga

Virtual & Hybrid Events Coordinator Stacey Njeri

PHOTOGRAPHY Arthur Kuwashima

BUSINESS CONSULTANT Njambi Waruhiu

EVENTS PLAN LEAD Bonface Shikuku

ADMIN STAFF Videlis Syovata Priscilla Egehitsa Daniel Mwaha

TRAINING Rose Waguthi

CREATIVE DESIGN Samuel g. Ndung’u

www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> THINKING ALOUD

Symantec™ Data-Centric SASE Scalable, high-performance, cloud-delivered network security at the Service Edge. SASE is a vision of converged technologies to improve network performance and security for users who can be anywhere, use any device, and need access to content and applications

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Ask for a demo today! Contact us at esa@mbcom.com.

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from corporate data centers and cloud platforms.

MBCOM Technologies, Broadcom Representative 2nd Floor, Standard Chartered Tower, Bank Street, Cybercity, Ebene, Mauritius | esa@mbcom.com www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Harry Hare Chairman and CHIEF Content OFFICER

GILL BOWMAKER CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

KELLY BENTLEY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Andrew Karanja Chief Transformation And Development Officer (CTDO)

>> ACCOUNTS

Teddy Mukabane Finance Manager

>> Editorial Team

>> EXECUTIVE TEAM

Kevin Namunwa STAFF Writer

Tasha Francis Editorial Intern

MICHAEL MICHIE Head of IT, TripleOKLaw

Robert Yawe CEO, SYNAptech Technologies

Ambrose Gahene Tech Writer

>> SALES TEAM

Purity Kamau Accounts Assistant

Vanessa Obura Marketing Manager

NGENGI KAMAU SENIOR ACCOUNT Manager

Ellen Magembe

PUBLISHED BY:

>> HYBRID EVENTS >> CREATIVE TEAM

Naomi Kangethe HEAD OF OPERATIONS

Stacey Njeri Virtual & Hybrid Events Coordinator

BILLY OMINGO ACCOUNT Manager

SAM NDUNG’U CREATIVE DIRECTION/ LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGN

>> IT WEB

Mellisa Dorsila Events Assistant

Justin Maganga Account Executive

PRINTED BY:

SHIRU WAWERU EVENTS SUPPORT

Ian Obukwa Event Support

Contacts eDevelopment House 604 Limuru Road Old Muthaiga P O Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya +254 725 855 249 Email: info@cioAFRICA.co

Arthur Kuwashima Lead Photographer

>> OPERATIONS

>> EVENTS TEAM

Events Manager

Steve Mbego STAFF Writer

CAROL ODERO Editor-in-Chief

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MARY KARIITHI Event Support

IAN WAGGA Digital Marketing/ Graphic Design

>> ADMIN

VICTOR PAUL BACKEND DEVELOPER

VIDELIS SYOVATA ADMINISTATOR

The content of CIO Africa is protected by copyright law, full details of which are available from the publisher. While great care has been taken in the receipt and handling of material, production and accuracy of content in this magazine, the publisher will not accept any responsility for any errors, loss or ommisions which may occur.

>> LETTER FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS “The top leaders such as CIOs have to be fluent in both business and IT dialogues, and switch them back and forth without “lost in translation.” - Pearl Zhu, 12 CIO Personas: The Digital CIO's Situational Leadership Practices If there is one thing that can be said for CIOs, it would have to be that their rise is inevitably based on a meritocracy. The CIOs who collect awards at our annual CIO100 event, have always been men and women who have incredible experience in their careers. Keeping in mind the fact that there is no international school of CIOs, this says a lot. They have crafted careers out of accumulated knowledge and compounded wisdom. There is nothing dodgy about a CIO or a Head of IT. It is not a career you can fake. I found this 2016 article on Fortune titled Why No One Wants to Be a Chief Information Officer Any More and I simply had to click on it. The author says 20 years ago, this being 1996, he was directing a “techno-MBA” programme in a Texas university. The students who showed up had every intention of being CIOs. At the time, the role of CIO was about 20 years old. By his telling, the dot-com boon, it is said, put a mighty dent on said ambition. His students no longer wanted to work for Big Tech going on to become founders and CTOs and what he refers to as other interesting stuff. And this is despite his observation that the CIO job requires a lot of heavy lifting.

Last week, Stephen Mbego wrote an article contemplating the entry of Google, Visa and Microsoft. Why was Big Tech so interested in Kenya? For a moment there, I wished I had studied at the feet of tech greats so that I, too, would be a software engineer being headhunted by the world’s top employers. Yet Thomas Anderson, the aforementioned writer, believes the most interesting jobs are on the periphery off, and not actually IN tech. He concludes his piece by saying “We'll still need IT people, but IT amateurs who run business functions and units in which IT is critical own the future. We'll still need CIOs, but business/technology visionaries will largely work elsewhere.” I wonder how he feels about himself in 2022. Now, more than ever, digital transformation has made it such that the CIO role is fascinating. None of the CIOs I have ever interviewed find themselves separate from business. If anything, the business thrives precisely because business and technology are wed. That nexus is clearly where the magic happens.

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“Perhaps a CIO would like to focus, for example, on how to digitise a company's business processes and relationships. Too bad--that's been taken over by the Chief Digital Officer. Love thinking about how new technologies might be put to use in your company's products and services? Too bad, that job has been taken by the CTO. There are also a lot of exciting things happening in the world of analytics and big data, but CIOs may not get to focus on them in organisations that have created Chief Analytics Officers or Chief Data Scientists. In some cases, of course, these roles report to CIOs, but they often do not.” It paints a rather unsatisfactory picture of what he thought of as a trendy career that eventually devolved into something befitting a seat at the C-Suite table. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> GUEST EDITOR

HARRY HARE

CHAIRMAN & CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER (CCO)

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It’s No Longer A Lonely Road For The CIO It has changed and continues changing and shaping our lives. From the way we engage with one another to how we consume goods and services. We are living at a time where digitalisation is changing everything we do. Technology, as an agent of change, has increased at an exponential rate over the past five years and there are no signs that this will diminish any time soon. These forces continue to create new challenges and opportunities for all industries, governments, consumers and citizens globally. Our lives have become more interconnected because of technology. Africa is not immune to these changes, and we are starting to see massive technology investments by both governments and businesses aimed at transforming their communities and customers alike. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, blockchain, machine learning and cloud computing have already changed how we live, work and play today. This coupled with the rising interest of big technology companies in the continent, is driving interesting discussions on how Africa is slowly becoming the next frontier in technology development. It is interesting how some of these technology use-cases are dramatically improving user experiences by enhancing social interactions through chatbots or voice assistants such as

Siri and Alexa; delivering perfectly curated content, driving our daily routines through smartphones, enabling seamless payment systems, providing access to information through our watches; offering comparative prices across markets on products ranging from healthcare to financial services or automotive transport options like Uber, Bolt or Little.

more engagement in the buying process, and more ease to buy products/services at any time or place (e.g., mobile shopping). These consumer expectations are driven by digital technologies such as smartphones, tablets, laptops computers, AI, virtual and augmented reality systems, cloud computing platforms etc.; collectively referred to as digital technology.

But these technologies are just that, technologies. It’s the use-cases and their impact on the community that makes a whole lot of difference. Enter, digital transformation, or its fondly referred to, DX.

The digital transformation is an opportunity for corporates to rethink the way they operate and how they engage with their customers. From digital marketing to digital workplace, businesses are able to use technology to enhance their customer experience. It is a key business strategy for creating consumer loyalty through delivering a better consumer experience that maximises customer value across all customer touch points; including awareness of the brand through purchase of the product up to post-sale service and support.

The digital transformation journey is as much about people and culture as it is about technology. It demands a bold new way of thinking, a willingness to experiment, and the courage to take risks. In an increasingly interconnected world, your company’s success will depend on your ability to transform into a truly digital business. Employing intelligent data analytics to make better decisions that result in optimising costs and improving customer experience are just two examples of benefiting from this digital transformation process. Digital transformation impacts how consumers behave by changing their expectations, interactions, and buying behaviours. Consumers expect they can access more information quickly and easily. Consumers demand more interaction with companies (e.g., social media),

But guess what? The CIO alone will not succeed in a digital transformation journey. The entire C-Suite must be involved. And this, my friends, is why CIO Africa and The Rebel Element have come together to form dx to the power of five (dx5) to support African enterprises navigate their digital transformation journeys both on the continent and abroad.

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Technology is the greatest force in the world.

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You don’t want to be the person who is not thriving in a digitally transformed environment. Not with the power of technology at your beck and call.

We are excited and we hope you will join us in this very exciting journey. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> GUEST EDITOR

Nirav Shah

VP Products at Fortinet

5 Elements Of A Successful SD-WAN Implementation Plan More organisations are looking into SD-WAN solutions because they need fast, scalable, and flexible connectivity among different network environments. But choosing the wrong SD-WAN solution can make it difficult for you to quickly adapt to changing business demands. It can also lead to unanticipated security headaches.

10 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Whether you are considering SD-WAN for the first time or rethinking your current strategy, a successful Secure SD-WAN implementation should address these five elements.

1. Work-from-Anywhere (WFA) The COVID pandemic forced many workers home, which placed new demands on networks and IT. And while many expected to return to the office, the work-from-home model has evolved into a hybrid work model across many organisations. This now means that employees can work from anywhere, whether it's a home office, on-premises, and from a mobile device. But implementing this work-from-anywhere (WFA) model can be complicated. It adds a layer of network complexity because the experience and security must go hand in hand. Further, when users access applications and collaboration tools, the experience must be the same no matter where they're located or what device they are using. To support WFA, SD-WAN solutions should include advanced access tools, such as built-in Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) Access Proxy. Users have a better experience with ZTNA than a VPN, and ZTNA provides better security and visibility across all users, applications, and devices, whether they are on or off the network. ZTNA helps ensure consistent protection across the entire attack surface and enforces a single security policy across all network edges.

Using AIOps can simplify troubleshooting, identify anomalies, and predict failure types based on machine learning models. And with simplified day-0, day-1, and day 2+ networking operations, organisations can rapidly scale while saving time and increasing productivity

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To meet digital transformation initiatives, organisations have to be agile. With this in mind, many have adopted hybrid and multi-cloud strategies and developed new intelligent edge resources. SD-WAN must be able to dynamically scale to any environment or workload with flexible, on-demand connectivity between headquarters, branch locations, home offices, and multi-cloud environments. To be prepared for future growth, the SD-WAN solution should also be capable of scaling to thousands of sites across various environments. It should have a single-pane-of-glass management solution to simplify management at scale.

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2. Dynamic Scalability

>> GUEST EDITOR

3. Cloud Performance For consistent security and performance on and between different cloud platforms, those enterprises that have a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy should look for an SD-WAN solution that can address cloud connectivity. It should simplify cloud on-ramp by establishing secure, fast connectivity and maintain high performance to the cloud, in the cloud as a native solution, and across clouds by federating inter-cloud protocols in real-time.

4. Edge Security SD-WAN connections are highly dynamic, and solutions must be able to monitor bandwidth and packet loss and make real-time modifications to connections. But many security solutions that are deployed as an overlay aren't adaptable. The security lags behind network changes, which results in security gaps and limitations to connection flexibility. An SD-WAN solution that takes a security-driven networking approach unifies advanced security and routing capabilities. These solutions can improve operations and provide consistent protection, whether it uses built-in or SASE-based cloud-delivered security. Regardless of the delivery method, the same security stack should exist everywhere to provide consistent threat protection for outbound traffic and internally for the network to stop the lateral movement of threats. And because the solution needs to inspect encrypted traffic in real-time, organisations should look for solutions that have been architected to provide maximum performance even for deep inspection of critical traffic.

5. Branch Support Security and connectivity don't end at the edge of the branch office. An effective SD-WAN solution should extend its core functions deep into the branch network to manage and secure connectivity and transactions across the local LAN. To ensure a secure and manageable remote branch, SD-Branch and SD-WAN should work together by converging security, WAN, LAN, and WLAN into a unified system at distributed locations. It should also support LTE and 5G as a cellular gateway to provide better availability and resiliency for SD-WAN deployment.

Developing an SD-WAN Strategy That Can Meet Requirements Now and in the Future. When you are looking for an effective SD-WAN solution, you should consider the needs of your organization both now and in the future. The solution you select should provide complete, end-to-end security, so IT teams have seamless visibility, enforcement, and control across the entire network even as environments adapt to changing business and connectivity needs. And it needs to do all that without a lot of add-ons, overlays, or workarounds that add complexity.

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>> NEW APPOINTMENTS

Congrats on your

STEVE MBEGO

Writer

NEW APPOINTMENT

Safaricom Appoints Michael Mutiga As Special Projects Head Safaricom has hired Michael Mutiga as the new Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer, in new changes announced by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa. Mutiga’s appointment follows the retirement of former Safaricom chief of special projects and acting chief business development and strategy officer Joe Ogutu who retired from the company last month. Mutiga joins Safaricom from Citibank where he was a Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for SubSaharan Africa from 2019. Ndegwa said Mutiga will lead

Westcon-Comstor Appoints Tidiane Lo as New VP for MEA Regions Westcon-Comstor has appointed Tidiane Lo as the new Vice President for the Middle East and Africa region. Tidiane was already part of the company having held a managerial role for 11 years. Prior to the appointment, Tidiane was responsible for the Westcon business across Sub-Saharan African, covering 48 countries and the Collaboration, Security and Microsoft technology practices. He joined Westcon in 2011 as a Regional Sales Manager looking after French West and Central Africa, based in DakarSenegal. Tidiane says that he joined Westcon because of its geographical footprint and this is what motivated to rise up the ranks fast at the company. 14 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

By 2015, he was in charge of the business process outsourcing (BPO) programme and SAP implementation for Africa, before becoming Sales Excellence Lead to drive operational excellence. ”I enjoy working here because of the company values, the structure and opportunities to grow and build a career plan. The workplace environment really allows staff to reach their potential as I believe there is always a room to do more and achieve more – the sky is the limit. Personally, coaching, training and strong leadership have made a real impact on my career here,” he says on his profile on the company’s website.

Safaricom’s business development and transformation agenda and will be responsible for Safaricom’s funding strategy and asset optimisation. “He will lead Safaricom’s business development and transformation agenda, and will be responsible for strategic partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions; Safaricom’s funding strategy and asset optimisation,” Ndegwa said. He holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Nairobi, and Masters in Law degree from Temple University. He is an Advocate and a Certified Public Secretary.

Timame Wanyoike Appointed Katapult Africa’s Partnerships and Ecosystem Manager Katapult Africa has appointed Timame Wanyoike as its new Partnerships and Ecosystem Manager. Launched in 2020, Katapult Africa, invests in and supports startups working in the space of food, climate and agri-tech. Timame has a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities that face the African tech scene. Before Katapult Africa, she worked as a startup engagement lead for Liquid Telecom. Commenting on the appointment, Timame said: ”I am passionate about emerging technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa and am particularly excited about Katapult’s focus on scale and impact for startups

on the continent. I feel privileged to have the chance to personally impact these startups who are ushering in the next wave of solutions for some of our planet’s greatest challenges. She added, ”The agri- and climatetech space is one that will have a lot of contribution to the growth of the continent and its full potential is yet

to be realized. Through investment and innovation, agri- and climate-tech startups have the ability to not only build a valuable sector within African economies but to simultaneously help feed a growing global population and to tackle the rising threats of climate change.”

Lipa Later Appoints Tom Gong As CTO Lipa Later, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company operating in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria, has appointed Tom Gong as a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Gong, Co-Founder AliExpress and former Technical Program Manager for Google Wallet, will be joining Lipa Later as the new CTO effective March 2022.

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Tom Gong, has a very impressive resume having worked as Co-Founder and CTO of AliExpress a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba the Chinese online giant and led the team to grow it to become the largest cross border eCommerce transaction platform. In 2012, Tom started Wanda eCommerce (Feifan) in 2012 within Wanda Group to optimise shopping mall operations through the use of internet technologies. Wanda is the largest commercial real estate company in the world. Previously Tom worked as a technical program manager for Google Wallet, from 2007 to 2009.

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Most recently, Tom Gong has been working at AllDragon which provides SaaS management software for over 500 shopping centres to better connect retailers and consumers. Tom has a Master of Computer Science and MBA, both from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> NEW APPOINTMENTS

Dr Bright Gameli Joins EC-Global Board For Threat Intelligence Cybersecurity expert Dr Bright Gameli Mawudor, has joined ECCouncil Global Advisory Board for Threat Intelligence – CTIA. The EC-Council Advisory Board for CTIA is comprised of prominent industry leaders and top Threat Intelligence professionals from a diverse range of industries and globally known brands. Their voices serve as an invaluable guidepost to help EC-Council in building new initiatives for Threat Intelligence Commenting on the appointment, Dr Mawudor said, ”Such a great Honor to join the EC-Council Global Advisory Board for Threat Intelligence – CTIA. This gives me an opportunity to further share more from my experience in the Cyber Threat Intelligence space and its evolving ways to achieve proactivity in combating threats. My ongoing research with the latest methodologies as well recommendation to the update the Cyber Security industry will go a long way” Currently, he holds the position of Chief Technology Officer at technology company, Xetova. Before that, he was the Practice Lead at Dimension Data where he managed security services and consulting and directed a team to provide Cybersecurity services to clients of Internet Solutions.

Eric Ohaga Elected Institution of Engineers of Kenya President The Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) has appointed Eric Ohaga as its 49th President. Engineer Ohaga was inaugurated into the role by his predecessor Engineer Nathaniel Matalanga at an event held in Nairobi on Friday, April 8. Ohaga’s appointment comes days after the engineering body held its council elections on March 21. Speaking after his inauguration, Ohaga, who is also the Director of Nuclear Energy and Infrastructure Development at Nuclear Power and Energy Agency (NuPEA), pledged to ensure that the challenges facing the accreditation of engineering programs are looked into by the association. He has previously worked as a Business Manager at the Kenya Power and Lighting PLC. Momentarily, Ohaga serves in the world federation of Engineering Organization (WFEO) Committee on Engineering Innovative Technologies. He is also a national interviewing panel member of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. 16 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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CIO Africa leverages webinar sessions to help the IT enterprise community decision makers stay informed and build stronger business relationships most Seizeto the opportunity to position your brand, products and services on the CIO Eastwith Africathe portal. valued customers and prospects. marketing@cioafrica.co

Kevin Namunwa Writer

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EDITORIAL INTERN

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>> THE ROUND-UP

Elon Musk Twitter Buyout: Honest Wooing or Inevitable Take Over?

town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.” The deal was unanimously approved by the company’s board, and is expected to be completed later this year. Musk secured $25.5 billion and margin loan financing and will provide about $21 billion in equity to fund the deal.

The Tesla CEO was determined to one day call the shots at Twitter Inc, and was relentless until when he finally got it. Was it an honest wooing by the unpredictable entrepreneur, or was it an inevitable take over? It is clear Musk has the power to do anything he needs to do to call the shots. Musk, one of Twitter’s most-watched users with more than 83 million followers, started out by buying a 9 per cent share of the company in January

2022. By March, he had already ramped up his criticism of Twitter alleging that the company’s algorithms are biased, and feeds cluttered with automated junk posts. He also suggested on several occasions that Twitter’s growth has been inflated by bots. In early April 2022, Musk was invited to join the Twitter board so he could have his say on the company’s decision. He declined. He was aiming for more. After declining the invitation to join the Twitter board, he began hinting at taking Twitter private, saying he’d make the platform a bastion of free speech while declaring the changes he’d make as the Twitter owner. A couple of weeks later, he made Twitter an offer they could not refuse: $44 billion. At this point he declared that ”Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital

Investors will receive $54.20 for each Twitter share they own, the company said in a statement on Monday. The investors will get 38 per cent more than the stock’s close on April 1, the last business day before the billionaire disclosed a significant stake in the company sparking a share rally. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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Elon Musk now owns Twitter. The billionaire and currently the world’s richest man has not been silent on how he thinks he can make the social networking platform better. He constantly throws about ideas on how to make Twitter better; changes he would effect if he owned the company. Well, he now owns it.

Though Musk hasn’t outlined a specific plan to change Twitter’s policies around speech and content moderation, his acquisition of the company means one of the internet’s thorniest problems is now his own. Musk has spoken openly about his plans to make the platform a haven for unfettered speech online and has complained that the service is too heavy-handed when it comes to moderating user tweets. The debate around free speech on social media has been raging for years -- some political conservatives say Twitter, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. and other internet companies have too many rules, while liberals don’t think social networks go far enough to prevent hate speech and attacks on their services.

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The deal to buy Twitter includes a provision that the billionaire is required to pay the company a fee if he were to walk away or the deal falls apart according to people familiar with the matter. The deal does not include a “go-shop provision,” meaning Twitter isn’t allowed to solicit offers from other potential bidders.

>> THE ROUND-UP

Domino's Gets to E-Commerce Space as it Signs an Exclusive Deal with Jumia Domino’s Pizza has expanded its e-commerce offering after it has inked an exclusive partnership with Jumia Food. This is in a bid to reach more consumers and grow its business. Consumers will get more variety on the menu when ordering online. Domino’s CEO and EatnGo Country Managing Director Ryan Pape told CIO Africa that Kenya’s digital transformation growth and smart phone penetration has encouraged Domino’s to get onto the e-commerce bandwagon. ”Domino’s globally is a tech company that sells pizza so it has always been tech first. With Kenya it’s interesting because we have such a high mobile phone penetration, and we know that e-commerce is going to grow and we want to be on the forefront of that. We have seen over the last two years with

COVID that a lot of businesses have moved online,” Pape said. ”We are delighted to provide our online platform where consumers can order their favorite Pizza at the click of a button on Jumia Food, across the various Domino’s outlets in Nairobi and Mombasa”, said Jumia Kenya CEO, Betty Mwangi adding that, “consumers will get a 25% discount when they order from Jumia Food.” Jumia Food Index 2021, placed pizza second as the top three most ordered food items in the country. Chicken came first while burgers were third respectively. Kenyans are becoming more creative and less traditional in the way they source for their daily meals. Jumia have already onboarded over 2000 food vendors with 50 per cent of them in Nairobi.

MetaMap Unlocks Borderless Growth in East Africa MetaMap has set on a journey to unlock borderless growth in East Africa as it launched its East African presence in a breakfast summit in Nairobi, Kenya. The San Fransico based company has been helping over 400 companies around the world to scale its businesses across borders. The company is focused on trusted identity verification solutions and building trust across borders. According to the company’s Sales Director for Africa, Ogochukwu Onwuzurike, MetaMap saw that the opportunity of growth in Africa is limitless and they are here to help Africans recognize their merits across borders. ”If there’s a mission that we have in the world, something that we are obsessed about, it is allowing people to be recognized for their merits. As Africans, there are a lot of merits that we have as individuals but these are not recognized by our traditional institutions and data sets. We believe that every single African has a merit,” Ogochukwu said at the MetaMap breakfast summit. MetaMap aims to help scale local companies and businesses from one region of the continent to another. It has a goal to position the growth that we are seeing in the continent across all the regions of Africa and see that companies are all connected across the continent and beyond. 20 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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WHO WE ARE

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>> THE ROUND-UP

Digital Identity: The Future of Socioeconomic Growth in Africa

Did you know that the African continent is home to an estimate of 1.2 billion people, but horrendously, 500 million Africans do not have a digital identity? CEO of Global Voice Group, James Claude and his fellow panelists Grace Mutung’u, Coordinator for Open Society Foundation Digital ID Working Group, and Alexander Muteshi, Director General, Directory Immigration and Citizen Services, shared their insights and knowledge during the virtually held Digital Identity: The Future of Socioeconomic Growth in Africa media roundtable on 7 April 2022. Interesting yet scary insights shared by Claude revealed that; only 3.2 billion people of the global population have some form of ID and a digital trial, 3.4 billion have some form of ID but no digital trail, 1 billion lack a legal form of ID, and shockingly 41% of Africans have no identity documents. ”Many African governments have taken different initiatives to register their populations online; Kenya has implemented the e-passport for E.A, 4 years ago Ghana implemented the 22 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Ghana Code which includes biometrics, and Rwanda have tried and tested numerous ways to digitize its digital identity” says Claude. Muteshi further elaborated on the e-passports that have been implemented in Kenya saying; ”we have implemented our digital passport along with other East African countries. The shift to the digital ID has helped enhance the integrity of the passport by enhancing its security features such as contact chips that are encrypted and then embedded in passports, biometric identifiers, and face and signature identifiers.” He mentioned that the accessibility of applying online, and it being easily integrated into other systems such as boarder control- a security function is what makes e-passports beneficial. He briefly mentioned that interest has been shown in looking at how citizens can even take their own passport photographs. Something to keep an eye-out for in the coming future.

Banks Tipped On How To Handle Fintechs Growing Influence Banks need to modernise their systems to exceed the services offered by fintechs who are eating into their market share. While speaking at the 11th Finnovex East Africa Summit, Wole Odeleye, Technology Industry Lead, Financial Services at Microsoft stated that banks would need to compete strategically in the four areas of lending, deposits, savings, and payments because these are where they generate much of their revenue. ”As organisations, financial institutions must consider the outcomes they wish to deliver and work backwards from there, defining those outcomes clearly and consolidating the understanding of those outcomes across the business before considering which enablers, both technology and non-technology, are required to deliver them,” Odeleye said. Odeleye also urged banks to collaborate with fintechs, some of which provide niche capabilities that they could use to

improve their services. "By leveraging partnerships, they can layer fintech services on top of their own foundations – corporate banking or retail banking services – and deliver them to customers as packaged services," Odeleye explained.

traditionally focused on commercial banking and wants to diversify into capital markets and investments may consider buying a fintech that has established specialized services and a critical mass of customers in that space," Odeleye explained.

According to Odeleye, traditional banks should also consider acquiring fintechs as part of their growth and diversification strategy.

Odeleye advised banks to accelerate digital transformation to empower intelligent banking, accelerate growth and loyalty as well as deliver differentiated customer experiences.

"For example, a bank that has

>> THE LEAD

ARTICLE by

CAROL ODERO

”Before I left my former job, I played golf every Sunday. I thought I would be able to improve my handicap. I’ve been here for three years, and I have not been able to play golf. That’s how intense the job is.”

24 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

INSIDE THE MIND OF A

TECHNOPHILE If it takes a village to raise a child, imagine how many villages it has taken to elevate Equity’s stellar perfomance over the years.

Perhaps this is why it has taken months of calendar scheduling to pin down Lanre Bamisebi, Group Director IT & Operations Director, Equity Group Holdings Plc. In fact, I get to boast how I got Lanre to set aside his phone for almost an hour, a fete I begin to appreciate as near impossible during the interview. Aside from an all-handson-deck career, he is pursuing a PhD at USIU-Africa. He has a Bachelor of Science (Honours), Computing & Information Technology, University of Derby, an MBA from Durham Business School, and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. The equestrian works hard, hiking, swimming and diving to clear his brilliant mind. ”Before I left my former job, I played golf every Sunday. I thought I would be able to improve my handicap. I’ve been here for three years, and I have not been able to play golf. That’s how intense the job is.”

Days before our interview, the Full Year 2021 Financial Results for Equity Group Holdings Plc announced a 99 per cent growth in Profit After Tax standing at Kshs 40.1 billion from Kshs 20.1 billion, a 29 per cent growth in balance sheet to Kshs 1.305 trillion from Kshs 1.015 trillion, and 29 per cent growth in customer deposits to Kshs 959 billion from Kshs 740.8 billion. #Equity2021FYResults makes Equity the largest bank in Kenya and yes, dare I say, even in the region in terms of balance sheet, profitability, market capitalisation and customer base. It is good to be James Mwangi. It turns out it is even better to be Lanre, the man who vets all and any technology that walks through the Equity door.

Unable to find a minute to dust off his golf kit, Lanre can only but observe his team exit at 7.30 pm to go home or

Equity has always been ahead of its time. It could be said this early adoption of digital transformation is finally paying off. Non-funded income grew from Kshs 38.5bn in 2020 to Kshs 44.58bn despite the Kshs 2.9 billion in foregone revenue in mobile money transactions.

The percentage of customers who did cashless transactions grew from 56 per cent in 2020 to 75 per cent in 2021. The customers are ahead of businesses in Kenya when it comes to adoption of digital transactions. Lanre did not want to be a CIO. Donning a pair of mismatched socks, a tablet with a well-used leather cover and two smartphones, Lanre has the air of a switched-on professor. ”I wanted to be a pilot. At some point I figured out that I didn’t like flying.” He has been in the tech world for as long as he can remember. More accurately, ”for as long as I have known how to talk. As a child, I’d handle things with technology, and I would see technology working for other people. So, I think about 23 years.” Head hunted by Dr James Mwangi himself, Lanre had worked in a series of banks: Access Bank, Diamond Bank, and United Bank of Africa. He was, for a time, the Head of IT Projects at MTN Nigeria, and Director, Finance & IT, Starcomms. Their conversations lasted over six months before Lanre made up his mind. Aside from managing IT and operations, an oversimplification of what he does, he is also currently the Managing Director, Finserve Africa. ”Equity’s plan when it comes to fintech - you noticed I said Equity, not Equity Bank – was that we metamorphosed into a tech company with a tech license, investment license, and insurance license. We were also doing banking www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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have fun as he confesses, ”I don’t go home. You can switch off your phone. I’ve never switched off my phone in my working career because you never can tell. It might be 2 am and the server is down. Of course, my team can fix the problem.” But before they shut it down, they would need to paint a picture for him, walking him through the processes they have executed. ”I still have to make that call.”

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Legend has it once upon a time, during a CIO Africa (then East Africa) event, Dr James Mwangi, CEO and Group Managing Director, Equity Bank, following the illumination on the role of a Chief Information Officer (CIO), paused for a moment and declared he would like to be a CIO. He got it, long before most did, the significance of the CIO. Said bank now has a league of CIOs, up from the lonesome one pre COVID-19.

When we talk about tech companies, we talk about FAANG. (An acronym for tech giants: Facebook Inc, Amazon, Apple Inc, Netflix and Alphabet Inc.) We never really talk about homegrown products. There are brains here. A lot of them.

to enrich people’s lives. We have two pillars. The social pillar – which is to educate Kenyans and all of Africa; and to also take people out of poverty. The other is commercial, which is to give SMEs, supporting them with corporate loans so they can improve whatever they do. For us, it is more than a bank. We are more of a lifestyle.” I ask if they are a neobank, a digital bank or a fintech? ”I think we are a composite. Part of what we do for Finserve, is like a neobank. At Equity, we call it a challenger bank, which is a digital bank.” Finserve Africa was once independent of Equity only to be merged with the main bank. It turns out there was something of a culture clash. ”Finserve and Equity have always had different ways of doing 26 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

things. The way I am dressed is perfect for Equity, and the way you are dressed is perfect for Finserve. These kinds of things that we couldn’t merge into culture. Bankers are serious people and in fintech they love what they do, and they have fun.” I agree. Just before this interview, a meme went out. It said if you bombed Mercury on a Friday night, the entire Nairobi fintech industry would be obliterated. Lanre’s team has hundreds of developers. He has six direct reports, all CIOs. Overall, his staff, give or take, 800. The most striking thing for him in the report is ”We prepared for it. We were not at all shocked by the results we came up with. And that was, by the way, is 99 per cent increase.”

>> THE LEAD This, he says, is just one of the many little things they need to do ”so we can do all the bigger things we want to.” Which are, pray tell. ”These continue to evolve. When we talk about tech companies, we talk about FAANG. (An acronym for tech giants: Facebook Inc, Amazon, Apple Inc, Netflix and Alphabet Inc.) We never really talk about homegrown products. There are brains here. A lot of them. It might surprise you that part of the Facebook development process is done in the Kibera of Nigeria. It’s called Yaba.” Yaba, Lagos, is the land of tech in Nigeria. Their very own Silicon Valley. ”We have the resources. One thing we have always lacked as a country, is organistion. Individually, Africans do great. As a collective, we might need to be rallied behind the cause of greatness. I have had the opportunity to work with four billionaires across Africa, and we have capital. The problem has been the relationship between tech and money. The richest man in Africa – Aliko Dangote – doesn’t really invest much in tech. He has tangible organisations like cement factories, oil and gas etc.” Meanwhile, the major players in the US are into intangible things like intellectual property (IP). ”We (Equity) have been able to get the mix right with nearly 400 developers across the world. We have CIOs from across 23 different banks, across the globe, and we have an organisation that strived to be a housing bank, to becoming the biggest bank in Kenya. We have a visionary at the helm. I think for once, Africa may be heading in the right direction.” Keeping in mind how rich the talent pool is in-house, does he ever struggle to fill in roles? ”I get that question all the time. In all the banks I have worked in, when I leave, I’ve had people come up to me and say, ”I heard you were leaving. So where are we going?” Getting talent is not a problem if you have a reputation out there. If you treat people the way they need to be treated, and you work with people to find a way to better their lives and livelihoods.” The secret sauce, it turns out, is friendship. ”I’ve never had staff that were not friends. It is never

Teamwork is critical. When you have 26 CIOs of different banks working under an umbrella which is making big moves across the continent, trying to do something very big, there is a lot of ego.”

Lanre sits on several boards and has visibility across the entirety of Equity Group Holdings Plc. He sits on the

Naturally, he told them exactly that. Said no to the suggestion. Eventually, they sorted it, and the customers, out. Later the team wanted to know why he did not flip the switch on a seemingly reasonable idea. ”You should check the log of the attack. We realised in that instance, when we had that problem, we had over a million DDoS attacks coming into the bank.” If they had treaded the

treacherous suggested path, they would have opened the door for those DDoS to come in, and he would have been denied service. A save that meant instead of being down for two to three hours, the bank would have been down for days. Evidently, this was no skill because specialists in his group backed the recommendation. That was experience. ”A good CIO should have a lot of experience. They also need to respect people’s views. When I said I gathered all the people into the room, I gathered all their views. When it comes to technology, the loudest person in the room is not necessarily the most intelligent. Sometimes, the people who don’t say a word, like maybe the young person who just joined the team last week, may have something to offer. You need to be able to get information and people to talk.” What if you don’t have the experience or are still on a steep learning curve? ”Understand sometimes the business does not know what it needs. A good CIO should be able to articulate these needs. Teamwork is critical. When you have 26 CIOs of different banks working under an umbrella which is making big moves across the continent, trying to do something very big, there is a lot of ego.” This is hardly surprising. Being territorial www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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It is literally impossible for me to imagine this would happen considering how this conversation is going, but I ask anyway. Should there ever be a time when Equity must downsize and cut their tech budget, what would Lanre prioritise? ”One mistake people make sometimes is assuming IT needs to prioritise. IT doesn’t have to prioritise. It’s like a man saying he wants to prioritise his wife’s needs. She should be the one who says, ‘I need ABCD.’ Your job as her husband, is to facilitate those things. That is what we do with IT. I won’t tell the business this is what we need to prioritise. They analyse. If it is the Head of Digital Products, they will tell me what they need to meet their objectives. What I do then is make sure these priorities are delivered on time.”

strategy board, the innovation board, the procurement board, and the IT board. With this much insight into the business, his academic background and considerable experience, he definitely makes sound business decisions. ”When it comes to technology, you can’t do impulse buying or make impulsive decisions. They may cost you your career. Once, while working in the largest bank in Nigeria, we had a network glitch with tons of customers in the banking hall. We realised the problem was with the network. I called everybody in my team, and a member of the team told me there was a layer that protects us from a DDoS attack; that if we switched it off, we should be fine.” It sounded like a good idea, and everybody in the group agreed. But wait! ”Before execution, I remembered doing something just like that in a smaller bank. It was a disaster.”

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a problem. People always say there is a talent drought in Africa. I don’t know where they are looking. I also don’t believe you have to find talent in Kenya to work in Kenya. I have staff in Ukraine, South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria. They work according to their time zones and in the comfort of their homes instead of sitting on a desk at Equity in Kenya. And they are still bringing value.”

>> THE LEAD can be good for business. Except, how do you put them together without egos on top of other egos? Again, friendship. Also, treating them with respect because they have earned their stripes. Lanre’s greatest quality is the most difficult to practice, integrity. ”I feel this might be my greatest strength. You say what you mean, and you don’t make people promises and not meet those promises. When I came to the bank, I made certain promise to Dr James. Good thing is those promises were to be delivered in four years. We were able to deliver most of them within a year and a half. As the saying goes, under promise, and overdeliver.” What would happen if Equity got hacked and they demanded ransom? To pay, or not to pay. ”First thing is, my job is to make sure that we are not. I may be a technical guy, but I am also a spiritual person. Saying it could make it happen, might just make it happen.” Let’s say, for example, Bank A got hacked. ”If you are making that decision then, as a bank, you have already failed. If you want to be cremated when you die, write it down somewhere so people know. Don’t wait to die leaving them not knowing what to do with your body.” When it comes to an attack, you need to already have your ducks in a row. ”If you follow protocols, and it is agreed that you pay ransom, then you do the same. If the procedure says not to, you don’t.” Nothing blurred about those lines. “America says they don’t pay ransom though we know sometimes they do… The thing is, you should have policies. If you are reactive when there is a problem, then you’re not worth the seat you’re sitting on.” Aside from the DDoS instance, Lanre confesses to have made a lot of mistakes during his career. These, he declares, have brought him thus far. ”I make cheap mistakes. I made those decisions early in my career on whether to buy or to build. Nowadays, honestly, I rarely make mistakes because I made a lot of those in the past.” Looking back, the biggest ones have involved people. ”There are instances where I have let good people 28 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

go. Someone will tell me they got a job. What they need is someone to invite them for drinks, ask, what are they offering you? Let’s have that conversation. But when you let them go and ask HR to please get you a replacement, you realise how difficult it is to replace this guy.” Lanre uses a fascinating analogy to describe his team. ”There are times when you watch a football match, and you see the (Lionel) Messis of this world. But then there are guys out there – let’s say Claude Makélélé, Michael Essiene or even Matthew Currie - there’s something about them. None of them are winning. None of them is celebrated. But every time they left their team, the team struggled. You know why? Because they carry the weight while other people enjoy the glory.” Steve Jobs says it is the crazy ones who change the world. Lanre has discovered the quiet ones. ”Deep down, I know there are guys in my team who I rarely mention or even talk about. These are the guys who if they are not there, I’m done. I have learned to keep those quiet guys that don’t talk much, but they know their stuff. I would love to mention them by name, but they might get poached!” His successes, aside from the spectacular 99 per cent increase in profit gleaned from efficient systems of course, inevitably includes people. ”When I left one of the banks in Nigeria, I had six people reporting to me. I left the bank and three months later, the six of them were all bank CIOs. It means I trained six CIOs. I feel proud of that. When I go to Nigeria, I can say a handful of banks are people I have worked with. That may be my greatest win.” It is a good thing he reads CIO Africa magazine. It wasn’t a hard sell, bringing him down to Muthaiga. We are his resource as are podcasts and an audiobook or two as well as attending webinars. ”I enjoy listening to my MD. I hear him say things 15 years ago that everybody in the room was like ‘yeah right.’ Those things are actually happening right now. We are 66

branches in Kenya, we are a housing bank, we are the most profitable bank in Kenya. I believe we can be the biggest bank in Kenya. It just goes to show when a man has a lot of power and vision in what he believes, it will come to pass.” There are people who say without the doctor there would be no Equity. Lanre will not tolerate this nonsense. ”I shudder when I hear those things. He’s been able to over the years build a very formidable team. People like David Ngata (the Group Finance Director), and Polycarp Igathe (the Group Chief Commercial Officer). When you talk about resource-based banking, I think we have the largest pool of skills in Kenya. And I think that makes us great.” Equity’s unique selling proposition was it pioneering spirit when it rallied a ”peculiar set of customers. And I say this with a lot of respect. We had customers who were denied a banking service at some point in their lives. We decided to fix that problem so there is a bond between the bank and the people". To the naysayers, Lanre adds, ”During COVID-19, I got a salary review. And I am well paid if I may say. Yet I got reviewed at the heart of COVID-19. At the same time, we got 14 new CIOs. We employed over 250 developers. You don’t do that if you don’t have a vision that can weather storms. I’ve worked for several banks and none of them come close to the social impact Equity has.” Could Lanre consider another C-Suite job outside of being a CIO? “This is a very hectic job. The worst part about being a CIO is, the bigger the organisation gets, the bigger your problems get. Two years ago, we were doing 1.75 million transactions per day. Now, we are doing over 10 million. What that means is, if you are down for two minutes, it impacts a tremendous amount of people. The more systemic you get, the more your job as a CIO becomes hectic. If we go down for just one minute, the whole of Kenya goes crazy. Would I want to do this job if I had another chance to? Oh yes. I love the job.”

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The worst part about being a CIO is, the bigger the organisation gets, the bigger your problems get. Two years ago, we were doing 1.75 million transactions per day. Now, we are doing over 10 million. What that means is, if you are down for two minutes, it impacts a tremendous amount of people.

www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> SACCOTECH 2022

STEVE MBEGO

THE AFRICA SACCOTECH FORUM HIGHLIGHTS 2022

Writer

Are Neobanks The Future Of Saccos? Saccos, like any other deposit-taking body such as banks, are having to go through a period of dramatic digital transformation. A key challenge for financial institutions and even more so for Saccos, is providing the same experience that members get in-person, but online. What’s more, Generation Z (Gen Zers) - people born between 1997-2012- will soon become the largest cohort of consumers. These group huge digital expectations that businesses should consider if they want to transact with them. At the recently held Africa SaccoTech Forum, Saccos were advised on ways to digitally transform their organisations in line with emerging market trends. Cynthia Wandia, CEO & Co-Founder, Kwara advised Saccos to turn into neobanks to overcome challenges facing them thus improving their overall efficiency as well as attract young people who prefer digital experience." Neobanking emerged in response to the challenges facing banks, which echo those facing Saccos today. Turning Saccos into neobanks will help them lower operational costs which pass savings to members. The shift will also allow for compliant, granular reporting and analytics to help in decision making,” she said. Wandia added that this transformation will allow rapid product innovation which will help generate a new customer base. Moreover, digitalonly Saccos can take advantage of 30 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Cynthia Wandia, CEO & Co-Founder, Kwara

technology to offer personalised services to its members. ”Personalisation and ease of access will grow member activity and trust. Saccos will be able to offer products that meet individual needs,” she stated. Some of the defining features of neobanks are the use of technology

to personalise services and reduce operational costs. They are also able to launch features more quickly. Whereas it may take up to one year to install or implement a traditional system, in that span of time, a neobank will have introduced credit cards, debit cards, and a slew of other products.

Marketing To Generation Z (Gen Zers)

L_R: Michael Michie, CTO, Solv, Victor Isyamba, Founder, Wiseup, Kelvin Ebole, ICT and Business Innovations Manager at Safaricom Sacco, Joseph Mathenge, COO, Serianu Kenya and Patrick Kiniti, CEO, Techmax At the panel discussion during the Africa SACCOTech Forum

Patrick Kiniti, CEO, Techmax underscored the need for SACCOs to first understand the mindset of Gen Zers before designing products for them. ”SACCOs should first read the mind of Gen Z before coming up with products and services for them. SACCOs should develop digital platforms with the right interface and experience for Gen Z,” he stated. Joseph Mathenge, COO, Serianu noted that, ”Gen Zers are sensitive about data collection and will ask

User Experience Moreover, digital SACCOs must strive to offer seamless experience for its members. Phides Nyamohanga, Manager, Managed Cybersecurity Services, Safaricom PLC, advised digital SACCOS to ensure that their services are always available regardless of the time, location and channel used. From a cybersecurity perspective, Dr Bright Mawudor, CTO, Xetova, explained that should be cybersecurity compliant. ”Digital Saccos should be able to identify attacks way before they happen and ways to recover from cybersecurity attacks,” he said. George Ngujuna, CIO, Safaricom PLC advised SACCOs undergoing digital transformation to factor in the needs of their customer by involving them in research and development. ”One of the pitfalls for digital transformation is designing and having conversations only in the boardroom and the head office. You need to engage with customers to know where their pain points are,” he said. The annual CIO Africa SaccoTech Forum brings together industry leaders from the Sacco world, Heads of IT as well as CIOs and CEOs to explore new technologies modifying the Sacco landscape by looking at various technology use-cases. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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”These are people who were born in the Internet age. When building products for them, it is important that you first understand that they are antisocial and the only place they get information is social media. They would rather speak to customer care in form of a chatbot rather than talk to a real person. They would rather transact on a mobile phone rather than as opposed to visiting a branch. SACCOs should put these into consideration when designing products and services for them,” he said.

questions before parting with their information. Also, they don’t want businesses to send them unnecessary promotional messages or sell their data to the wrong person. They want quality of service that should be available all the time,” he said.

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Saccos need to start engaging with Gen Zers because their requirements are unique and are set to challenge the product architects to a whole different level. Kelvin Ebole, ICT and Business Innovations Manager, Safaricom Sacco Ltd said Saccos should tailor their products and services to meet the digital expectations of Gen Zers.

>> IT LEADERSHIP

STEVE MBEGO

Why The Future Of Data Centres Is Green

Writer

Resilient CEO David Murimi is not just venturing into the data centre business. He is already running several other tech businesses

”Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts,’’ Winston Churchill once said. For David Murimi, a serial technology entrepreneur, his mother’s failure in retail business is what inspired him to start, and run, several technology businesses that he has managed to scale up to international levels. He currently runs three companies: a software company, Ryanada Ltd, webhosting company Truehost Cloud, and website builder Oliit. He also plans to set up the first green data centre in Masinga, Machakos County, Kenya.

Today, we find Ryanada Place, located in Juja at Highpoint Building off Thika Road. The office is open plan with young people in casual wear busy on their laptops. I noticed whiteboards with the company targets. There’s a dartboard and a table tennis court where I presume employees get to cool off steam. “You can't beat my best employee,” David told me. His oldest employee is 33, the youngest, 21. 32 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

So, who is David Murimi? I am a 33-year-old Kenyan man by birth. I went to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), did IT, dropped out, but eventually graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 2013. My journey started at 19. I worked hard at my mom’s retail business, which failed. That failure never left my mind. I only found peace when I started to solve

some of those SMEs' problems through websites and software apps when I cofounded Ryanada in 2010 with two of my friends while still at JKUAT. Share your experience starting with Ryanada. Under Ryanada, we started making software applications and websites for small businesses. We developed over 10 software applications, most of which

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" I am a 33-year-old Kenyan man by birth. I went to the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), did IT, dropped out, but eventually graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering in 2013. My journey started at 19. I worked hard at my mom’s retail business, which failed."

www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> IT LEADERSHIP failed. We got a lucky break in 2015 when we created a Sacco management software that became a hit with Saccos and microfinance institutions. In 2016, Esacco became Jisort, a cloud banking platform that enables MFIs, banks, Saccos, cooperatives, lenders and fintech to offer agile and flexible financial solutions globally.

was launched in 2016 through Truehost Cloud and Jisort and have grown since.

•

As a cloud solution provider, data centres remain a critical part of the business. We spend a lot on data centre colocation fees.

What happened next?

•

Customers are entrusting us with bigger IT loads every day. A data centre gives us a huge tactical advantage in our quest to be the best cloud company.

•

We have developed the technical capacity to run and maintain data centre infrastructure and therefore, launching a data centre is just a slight horizontal scaling of our business model.

•

We envision democratising data centres. We are introducing a different way on how to consume data centre services. It is possible for even much smaller businesses to take their IT load to the data centre.

In 2016, we founded Truehost Cloud as a sighting of a market gap and frustration with the webhosting and cloud companies then. Fortunately, Truehost Cloud has grown to be a market leader locally. We are chasing our position with Nigeria. We are growing very fast in South Africa. We are also progressing in the US and Indian markets. Truehost Cloud currently provides cloud solutions to customers in more than 50 countries globally. In 2017, I was fortunate to be part of Alibaba eFfounders Fellowship where business leaders in Alibaba and Jack Ma mentor top founders in Africa. In 2019, we incorporated Cloudoon in the US. It is a privately held technology company focusing on emerging markets and operates offices in US, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. In 2021, we launched Oliit, an easy no-code platform that lets you create your free website, online store and start selling online. Cloudoon is our holding company. Every subsidiary operates as an independent company with its own team. The subsidiaries include: 1.

Ryanada Limited (Kenya) founded in 2010

Truehost Cloud Ltd (Kenya) founded in 2017

Truehost Cloud Ltd (Nigeria) Founded in 2018

Truehost Africa (South Africa) Founded in 2020

Oliit Ltd (Kenya) Founded in 2021

What is currently your core business and when did you launch it? Our core business is managed cloud services, and this is a business that 34 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Why are you venturing into the data centre business?

We have kickstarted the process of setting up our first data centre (MAS 101) at Masinga, Kenya. Why Masinga and how was the idea conceptualised? MAS101 was conceptualised back in 2019. I was fortunate to tour some of the most advanced data centres in the world and worked in Cyxtera, CyrusOne and Equinix Data Centres in Dallas and Atlanta while setting up a US cloud region for Truehost Cloud. I realised it is something we need, and we can achieve locally at almost the same size and even more technologically advanced. Ever since we have been modelling the idea to what it is now. We settled on Masinga because the data centre is 100 per cent green and the primary energy source is hydro dams. The location is near the Masinga Dam. Solar is the secondary energy source. There is amazing photovoltaic power potential at Masinga. And, it is a known secret that one of the main ISPs in Kenya has

terminated its fibre in the area. What do you mean when you say MAS 101 will be a green data centre? The future is green. The future belongs to businesses that are environmentally responsible. And in this case, green is the most economical option in the long run. A green data centre is one running on renewable energy such as hydro energy, geothermal, solar power, wind power among others. There are green data centres elsewhere in the world and mostly in Europe. We have modelled Cloudoon MAS101 on Green Mountain data centres in Norway, the greenest data centres in the world having achieved 100 per cent green status. Data centres consume more power than a proportional city. They account for up to 3 per cent of world electricity demand yet there are just a few of them. It’s probable there are less than 10 cities or towns in Kenya that consume more than 10MW of power. Yet MAS101, a facility on just 10 acres of land will consume less. If large consumers of power go green then you have a chance to take the whole economy green thus the sustainability of our resources and becoming environmentally friendly. What is the state and future of data centres in Kenya? We have a few data centres in Kenya. There are 3 major players: Africa Data Centers, Safaricom, and Icolo. Of course, there are other smaller data centres by bigger players who are still assessing the market. I speculate that Icolo and ADC could be the only carrier-neutral data centres. We do not have a green data centre in Kenya and our biggest data centre is small by world standards. We are excited about MAS101 since it will be green and the largest (green) data centre in Africa and also carrier neutral. There is a growing demand for quality data centres despite the existing prohibitive colocation charges. What kind of current technology will the data centre have? Cooling is the most important element in a data centre. More

passion. Empathy strengthens the bond among team members. As an empathetic team, we can listen, understand and help our customers. I consider empathy to be the heart of customer service. It is said there is a shortage of IT talent in Kenya. How do you attract and retain employees?

MAS101’s power and Internet are available on 2N+1, that is at least 3 sources at any instance. It is a neutral carrier data centre. We will have the major ISP both local and international onsite. The data centre will also have a 10 MW solar plant that will provide a secondary power source for the data centre. The data centre is 100 per cent green, primary source will be hydropower. It will host 2500 racks. What is the cost of MAS101? We estimate the project to cost between $50m - $60m. We are talking to both local and international investors to help fund it. With years of experience running

I always consider failure as a learning opportunity. Every time we fail, we try again with minor or major alterations of the process. Most of the time we try until we cannot try anymore. What are your good and bad memories as a CEO? It's a busy kind of environment where everything is always changing to the extent that milestones have been overshadowed by other milestones, failures overshadowed by bigger failures. However, it’s always a special memory to see a happy customer. It's a bad memory when we fail to meet a customer's expectations. As a CEO, what qualities do you value most among your employees? I think the most important qualities are integrity, work ethics, and empathy. There is what I call intellectual integrity – the courage, commitment and ability to always present one's true position, understanding and knowledge on a subject matter. The second bit of integrity is honesty in everything. I consider integrity to be the heart of character. Under work ethics, working hard, working long and working smart are inseparable, whether in pursuit of personal development or at the job. I consider work ethics to be the heart of

Will the cloud eat the data centre? Yes and No. Yes, the cloud is eating data centres as we know it. The high computational advancement within the cloud has and is rendering the traditional low power density (4.5Kw per rack) data centre obsolete. The demand has shifted to high computational power and high energy-efficient data centres. No, because cloud data still resides in data centres. It's of course a different kind of data centre, a highpower density data centre. This explains why we are developing a high-power density (at least 30KW per rack) Masinga Data Centre. If you were to start afresh, what would you have done differently? I started the company while still in college. I was naive, curious and energetic. Growth has been hectic and painful. I think I would join a tech company where I would gather experience, network and acquire other resources before starting out. Of course, there is no guarantee that this would lead to bigger success, but it would possibly lead to less pain. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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What are the other key features?

companies, how do you handle failure?

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power is consumed in cooling than running computers in most cases. Power consumption for cooling is estimated at about 1.3 times the IT load and redundant power. Water cooling technology is a modern cooling technology that has been around for some time. We are employing the latest water-cooling technology at MAS101. It will operate on gravity. This will help MAS101 cut the cost of data centre colocation by over 60 per cent, enabling MAS101 data centre charges to be globally competitive. It will not only be 100 per cent green but also the most inexpensive.

We have developed a recruitment system focusing on character and skillset. We don't pay much attention to formal training. This allows us to attract the real talent, most of which are shunned by large companies for not having computer science degrees. Moreover, we have a reputation for developing talent through progressive in-house training. Most people that join us enjoy the tough grind, because of talent development options. Most of the time when we lose talent, it is to the very top companies globally.

>> SACCOTECH 2022

Kevin Namunwa

Writer

INSIGHT from THE AFRICA SACCOTECH FORUM 2022

How Crucial is Digital Transformation in the Growth of SACCOs in Africa? Cynthia Wandia, and the ICT Manager at Mwalimu National Sacco Sammy Nyambu. The panelists all agreed it is important for Saccos to embrace digital transformation because it is inescapable. Today, Sacco members are experiencing the technological convenience in other services, and it is crucial that Saccos embrace technology to give its members a seamless experience. When it comes to digitisation, it is not really a choice, but rather about compliance, competitiveness, and survival. Digital transformation is inevitable, and the companies that accustom their operations around it are the ones that survive in the long run.

Kris Senanu, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at Safaricom PLC at the SaccoTech Forum breakfast meeting. Saccos have grown in Africa with a vast majority onboarding huge numbers of members monthly. It is crucial that as Saccos are growing and transforming, the continent is also experiencing a fast-tracked digital transformation.

SaccoTech space in Kenya.

How are these two related? This was the main topic of discussion at the Africa SaccoTech Forum held at the Nairobi Serena Hotel on 21 April 2022. The event started by a CEO’s breakfast, sponsored by Safaricom, that saw the attendance of CEOs, CIOs, COOs and IT leaders in the

The panel was moderated by dx⁵'s Chairman and Content Director, Harry Hare, with panelists Chief Enterprise Business Officer at Safaricom PLC Kris Senanu, Association of Fintechs in Kenya's Chairman Ali Hussein, Kwara Technologies Founder and CEO

36 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

The breakfast saw a loaded panel discuss the relationship between digital transformation and Saccos in Africa and how the former can support the latter.

At the SaccoTech Forum CEO’s breakfast, for instance, Kris Senanu talked of Safaricom’s role in the sector and how it is helping Saccos and fintech walk the digital transformation journey. ”At Safaricom, we began as a telecommunications company but have grown into more of a tech company today. These fintech in the market need to understand that we are not here as competitors but rather enablers and collaborators," Kris noted. "We have worked with a few Saccos and have helped them digitize and it is clear that Saccos are becoming more important as they begin to digitise. It helps them attract new members." Senanu added that "the Sacco industry is ready and ripe for digital transformation."

Placing Technology at the Centre of Saccos’ Growth

Core Banking System for Saccos In the current landscape of Saccos, it is clear that disruption has already happened. Most of the Saccos around have already adopted technology and are beginning to take in a core banking system. Rosemary Karachi, the Project Manager at NetcompanyIntrasoft, also delivered a keynote address on how Saccos can leverage a core banking system to improve its services to members. "Our Saccos have digitised and adopted digital transformation, and we have also seen API architecture adoption," she said.

Muthua noted that the situation currently is that most Saccos are being forced to get into the digital transformation era without knowing that they are increasing the surface for risk and attack. He further said cyber breaches are almost a guarantee over time as the business grows. In such cases, a lack of resilience when not protecting the company becomes fatal to the business. The trouble is at the end of the day, there is a limited representation of technology across the business. "As you look at digital transformation, technology, cybersecurity, and cyber

resilience, it is no longer about the IT Manager and the CIO. It is about the business. It is a conversation that goes to the board level." Involving your whole business is important in protecting the business. For Saccos, all members need to be involved in the cyber-protection conversation. Muthua advised IT professionals on how they can make their businesses and Saccos more resilient through their digital transformation journeys. The first step in building resilience is in cyber assets, business processes, and business operations. This is where a business does a self-assessment and reviews any loopholes and risks. The next step is the basics, which are building connectivity and putting intelligence into the connectivity. After this, you look at how you manage your data, protect your data, your business, and your clients - in the case of Saccos, members.

She further noted that "We have seen that indeed there is transformation. There are improvements from where we are coming from but one thing, we have also realised is that some of these deployments have wrong architecture." The best architecture for a Sacco or even business is basically to have this core banking system at the centre of everything, have it integrated with business activities and decisions. In the past, Saccos had everything in one place. This meant if any of the solutions went down, then there would be no service for the members. "Position or place the core banking system with the right architecture, integrate it to your omnichannel, CRM, and everything else you want to provide to your members. Then get the right architecture in place so that you provide value to the members," Karachi advised. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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At the same event, the Africa SaccoTech Forum, the Executive Head for Cloud & Cybersecurity at Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Richard Muthua, later delivered a keynote speech about how Saccos are placing technology at the centre of their recovery journey for businesses in this digital transformation era.

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Delegates following a presentation closely at the Africa SaccoTech Forum 2022

She added that "Today, the member is asking to be connected to the whole world and at the end of the day, to have this delivered we need a strong backbone which is the core banking system."

>> THE AFRICA SACCOTECH FORUM 2022 PICTORIAL

38 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

ARTICLE by

CAROL ODERO

REASONS WHY THE PAY GAP SHOULD KEEP YOU UP AT NIGHT

40 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

>> HERNOVATION FEATURE

1. The Miscalculation Of The Gender Gap Chances are you are familiar with the stats on the pay gap with expressions saying women earn 82 cents to the dollar earned by every man’ and wondered what it means. ”The commonly reported figure—that a woman earns 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man—is derived by taking the total annual earnings of men in the American economy in a given year and dividing that by the number of male workers. This gives you the average annual earnings of an American man. Then you do the same thing but for women. The average annual women’s earnings come in at about 80 percent of the average annual man’s earnings,” states fee.org. When the pay gap talks about 82 cents to the dollar (this figure depends on which parts of the world and could range from 49 cents to around 84 cents), it depends on whether the woman is a woman of colour or Caucasian right down to which industry she works in and the amount of data available. In March 2020, americanprogress.org calculated just how distressing this gap is by giving context. In 2018, a woman working full time, all year, earns $10,194 less than her male counterpart. If the pay gap remains unchanged, ”she will miss out on $407,760 over the course of a 40-year career.” How could this possibly be anything but alarming? If this does not terrify you, collectively, more than 55 million full time working women earned an estimated $545.7 billion less than their male counterparts in 2019. Without this gap, $545.7 billion would be lining women’s pockets and their family. Distributed, it would add up to $9.6 million per woman. I don’t have to tell you what this money could do.

2. Why Race Wars Matter In The Gap

Black women suffer from two kinds of discrimination. Aauw.org notes that ”Black women and girls live at the intersection of sexism and racism. While sexism and racism are distinct forms of discrimination that manifest differently, their effects are compounded when a person experiences both at the same time.” There is the career choice factor at play here. ”Black women are more likely to work in lower-paying service occupations (like food service, domestic work and health care assistance) than any other industry and less likely to work in the higher-paying engineering and tech fields or managerial positions.” www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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Black mothers are also far more likely to be breadwinners in their families. Their households heavily depend on what they bring home. Since they are paid less, they also have less money for basic necessities. Ultimately, their financial status is in jeopardy. They have less savings, cannot pay for higher education, or invest in property. Black me are paid less than white men. White men are basically paid more than anyone. Black and white men with the same experience and education doing the same job in the same geographic location are not paid the same. Black men earned 98 cents for every dollar earned by white men with the same qualifications. 2 per cent makes quite the difference when compounded over a lifetime. That much is not in dispute.

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On average, Black women in the U.S. are paid 36 per cent less than white men and 20 per cent less than white women says leanin.org. Here is the bad news. ”From age 16, Black girls are paid less than boys the same age—and the gap only grows from there.” It gets worse. ”Black women enroll in college at higher rates than men overall and—most notably—at higher rates than white men. But the gap is largest for Black women who have bachelor’s degrees—they earn 36 per cent less than white men with bachelor’s degrees on average.” It just so happens Black women are regarded as quite ambitious. They are far more likely than white men and white women to say they want to become top executives.

>> HERNOVATION FEATURE

3. What Is The Cause Of The Pay Gap? Everything and then some in this article. But let’s narrow it down a little. According to Harvard Kennedy Schools’ Women & Public Policy Programme in the video 3 Things You Should Know About the Gender Pay Gap, men and women tend to enter certain stereotypical fields when it comes to career choice. Men tend to enter higher paying professions and trades such as building and construction while women, well, do not. Instead, they pick jobs traditionally regarded as female-friendly such as healthcare and caregiving. Take lawyers for instance. Some specialisations when it comes to law pay more than others. How much commitment one is willing to put up with in their career also brings in more money. In my interviews with male and female CIOs, the male CIOs have tended to be more willing to put in more hours at work, a trait illustrated by their willingness to be on call at all hours. Generally, people who put in more hours are paid far more than those who have regular routines. This applies to men putting in more hours than women who opt for flexible schedules or keep regular hours. It just so happens women in ‘male’ oriented jobs such as developers still face a pay gap compared with their male counterparts.” In 2012, female computer programmers earned 84 percent of what male computer programmers earned. Female financial managers earned an astounding 70 per cent of what male financial managers earned. Female lawyers (yes, it comes up again), earned only 80 per cent of what male lawyers earned.

4. Education Has Nothing To Do With It Women outnumber men at all levels of postsecondary education. In Women Can’t Win: Despite Making Educational Gains and Pursuing High-Wage Majors, Women Still Earn Less than Men, discrimination is detected. ”Even when they do everything ”right”—choose a high-paying field of study, pursue a high-paying major within that field, and get a job in a high-paying occupation—women still get paid less than their male peers. If a man and woman who are equally qualified get the same job, the woman still only earns 92 cents for every dollar the man is paid—more than 81 cents, to be sure, but a far cry from earnings equality.” When it comes right down to the wire, this goes back to The Broken Rung level. TBR refers to the very first promotion a woman gets in her career within the first 1 to 3 years of her working life. This period has a far greater impact on a woman’s career than previously thought. The paper above states women need to negotiate their first paycheck well because it will affect her earnings over the course of her career. The gap widens with age, peaking by the early 50s. “Not only do women start off at lower salaries, but the rate of increase in pay is also lower over time. By his early 50s, the average man with a bachelor’s degree earns $34,000 more annually than a similarly educated woman. A man with a bachelor’s degree will see his annual earnings increase by 87 per cent over his career, but a woman with 42 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

5. Quite A Number Of People Consider The Pay Gap Mythical In Explained: Why Women Are Paid Less, a Vox documentary aired on Netflix, many of the reasons beyond the pay gap have since disappeared. Save for one tiny little significant factor that will forever remain unchanged - women will always be the child-bearers. They are also automatically expected to be the primary caregivers. In the US, mothers spend nine hours a week more than men on childcare and housework. ”This is the height of the pay gap,” it declares. The late 20s and early 30s, considered childbearing years, also mean one of the partners needs to stay at home with the child. Maternity leave and life nominate the woman as the primary parent. The man is more likely to get promoted because having a baby does not alter his career trajectory much. But for the woman, she has to say no to projects, travel and assignments on occasion so she can take care of the child. By the time a decade has gone by, he can make partner. She cannot because she is not up to speed and has lost time which gave the man an edge. She’s not earning the same at this point, and the earning potential diverges. The pay gap adds another fascinating element. Women without children earn more than women with children. Vx calls it ”a motherhood penalty.” It continues, ”A pay gap based on choices … is different than a pay gap because you are just a woman. And you just can’t get equal pay for doing the same thing a guy does.” Now.org have even quantified it. ”It is estimated that for every child a woman has, she suffers a 5 per cent wage penalty. Studies show that in comparison with female managers who are not pregnant, those who are pregnant are perceived to be less committed to the job, less dependable, and more emotional. Studies show part-time work, lower experience, and interrupted work only contributed to one-third of the motherhood penalty. Discrimination plays a significant role in the limitations for working mothers.”

An Innovative Banking Suite for modern Commercial Banks, MFIs and SACCOs

Banking services A Revolutionary modular solution serving the emerging future technology and business needs of the Banking and Financial Services market. marketing@netcompany-intrasoft.com

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>> HERNOVATION INTERVIEW

ARTICLE by

CAROL ODERO

44 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

With a career that started in agrochemicals as a Business Controller handling all things finance, then joined her first Telecom Telkom Kenya when it was under Orange Kenya; she refers to it as ”going on an adventure,” spent a decade across roles at Airtel where she got to ”fall in love with the industry” before her brilliant self was snapped up by MTN GlobalConnect. What made you fall in love with the telecom industry? There is no dull day when you are in telecom. It is very dynamic, very fast, you must think on your feet, there is a lot to do, and the landscape is changing. Digital transformation is changing everything, and we are right at the driver’s seat. You wake up every day looking forward to something different. There must be a lot of exciting things coming to MTN Global Connect Kenya and probably already happening. What are some of the things you are looking forward to as the MD ? I’ve been here for almost two months so I can’t say looking forward to at this point. But then, I was looking forward to meeting the team, getting to understand what we can do together and immersing myself in the culture of the organization and getting to see how we can synch synergies; how our roles www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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The world of telcos has been exciting, especially if your career has yo seated on the front seat of growth. This is where Sylvia Anampiu fell in love

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What (Really) Goes Into Telecommunications That Works

By the time I met Sylvia Anampiu, Managing Director, MTN Business Kenya Limited- a subsidiary of MTN GlobalConnect- she has been at it with MTN for a couple of months. Yet she is very fluent in MTN. MTN Business Kenya Limited now runs as MTN GlobalConnect Kenya brand after acquisition by MTN GlobalConnect which made entry into Kenya. Of course, it also helps that Kenya forms the backbone of the East African Community connectivity, bordering five countries as it were. We should expect fast and affordable broadband access traversing East and West Africa. The investment: $9 million to start off. Anampiu will oversee all this.

>> HERNOVATION INTERVIEW all come together and change what MTN GlobalConnect Kenya is today. How have you found it so far? I love the warmth, culture, we work as a team, we know where we are headed and are just bringing ourselves together to make it happen. Your answers are very to the point! How much of MTN GlobalConnect’s strategy and insight can you share with us today? I’d say our strategy is to bring connectivity and digital transformation into Africa. What we are doing is interconnecting Africa. So far, we have been able to build 100,000kms of proprietary fibre across Africa – meaning MTN Global Connect owns this fibre – and as MTN GlobalConnect Kenya, we are part of this. In the past one year, we have been able to add almost 5,000km of fibre across our markets. Currently, with Kenya as one of the strategic locations, we are connecting the east to the west coast for a complete end-toend fibre solution providing fast and affordable broadband access. The MTN brand is huge in Uganda. Very strong. How will you gain traction here and do you think MTN GlobalConnect is likely to explode in Kenya as it has in Uganda? Let me first speak of MTN as a brand. For the second year running, we have been rated as the Most Valuable Brand in Africa ( Brand Finance Africa 150 rankings 2021). In Kenya, we are in the telco and corporate space . We are here and doing much more as MTN GlobalConnect. Having rebranded, we are seeing ourselves scaling up in terms of value we are creating for this country and being at the forefront of the digital transformation in Kenya. How will you draw in customers to MTN GlobalConnect Kenya? Our customer profile is mainly local and international telcos, hyperscalers like Google, AWS and our other customers are largely Multinational Enterprises. These are the kind of partners we 46 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

Earlier on in my career, it was difficult to deal with things that touch on other people’s livelihood. Restructuring, letting people go, for me, those were very tough. I was young, and maybe the impact was not so bad then because I didn’t have a family. But looking back, I think it was too much for me at that point. I was working with people, and I would look at them and know they have dependents, some of whom I don’t even see.

work with that we look to continually strengthen our relationships with and create more value for ourselves and our customers. During COVID-19, telcos became partners connecting loved ones. MTN was no exception. Was there an upsurge in numbers or growth in your customer base over the last two years?

I would not call it a mistake as such, but more like a lesson learned. When I was younger in my career, I decided to venture into the events business by buying equipment, tents, everything that goes with events. You know those things because you are in media. Unfortunately, I did not think through it. I invested in a lot of assets and then I was working so I got someone to run it. The ROI was terrible. If I could go back, I would probably lease and not buy. It set me back quite a bit but it was not a lesson lost. What about the flip side – what is the one thing you are proud of having done? The one thing that everyone knows you did and if I asked them, they would tell me how amazing you are. In my previous life, we set up the operation for the enterprise segment across Africa – more specifically, 17 markets then. We started out as a onetwo-woman show into the big business it is today by setting up processes, deciding how this would look in every

individual country because we were creating a very diverse environment. We also had to make sure we worked well with the regulators in the best, most efficient way possible. This is going to sound like a job interview question but here goes. What is it about the skills you had in your career that you are bringing to MTN GlobalConnect Kenya? I would say I am very adaptable. Getting here and understanding what the team is doing? How do we get it done? How do we work together? I am resultsoriented. I like to get things done. It excites me. That segues very nicely into the kind of leader you think you are. I lead from the front. I will hold your hand, we will walk together, and then see how to transform. I admire leaders who are authentic and great at connecting with people be it their teams or others. Leaders who don’t just see our day-to-day work, but who connect to people at whatever level and are humane. No one goes through a career without failing. So, what have you learned from your failures in your career? I would allow myself some grace. Sometimes. I am too hard on myself. I also realized this is what life is about. If you fall, you pick yourself up and life keeps moving, and don’t forget to pick your lesson. What is the toughest decision you have ever had to make?

I love hiking and taking road trips. And as much as I look at hiking as my hobby, it is also part of my exercise/fitness regime. How did you survive COVID-19? I can’t say a lot was happening in my life at that point. I just spent a lot of time outdoors. It was in those two years that I took up hiking as a hobby. That was the first time I went to Ngong Hills. From there, I just took it up. I did Mt. Kenya last year. I am looking forward to doing Mt. Kilimanjaro this year. Is there anything about MTN GlobalConnect Kenya that you would like to say that I haven’t asked? No. All I can say is we are going places, putting a lot of thought into Kenya, and we are looking forward to partnering with our partners and collaborators and doing more together as an industry. Work with partners we share the same values with, are willing to walk with us. It is a quid pro quo, what can we do together. How to transform the economy or the lives of people and the customers in the market we operate in Your business is very customer heavy. How does MTN keep subscribers happy in a post-COVID customer-first culture? Our service is very customer-centric. We view it as customer experience not customer care, how we interact with our customers and what our customers draw from this experience We have digital channels where we interact with our customers and strive to personalize each of our customer touchpoints. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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What has been the one mistake you have made that you wish you could go back in time and fix?

Fun?

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There has been explosive growth in data traffic, connectivity and growth in terms of data usage. Having quite a few of us working from home, I think it would be right to say there is immense traffic that passed into and across Africa and especially Kenya, being a digital hub. A lot of businesses have been transforming by going online to digitize their services. This, for example is why we are seeing a lot of investment in Kenya with businesses setting up shop here and those already here are expanding.

>> THINKING ALOUD

Michael Michie CTO, Solv Kenya

48 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

GEN Z NEED YOU TO LISTEN Financial institutions need to transform how they do business to reach Gen Z, a group that will not settle for half-hatched schemes, projects or ideas targeting them. It is all or nothing. The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to. Our present is full of younger and younger people as Gen Z (the latest generation born between 1997 and 2012). This gives Gen Z an age range of 9 to 24. Consequently, they are also becoming the new young adults all financial institutions would like to invite over to offer services. This would place most financial institutions with interest in those ages above 18. At this age they are legally adults and can hold various financial instruments such as bank accounts as their own.

those without this access. Now comes the pre-banked. This is a group yet to reach the legal age allowing them to have access to such financial institutions. This is where financial institutions should be focusing. With Gen Z who are wired. Coming up to them as a financial institution as they turn 18 outside their university cafeteria will not cut it for them. They will have had no prior association with you and won’t see it as a genuine attempt to connect with them on something deeper than getting them to open an account.

As financial institutions race to capture this new generation, they are doing so using the same techniques. If they were a race car, they didn’t bother to change their tyres for the slippery road ahead at the pit stop. Approaching Gen Z with offerings currently on the market is getting the short end of the deal. It is an assumption that would be catastrophic in the long run.

But this is where the Saccos can really have field day with Gen Z. They are both a perfect match for each other and all that saccos need to do is a little realignment to rival banks. Saccos and their member constitution as opposed to customers can easily appeal to Gen Z who value relationships they can see are beyond social constructs.

Unpacking this further reveals Gen Z has moved from possession-based consumption to access-based consumption and process-based consumption, meaning they place a lot of value on how they consume goods and services. As financial institutions prepare for them, it is crucial to take notice that Gen Z won’t come along at the age of 18 but much earlier. This effectively adds a new term into the existing mix of the banked and unbanked. The banked are those with access to financial institutions where they can save, borrow and/or invest. While the unbanked are, simply put,

The financial institutions that the Gen Z would love to be a part of will carry traits aligned with their personalities. A key trait for this generation is their open minds. Something that should be built into these institutions; the readiness to accept change and drastic change if need arises. Financial institutions serving them in future is one looking out for them even as the pre-banked by providing financial literacy and other key financial tools that do not require age restrictions. They need to align their goals beyond ROI to social, economic, human and planet impacts as their core drivers. That way, they could use the same Gen Z’s not as brand ambassadors, but and as partners with both parties benefiting. The future looks great in the internet-ready hands of Gen Z. Not only will they be a huge catalyst for change in financial services, but will also reshape a lot of these services to be focused on for good missions. www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

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How these traits affect how financial institutions should approach Gen Z can be hinted in the consumer habits of the generation. As consumers, Gen Z behaviours and traits reflect the values they see in the products and services they consume. Being connected means they are exposed to options and would rather be swayed into an option via a recommendation of a real-life user as opposed to the more common celebrity endorsement.

Saccos can also choose to investment in options as per member’s desires as opposed to banks that would focus on their return on investment. It allows them to create early brand loyalty that Gen Z will obviously appreciate. Saccos contemplating universal issues such as climate change impact, youth empowerment, poverty eradication, social justice, improving health care and hygiene is a reflection on how hard financial institutions are not working to appeal to Gen Z. It is more likely that a Sacco is capable of the required changes as compared to a bank that would simply dish out a product or service on the side to try and connect with this generation.

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What do Gen Z want? This is the question that should be asked and not just to those above 18 years of age. Gen Z are the first generation born into the internet age. With their access to the internet, they have more exposure to the varying options to life and lifestyle. Gen Z are also very independent, self-directed, and confident. They are racially diverse and multicultural; thanks to the internet they have been exposed to a lot of diversity. Other traits of this rising generation include being justice-minded, aware of their mental health, aware of climate change and are financially minded.

>> HARD TALK

ROBERT YAWE CEO, Synaptech Solutions

Technology Is An Enabler; Period!

Does the customer really know what they want, or do they need to be told what to want? One thing I am thankful to Strathmore University for was throwing me into the deep end of the start-up ecosystem as mentor and coach to start-up founders. An engagement I continue with to this date. I suspect that what they had expected me to offer was a technology perspective in relation to the solutions that the startups were working on. During the initial years, I was fortunate to be deeply engaged in the Safaricom challenge called AppWiz which was Safaricom’s initial jaunt into the innovation and start-up space, out of which they acquired a product called Mledger. This was then integrated into the m-Pesa platform. With Mledger, they were solving a problem for Safaricom on how to get the m-Pesa clients to get the same experience they got from using a bank account by providing them with a ledger aka statement of their transactions. Although that is what Safaricom would say was the rational but in my humble opinion, the main reason was to eliminate the transaction fee summaries that Mledger provided. Then again, I am just speculating. As we engaged in the acceleration programme, I realised that I was not adding much value to the start-ups as it was clear that what they needed was not pep talks about technology. What they needed was more about how to identify whose problem they were solving. To become more effective, I took time to read about start-ups as well as took some online courses on innovation and how to develop startup ecosystems. Kenya was at that time more of an egosystem driven by donor funds evaluated on impact as well as the unsustainable development goals (UN-STG). During my expedition into the innovation space, I came across a process called Customer Development that has been 50 www.cioafrica.co | MAY 2022 | CIO AFRICA

propularised in the US by Entrepreneur Steve Blank with offshoots such as the business model generation canvas and LEAN Start-up movements. What the Customer Development process advocates is that the customer is at the core of any solution. Unless you address their pain, whatever you do is futile. Please be wary of the oft misquoted statements of Steve Jobs and Henry Ford that the customer doesn’t know what they want. They do. The reason I have taken you through my journey into the innovation space is because it is very similar to a unit I did in college during programming called Systems Analysis and Design. It was boring as hell. What we truly wanted was to write code. It is unfortunate that SAD has been moved to the periphery of systems implementation be it a core banking system or a mobile payment system. Instead, we have opted for a dark development approach which results in solutions looking for problems. The lack of an empasis on SAD in the technology space is that we have become procurement experts instead of solution providers to the organisation. This was very glaring at the recently concluded CIO Africa SaccoTech Forum where questions being directed to vendors by some of the “CIOs” in the room suggested that they were not too clear on what problem they needed solved. What was even worse was that a majority of those working in the Sacco space are not from the industry. They did not feel it was necessary to become familiar with it as they believed that the technology was all they were there to install and manage, and not to serve the client. This situation is not unique to the Sacco industry. It transcends most industries where the technology is deemed to be the most importatnt component to the success of an organisation, while totally ignoring the needs of the customer or member.

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