Ali Talks Tech: Recent Episodes
Ali Hussein
Ali Talks Tech will follow the Pan African Tech Story from Silicon Savannah to Yabacon Valley, Nigeria’s answer to Silicon Valley, in Lagos' Yaba neighborhood.
We will trace the birth of the African Tech Ecosystem from Nairobi’s Ngong Road in the late ‘90s, to the South African cities of Joburg and Cape Town and follow it to how it is shaping up today.
Ali will also talk Fintech, his first love - from an entrepreneurial perspective, advisor to Techpreneurs, angel investor and lastly from a Policy & Regulator perspective.
linkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim/ Twitter:AliHKassim
In this electrifying episode of #Alitalkstech, join host Ali Hussein Kassim as he delves into the remarkable tale of how Totogi, led by CEO Danielle Royston, and Zain Sudan, under the guidance of IT Director Abdallah Hamid, teamed up to overcome an unprecedented crisis.
As Sudan faced a dire humanitarian situation due to a 40-day outage of telecommunication services, Totogi's Charging-as-a-Service (CaaS) Solution emerged as a beacon of hope, offering Zain Sudan an alternative to its on-premise charging service and ensuring swift business continuity.
Discover how Danielle's innovative approach, rooted in cutting-edge technology and the power of the public cloud, enabled Totogi to deploy its solution in a record-breaking 18 days, defying industry norms and traditional timelines.
Listen as Danielle and Abdallah share insights into their partnership, transcending the typical vendor-buyer relationship to become true partners in success. From the challenges faced to the triumphs achieved, this episode is a testament to the transformative power of technology and collaboration in the face of adversity.
Join the conversation as Ali and his guests explore the future implications of their partnership, from integrating AI into 2G networks to revolutionizing the telco industry with cost-effective, scalable solutions.
Don't miss this riveting discussion on how technology, innovation, and a shared commitment to serving communities can change the world. Tune in to #Alitalkstech and witness the journey of resilience, ingenuity, and triumph in the world of telecommunications
Unlocking Digital Frontiers: Mastercard's Approach to Telcos and Fintech in Africa- In the electrifying Season 3 premiere of #AliTalksTech, your host Ali delves deep into the heart of Africa's digital payment landscape with none other than Lenin Oyuga, the Head of Telco and Digital Partnerships for the Middle East and Africa at Mastercard.Kicking off with an exploration of Lenin's journey into the tech world, including his tenure at Oracle and the transformative impact of COVID-19 on digitalization, the conversation swiftly pivots to his role at Mastercard and the intricacies of their partnership approach.As Ali probes into the recent news surrounding Mastercard's strategic alliances, Lenin offers insights into the challenges and opportunities facing digital payments in Africa. Together, they dissect the prospects of Africa achieving an 80% mobile money penetration rate, while addressing the formidable roadblocks hindering interoperability.With the spotlight on the recent groundbreaking Mastercard-MTN deal, Ali leaves no stone unturned as he navigates through the complexities of bridging the gap between similar technologies.Tune in to #AliTalksTech Season 3, Episode 1, for an enlightening dialogue on the future of digital payments, Telcos, fintech, and Mastercard's pivotal role in shaping Africa's digital frontier.
On this episode of #AliTalksTech, We speak to Taha Jiwaji, a seasoned Tech entrepreneur and founder of Beem - a Pan-African communications provider that enables enterprises to sell, serve, authenticate, and create lasting relationships with their customers through SMS, USSD, airtime, payments, and chat. Businesses leverage our engagement platform Beem Engage, our unified chat contact center Beem Moja, and automate experiences through BeemAPIs. they are present across 25 countries, work with 60+ mobile networks, and serve 10,000+ businesses and startups. Beem just recently opened it’s offices in Nairobi. Beem is an integrated communications & financial services platform with the largest mobile network reach in Africa, empowering enterprises to scale quickly and effectively throughout the African continent. Taha takes us through his journey as an entrepreneur, how Beem started, what inspired him, up to the company’s present day evolution. Tune in for an insightful and informative conversation!
Did you know that In African markets, food inflation remains a pressing issue, with Nigeria experiencing a 7-year high inflation rate, and Ghana facing a 43% inflation rate attributed to the surge in food costs?
This is further fueled by a report showing that nearly 50% of the food produced in Africa, which could nourish 300 million people, goes to waste, straining sustainability efforts.
On this episode of #AliTalksTech, we speak to Tunde Kara, CEO of Vendease, a pioneering FoodTech company automating food supply across Africa by simplifying procurement processes and reducing bottlenecks in business management. Its comprehensive solutions encompass credit financing, real-time inventory tracking, and predictive analytics to optimize operations, reduce waste, and make data-driven decisions.
Vendease has empowered over 4,000 customers, resulting in savings exceeding $10 million in procurement expenses and over 35,000 man-hours.
Tune in for a compelling and informative conversation!
During our time at Safaricom, we had the privilege of speaking to two engineers, the first being - John Masharia, a Technical product owner at Safaricom. We speak about what his job is within Safaricom Engineering and how he contributes to the whole ecosystem. This is a direct look into the human beings behind Safaricom's engineering initiative. Tune in!
On this episode of Ali Talks Tech, We meet with George Njuguna, Director - Digital and IT, and his team at Safaricom. We discuss the company's journey from Telco to Fintech to now being a full blown Tech company building a home of engineering. Truly a must watch! Tune in!
On this episode of AliTalksTech, we are joined by Dan Kwach, Managing Director at Africa Data Centers. In this insightful conversation, On site at ADC, We touch on the different tiers of Data Centers and their implications and capacities, cloud computing, data security and how ADC hosts various cloud service providers all over Africa. We also spoke to one of the engineers and the HR manager to get a deeper look into what goes on at ADC. At the end we were granted a tour of the whole complex, tune in for a fascinating and insightful experience!
On Episode 9 of AliTalksTech, we are joined by Moses Kemibario, CEO, Founder of Dotsavvy, one of Kenya’s first digital business agencies. Moses is an entrepreneurial digital media and marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in some of Africa’s most successful internet companies. We start by discussing his history, beginning at 3 mice interactive media, we also talked about the evolution of technology and the internet from then till now, the seemingly ever present AI conversation and much more!
On this Episode of Ali Talks Tech we are joined by Catherine Muraga, Managing Director, Africa Development Center at Microsoft. We chat about her history and wealth of experience in the tech industry, financial services, translating tech needs into business requirements, how work changed after covid, Africa's youth bulge and much more!
On this Episode of AliTalksTech we are joined by Imelda Ngunzu, Director, Global partnerships and segments at mastercard, with a focus on consumer goods companies and figuring out how they can commercialize and enable digital payments in the eco-system. We discuss her work at mastercard, her passion for women’s and youth economic empowerment, tech, philanthropy, agriculture and technology, and much more!
On this episode of Ali Talks Tech we are joined by Abraham Mbuthia, a young Tech-Preneuer who is running two companies simultaneously - UZAPoint and Dolcepay. We discuss the significance of fintech’s in serving SMEs, the challenges SMEs face with regard to capital, how data plays a role in helping them get financing, we also delve into Abraham as a person as we figure out what makes him tick and much more!
On this Episode of Ali Talks Tech we are joined by Nancy Matimu, Founder, Director at Serrari Group ltd. We discuss her history and experience in the tech industry while touching on: financial literacy, fintech, financial freedom, Women in tech, and more!
On This episode of Ali Talks Tech, we speak to Paul and Sebie, the co-founders of Eclectics International - A Pan African Company serving over 244+ financial institutions and other corporations in Africa today, delivering innovative, state-of-the-art tailor-made software solutions for banking, financial, agricultural, transport, and public sector. #fintech
Riyaz Bachani, Techie, Entrepreneur who is building the Cloud for Africa. We trace his beginnings as a young writer in primary school in his hometown of Mombasa to buying his first computer from his royalty proceeds to the hallowed halls of MIT, the Mecca of Technology. Riyaz has built Angani without fanfare to become a solid Cloud and Tech Infrastructure/consulting company in East Africa. What's next for Angani? Listen in...
On the 1st episode of our new season, we discuss the past, present, and future of commerce in Kenya and Africa as a whole and a lot more interesting stories and insights in between, tracing Peter's story from Melbourne, Australia to Nairobi, Kenya.
This week's #AliTalksTech Africa Tech News with a special focus on Policy and Regulation and how #Fintechs can navigate this issue and come out on top. How have some #Fintechs successfully navigated the Policy and Regulatory Frameworks and thrived?
AliTalksTech Weekly Round of Tech News Across Africa kicks off with an examination of the potential effects of the SVB Contagion in Silicon Valley and it's potential effects on the African Tech Ecosystem. What are the learnings and how can we take these and propel the African Tech Ecosystem forward? Will African Governments pull together? How do we avoid the #BerlinConferenceMoment in African Tech? Listen to Ali Hussein Kassim as he explores this topic.
AliTalksTech's first live event. Join this unique gathering of leaders and practitioners in the Tech Space to look back at 2022 and look forward to the year ahead. We will be looking at the year ahead while taking a glance at the rearview mirror to assess the developments of the year past in the ever-evolving African tech landscape.
A conversation with Eric Muriuki, CEO of Loop DFS on the Launch of the New Loop, re-platforming the offering and the plans for Africa.
I'm back with Mo Nana, VP of Fintech at @Mastercard in Eastern Europe, the Middle East & Africa.
The focus of this conversation revolves around the @Cellulant partnership for virtual cards. This partnership kicks off with 6 markets in Africa. The main of this is to bring African Consumers and Entrepreneurs seamlessly into the Global eCommerce Ecosystem.
With a presence in 36 markets in Africa and 18 of these with Regulatory Imprimatur, @Cellulant is the perfect partner for @Mastercard in Africa.
Listen in. Leave your comments, and make sure to subscribe to the #Podcast and #Vodcast channels - @Ali Talks Tech
In an engaging conversation with Akshay Grover, we touch on his almost two years at Cellulant, his leadership style, and the art of complexity to achieve simplicity.
Cellulant is one of the oldest FinTechs in Africa with a footprint in more than 35 African countries. 18 of those with Regulatory Imprimatur. This is probably the most compliant FinTech in Africa, which comes with huge advantages.
We speak about the @Mastercard partnership and how that will impact the company and the ecosystem it is building.
In this episode I speak with Gaurang Shah, Head of Products and Engineering at @mastercard. We talked about #BNLP, Product Development and Engineering.
Gaurang has over two decades of global professional experience in tech, banking and payments industry delivering many global firsts and creating new lines of businesses bringing innovative technologies to market which require persistence and persuasion.
He leads the companies Payment Technology space. As Head of Products for MasterCard in Eastern Europe Middle East Africa, he is in charge of developing solutions and executing market strategies for cash displacement, leveraging various payment and adjacent technologies & capabilities. He is also heavily focussed on driving @mastercard commitment on Financial inclusion, consumer solutions, business solutions, sustainability solutions, smes and merchants and a true multi-rail network,
Key specialities include:-
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Deep understanding of payments business, digital payments expert & can see the big picture
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Solutioning (to a seemingly complex problem) with viable business case/model
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Commercialization of Innovative solution / technology to solve business needs
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Customer focus – solutions from the end customer’s perspective
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Relationships & Strategic alliances
A must listen for #BNPL executives and entrepreneurs in particular.
AliTalksTech is back with Mo to talk about the Fintech Ecosystem in the Middle East and Turkey.
Mo's strengths lie in impeccable attention to detail and acute planning focused on speed of execution. Consistently delivering results in high pressured environments is what keeps him motivated and fulfilled.
Mo's experience lies in specialized card and payments processing, designing and building structures within start-up organizations. His focus is also on delivering projects and managing change impacts within operational environments that have fairly high degrees of complexity.
The Mobile Payments industry is his passion which he believes is the future of payments.
AliTalksTech goes to Gitex 2022 in Dubai this October 2022 in partnership with Mastercard.
In this episode, I get the opportunity to speak to Amnah Ajmal, Group Executive - Merchants & Commerce, Digital Partnerships & Fintechs, Strategy, M&A at @Mastercard.
Amnah is also among the Top 100 women in fintech across the globe.
We get to talk about Leadership, Empathy, and Innovation. In this age of moving fast and breaking things, these three issues are becoming increasingly important to bring the face of humanity to the fast-paced world of Technology.
An interesting conversation with my friend Dr. Shiko Gitau, founder Qhala, a #Digitaltransformation shop and former head of products at Safaricom Alpha, alumni of Google and Microsoft among other roles. It's always a pleasure speaking with her and you are bound to pick up a nugget of gold here and there.
AliTalksTech. Season 1, Episode 6 with Peter Ndiang'ui and Robert Ochieng. This was such an interesting conversation. We basically moved our discussion from my favorite WhatsApp Group - The Digital Disruption Caucus onto my Podcast.
We covered diverse topics - From dark kiosks to Financial Inclusion to #TechFunding in Africa. As always a big thank you to my partners Harry Hare and Kelly Bentley of dx5group (Formerly CIO Africa).
Imran Jomo, Naima Twahir Hussein, Annie Njenga
In this episode of #AliTalksTech I speak with Andy Halsall on his journey that prepared him to launch poa! internet, funding in Africa, family, what makes him tick...
In this episode I speak with Nick Mwendwa, CEO of Swerri, his latest venture in the #Fintech space, a #Crypto startup. Some of you know Nick as the Founder and CEO of Riverbank Solutions Ltd, one of the earliest and most successful #agencybanking platforms this side of the world.
Some of you know Nick as the president of the Football Kenya Federation.
In this episode I try to unpack him for you. Football Administrator, Fintech and Crypto Entrepreneur.
As always please follow and subscribe to #AliTalksTech channels on Spotify, Google, and Apple Podcasts.
On this episode, I speak with Harry Hare, Chairman, and Publisher, CIO Africa. CIO Africa is arguably one of the pre-eminent Tech Publishing Houses in Africa. We delve into his story, his trials, and tribulations. Losing his business, building it up from the ground up. BST, he calls it. Blood, Sweat and Tears!
Journey with me as I take you through Harry's professional life.
On this episode, I speak with Jack Ngare, Microsoft ADC Managing Director. His career, family, his time in the financial services sector, and what makes him tick.
This is the first episode of The Ali Talks Tech Podcast. Looking forward to covering the Pan-African Tech Ecosystem. Join me on this journey.