The DevBoks Podcast with Toni Yannick Kalombo: Recent Episodes
DevBoks
Welcome to The DevBoks Podcast. This is a technology, business, creativity and lifestyle podcast. Toni Yannick Kalombo, founder of devboks.com hosts friends and guests who are creatives, pioneers or visionaries in technology and business. The podcast delves into the guest's creative processes, their life, their views, their mental models, their insights and their ideas on business and technology.
Barrie and I met at a NANOG virtual hackathon that we both participated in, at the height of the pandemic, back in 2020.
We have since featured on a NANOG article together and have gone on to collaborate on a few commercial projects. After more than 2 years of remote collaboration, I finally got to meet Barrie in person when I visited San Diego in December of 2022. It felt like we had known each other for years and this is an example of the geographical gap that technology has bridged.
Barrie is an incredible engineer, with many years of experience and her insights are always thought provoking. In 2021, we had a sit down for a remote conversation and then again 3 years later in 2024, we recorded another episode. This episode is the conversation we had in 2024. The episode we had in 2021 will be released as a 4 part series of short ten to 15 minute conversations. The content of which I consider to be timeless and relevant 3 years later.
We speak about network engineering and its origins, we discuss Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and its nuances and impact on technology communities. We delve into scientific topics and technology's impact on humanity, the universe, space travel and so much more.
My name is Toni Yannick Kalombo and this is the DevBoks Podcast.
Please Welcome my very good friend Sam Twala. Sam and I met over 20 years ago, as Electronic engineering students at the University of Pretoria. I was always struck by Sam’s good natured mannerisms and the calm thoughtfulness he applies himself to before uttering an opinion. As We both began our professional careers in the defence and military industry.I have watched in admiration as Sam carved a way for himself as an entrepreneur and as an authority in the field of avionics and in the drone regulatory space. Though we recorded this episode in 2021, I am happy to be able to share it with you and am so pleased that Sam graced me with the opportunity to sit with me in studio to have this conversation. We talk about drones, their commercial opportunities, their applications, the regulatory space and the potential risks that they pause from a privacy stand point as well as use cases ranging from military to criminal activities.
Carl is the SADC region CEO of technology company Globetom.
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working together with Carl on projects during my employment both at MTN and at SEACOM.
Carl is not your average technology C-Level executive,
he’s also a creative and music producer and I’ve had the pleasure of watching him D-Jay at a festival where he held a 10 000 plus crowd in the palm of his hand.
In an era where it is common to hear of Tech executives seek enlightenment through spiritual guides such as Shahmans.
Carl who also happens to be a deeply spiritual person, walks me through fascinating views on spirituality and its intersection with technology.
We even discuss Hyawasca.
I encourage you to listen with an open mind and I hope that you learn from this conversation and get enlightened as much as I did.
My name is Toni Yannick Kalombo and welcome to the DevBoks Podcast.
Arnold is the Chief Technology Officer at PPLSI, the parent company of LegalShield,
a provider of legal services in the United States, Canada and the UK.
I met Arnold a few years ago at a hackathon in Germany and I was struck by not just his charisma but also by his unique outlook on technology.
In this episode, Arnold shares his Origin story and how in the dot com era, he founded an e-commerce startup that he later sold to Microsoft.
We talk about his illustrious career and the contributions he has made to technology, such as authoring the Domain Connect standard
We discuss patents in the context of open source innovation and so much more.
Professor Saurabh Sinha is Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Johannesburg, where he is responsible for Research and Internationalisation. I met professor Sinha almost two decades ago while I was pursuing my undergraduate degree in engineering at the University of Pretoria. By then, despite being only a couple of years older than me, Professor Sinha was already a lecturer and he had already obtained CUM Laude with a distinction for his Masters degree in engineering. Professor Sinha served as a mentor and a major source of inspiration to me. I can hardly say that I have met any other person with the intelligence, the academic contribution, the accomplishments and the productivity that he has demonstrated over such a short period of time. The man has co-authored over 135 publications in peer-reviewed journals, books and at international conferences. My brain always explodes and I always walk away feeling inspired, motivated, rejuvenated and fascinated every time I speak to him. I hope that you enjoy and learn from this conversation as much as I did.
A few weeks ago, I caught up with Byron Clatterbuck, who dialled in from his hotel room in Thailand. He is one of the most incredible leaders that I’ve come to know, and not only is he an immensely kind, fun and insightful human being, he is also one who commands the attention of every room that he steps into.
You will not miss him by his signature cowboy boots, or by his warm American charm. The man is not only fluent in Mandarin Chinese, he also has a black belt in martial arts!! Byron is the former CEO of SEACOM, a pan African Submarine Fibre telecommunications company.
Under his leadership, SEACOM grew into one of the best recognised technology companies in Africa.
I hope that you learn from and enjoy this conversation as much as I did.
This conversation is with my very own sister, Gracia Kabongo, who holds a senior position as a Corporate Finance professional.
She has advised and guided several companies to successfully list through Initial Public Offerings on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Dialling in from Sydney, Australia, we discuss IPO’s, Mergers and Acquisitions, Venture Capital, Private Equity financing and much more.
Isabel Odida is the director of Fontes Foundation, a NGO that addresses issues of water and sanitation, education and youth empowerment in Uganda. Isabel shares with us her career journey and the role of NGO's in the development of technology talent in Africa and globally
Tinu Elenjical is an engineer who took on the financial sector and founded a Fintech company that provides technology solutions in the Capital Markets space. In this conversation, Tinu shares his origins and founding story.
In this episode, Toni chats with Edgar kasenene, former Ericsson Head of IOT, Retro Rabbit CEO and Founder of Idex. Edgar speaks on his journey to finding purpose, he discusses the concept of cultural transformation and why it is important to let go. He also shares his views on the importance of values
Edward Lawrence is the charismatic co-founder of Workonline Communications, a telecommunications company that provides wholesale internet connectivity services across Africa, with presence in Europe, Asia and North America. In this conversation, Edward shares the startup story of Workonline and delves into the next wave for technology and innovation.
Te-Shen is an investor and controlling shareholder of TIME DotCom, one of the biggest telecommunications companies in South East Asia.
In this conversation, Te-Shen shares with me some raw and honest insights on the socio-economic relationship between Asia and the rest of the world,
He also lets me in on how him and his best friend bet their houses to stake their fortunes on the future of Telecommunications in Malaysia.
Clara is a creative and backend engineer at Over, which was recently acquired by Godaddy. In this episode, Clara shares insights on her work at Over. she discusses the benefits of working remotely in the modern internet driven workplace. Clara is a very technical software engineer and she dives deep into the methodologies she applies to the technologies that she is currently working on. The conversation also delves into her artistic talent and her mentorship activities with aspiring young female technologists.
Mark Tinka is the head of Engineering at SEACOM and he is primarily based in South Africa. In this episode, Mark talks about how his passion for technology led him to an international career as an internet architect. Mark goes in depth about his perspective on the economics of technology in Africa and he opens up about his creative past time and how his love of wine ultimately led him to South Africa.