Africa Cloud and Security Summit 2022

Hartnell is an experienced Data, AI & Digital professional in the East Africa Region. His specialty is in the Banking and Financial Services sector where he has been able to master the development and execution of key Data Strategies for large banks and financial institutions. He was previously the Head of Data & Analytics for Co-operative Bank of Kenya where he set up the bank’s Data office and delivered a comprehensive Data Strategy for the enterprise.

He is currently the Chief Data Officer at Absa Bank Kenya PLC where he leads the Artificial Intelligence, Data Governance, Business Intelligence and Analytics teams. With a deep understanding of Data Science, Data Management, Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud computing and warehousing, he seeks to ensure that organizations are able to set up dynamic data teams, understand the data they hold, harness actionable insights and deliver key use cases encompassing profitability, artificial intelligence, operational efficiency, product development and growth.

Visionary and strategic technology leader distinguished by over 14 years of repeated success in managing enterprise ICT operations and IT security in the banking and financial sector. I have experience in aligning technology with strategic goals to maximize profits and lower organizational risks through policy and technical implementations. I build clear business cases for new solutions and sets IT governance standards that elevate entities to the next level by driving innovation. - A natural team leader, mentor, and builder of high-performance teams who thrives in diverse cultures

With a background in Economics & Finance, Kayode has over 14 years of working experience in software design and architecture. Previously, he has acted as lead for 3 different divisions in 3 different companies in 3 countries, building systems that scale.
Throughout his career, he has made it a goal to break conventional norms - asking the "what ifs" to achieve the "how can it be better". Building digital platforms that bring cloud-based digital predictive analytics capabilities to the industry has been his focus for the past 9 years. He has been involved actively in designing solutions for several customers that harness big data, predictive analytics and the cloud to yield real improvement in their businesses.

As a digital technologist and strategist, Kayode has influenced top tier senior management and executives to adopt cloud technologies for complete digital transformation for two different companies in two countries. He designed and architected a $5 million AI & RPA project that has helped to position a financial institution for digital transformation as well as influence a bank’s leadership to embark on a $40m full hybrid cloud data center project powered by IBM to cater for the bank’s innovative strategy.

Imran Chaudhrey is the Country Manager, Fortinet and is currently based in East Africa Market.
Imran is passionate about Technology and importantly Cyber security with over 10 years’ experience and knowledge on Technologies that are driving todays Digital transformation.

Entrepreneur, NED, Advisor, Investor and Gender Equality Champion with a specific focus in the FinTech Sector.
Darren is the CEO of TalentintheCloud International, an Executive Search firm focused on the FinTech sector. In my 'spare' time, he serves on the board of a number of startups, NGO's and gender diversity groups. He wears the hat as moderator and admin of the fastest growing global FinTech club - www.fintechandpayments.club.
He is a seasonal speaker at numerous FinTech conferences including Finovate, Seamless Africa and the European Women in Payments Network / Money 20/20.
Prior to launching TalentintheCloud, He was the Group CEO of an international technology and telecoms recruitment business with offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Darren supports numerous professional groups focusing on diversity and financial inclusion across the continent including being a strategic partner to the African Women in FinTech and Payments Network.

Anita is a senior executive with a history of working in the financial services industry. She is skilled in project management, product management, digital strategy, commercial execution, agile delivery and leadership with over 13 years’ experience. Currently, she holds the position as the Head, Products, Digital, and Marketing at Letshego.

Djamil is the Territory Manager at MBCOM (exclusive representative of Broadcom Software – CA Technologies Portfolio & Symantec Security Solutions) for English Speaking Africa which includes East African countries, Southern African countries and Indian Ocean Islands.

He has been in the ICT/Cybersecurity for the past 20+ years with extensive experience in the areas of communications, networking, infrastructure and Cybersecurity with in-depth knowledge of technology and business domains.

Djamil has held several positions, both technical and managerial in his journey such as Head of Network & Security with a Systems Integrator and has gained a great experience with leaders in the IT industry like Symantec, Cisco and Avaya among others.

He is passionate about travelling, food and kayak fishing.

Award winning Regional Sales Leader within MEA and speaker in the cybersecurity space with over 10 years of progressive experience in the Information Technology industry. She has demonstrated the ability to identify risks and IT compliance issues and design proactive solutions for organisations.

As a certified Information Security Expert, she is responsible for building and executing Secureworks expansion strategy for Emerging Africa region around commercial, pre-sales, channels, and key strategic accounts initiatives. She was recently selected as one of the top women in Tech by Secureworks this year.

Her passion is to bring new perspectives that ensure safety to organizations with battle-tested, best-in-class cybersecurity solutions that can prevent, detect, and respond to continuously evolving threats and vulnerabilities to help organisations slash risk, optimize existing IT investments, and close the current cyber skills gap. Specialized skills; Risk Assessment & Management, Governance & Compliance, Cloud Security, Incident Response, Threat Detection & Prevention, Identity management & Access Control, and Training users on Business Systems (SAP) as well as selling technical solutions in Network Security.

A Legal Specialist in Cyber Security terrorism, Crisis management, Data privacy and AML Law, it is no surprise that Mutheu Khimulu is a successful freelance Legal Consultant with an abundance of knowledge and experience. She provides legal advice, strategy development, training as well as participation in local, regional and international summits on matters of cyber security, counter-terrorism, crisis management, data privacy and AML law.
She is motivated to explore the newly emerging area of cyber law and policy and to help develop relevant laws, regulations & policies.

A Security Engineer with demonstrated security engineering, consulting and research experience working with organizations in the public and private sectors.

Core Skills: Vulnerability Management, Penetration Testing, Application & Infrastructure Security, Systems Hardening (OS, Network Devices, Databases), Cloud Security, Systems Auditing, Information Security Risk Management, Security Frameworks Implementation/Auditing, and Programming (Python, PHP, C/C++, Shell).

I am a Systems Engineer who has majored in Cyber Security, with a solid technical background and a highly analytical mind. I have been involved within the cyber security field for the last 9+ years. I preferably work as the linchpin between business and the technical level using my deep technical knowledge as well as strategic and tactical insights to see multiple steps ahead, I ultimately provide to my customers the best solution combining key elements from the Cyber Security Field. I am a team player with an open and direct style of communication who uses humor, listening skills, broad knowledge and interests to create a pleasant working environment.

Mayuresh Kothari is a Security Solutions Architect for Secureworks, based in Dubai. Mayuresh has been with Secureworks since 2018, working towards building customer relationships and driving engagement for more Connected and Secure IT environments. He has been in the Middle East region for the past 5 years and comes from a long experience of working in Cyber Security, previously having worked in McAfee, Intel Security & Symantec. Prior to getting into pre-sales, Mayuresh was part of engineering teams that built Data Protection and Security products. Mayuresh has extensive experience of working with customers, partners and service providers to architect complex cyber security solutions. Mayuresh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from Nagpur University.

Bernard is a skilled, dynamic and seasoned engineer with over 15 years’ diverse work experience, in manufacturing, telco, service provider and banking, with demonstrated experience as a System Administrator, Pre Sales, Network and Cloud Engineer and Cloud Architect focused on building and supporting business.

For over 7 years, Dan Opondo Kwach has been a noteworthy name in the data centre industry in Kenya. Currently, he is the General Manager of Africa Data Centres, East Africa region.

Having been appointed in 2014, his visionary perspective has earned him an opportunity to represent Africa Data Centres as a global expert in his field.

He is responsible for developing and reviewing corporate strategic planning and for implementing strategic goals and objectives.



Prior to this accomplishment, he held the position of Data Centre Manager at Africa Data Centres’ Nairobi site, where he was responsible for day-to-day operations and maintenance. Today he is recognised as the Managing Director for Africa Data Centres’ East Africa Region.

Before joining Africa Data Centres, he held several positions at Kenya Data Networks between 2006 and 2010.



Dan’s educational background includes a Master of Science degree in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool and a Bachelor of Science degree from Jomo Kenyatta University.

Kelvin is a cybersecurity technical solutions architect at Cisco. Previously, he worked as a principal solutions architect at Safaricom. He holds a CCIE in Enterprise Architecture (57457), CISSP among other industry certifications, and takes great pride in delivering secure, resilient, and dynamic solutions.

An authentic and inclusive leader at the forefront of Cyber security development in Africa, Anthony is the President and Chairman at ISACA Kenya Chapter. He can effectively build and maintain senior client and stakeholder relationships with a proven track record of delivering Cybersecurity transformation projects with positive outcomes. He is well versed in areas such as Cyber Strategy & Governance, ISO27001, PCI DSS, COBIT, SIEM, Threat Intel, Penetration Testing, Business Continuity Management (ISO22301), and Forensic Investigations. Robert has worked with major players in financial, telecommunications and various industries in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa among others.

With demonstrated strong leadership skills and flawless technical knowledge, my experience includes developing strategic plans and roadmaps, updating and maintaining an organizations technical infrastructure, developing and implementing strategic business plans, as well as project elaboration within budget and time frames. I also effectively produce and implement innovative technological solutions to complex problems.

He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Web Sciences and Big Data which includes web sciences, the cloud system and its ecosystem with Hadoop apache, Horton works, Cloudera and AWS platform. His key strengths include, successfully designing, developing, and supporting live projects on traditional Business Intelligence platforms like Microsoft and others.
He is experienced in data automation, data reporting and various forms of data mining and data warehouses from different types of projects in different scenarios which include ad hoc data analysis and data insight.
His experience includes but is not limited to Data sciences, Big Data, Web Sciences, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Software Development, data extraction, data analysis, data cleansing, data reporting, data mining, data application development, database administration, development, and analysis, database programming, programming both new applications and maintenance work. In addition, Steven is experienced in problem isolation and analysis, software quality testing, application and requirement analysis and process improvement and documentation.

John is the Managing Director at AgNexus Africa Ltd. He is experienced in building businesses across Africa with a demonstrated history of working in the research industry. His skills lay in Marketing Management, Negotiation, Market Planning, Business Planning, and Analytical Skills. Strong consulting professional with a Diploma focused in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing. John has had experience launching and building service industry brands across Africa.

I have over 24 years’ ICT experience of which I have worked as a SAP certified consultant/architect/project manger/service manger for the last 20 years. I have vast experience in the Transportation/Logistics, Automotive, Energy and Oil & Gas industries both in the public and private sector. I have worked with SAP version 2.2G, 3.1H, 4.5B, ECC6 and industry Solution for the automotive industry - SAP DBM.
- I have also been involved in aquisition of ICT start ups in line with the Toyota strategy.
- Implemented a POC for a mobility/geospacial application using algorithms derived from telecommunication 2-3G data feed. This was done and presented to the Rwanda Government and relevant Stake holders.

Risper is an IT professional with 10 years of experience in technical support roles ranging from product, desktop, help desk, server support as well as a managerial role in the IT department.
A critical thinker, who is well versed in working in fast-paced environments and have worked in a 50 to 150 user environment, and has the ability to address customer support issues quickly, displays leadership and provides effective support to team members and clients. Currently, Risper is the Site Reliability Engineer at Asian Logic.

Lawyer turned Business journalist turned lifestyle/fashion journalist and now CIO’s Editor-in-Chief Carol Odero. Vividly creative, ambitious, dynamic and versatile are some adjectives that can prove why her journalistic experience spans more than fifteen years in various fields.

Timothy is a self-driven strategic problem solver with demonstrated capability to work across all levels of an organization evaluating business opportunities and building solutions to manage the company’s positive return on investment and harness new sources of revenue. This technological enthusiast is passionate about driving the mobile-first digital posture in the financial, traditional media and telecommunication industries.
He has over 15 years of experience in the Telecommunication, Media and Technology industry, and an ICF Certified Organization Effectiveness Coach, MIT Certified Big Data, AI and Blockchain expert. A Big Data Scientist with competencies in Python programming Language. AWS and Azzure cloud data repository, Machine Learning using Pandas, Social Networks and Graphs clustering using Microsoft Social Sentiment Analytics and Oracle's SRM. Currently, he is the Founding Chief Data Scientist at Predictive Analytics Lab.

Gary is an experienced Exec with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry, specializing in the Cloud. Gary brings a wealth of experience in building cloud businesses, demonstrating a passion for the possibility of a well-structured and expertly implemented cloud Security strategy.

Said is an accomplished Sales Leader managing North, East, and West Africa for Palo Alto Networks.

Prior to Palo Alto Networks, Said was a General Manager in Dell EMC for 6 years across Africa and Levant and in Cisco Systems with 6 years in Sales across MEA and 17 years in the field of IT management in the Oil and Gas (O&G) sector working in Italy and Africa. He is a strong sales leader with a steady track record of building and managing a profitable business, leading change, and driving operational excellence in extremely challenging environments such as Libya and Nigeria.

With a multicultural and international background, Said is a result-oriented overachiever who has demonstrated the ability to; conjugate long term vision with short-medium term plans to fulfil the business objectives; lead diverse teams of professionals to new levels of success in a variety of highly competitive industries, cutting-edge markets, and fast-paced environments; ensure operational excellence and alignment with corporate strategy resulting in solid, predictable, profitable and long-lasting business growth; develop and nurture trusted relationship with all the stakeholders (customers, government officials, partners, colleagues, co-workers, suppliers...).

He is enthusiastic with a strong self-developing attitude and an unalloyed willingness to learn, excel and overcome the challenges ahead.

Being the Technical Manager at Symantec is looked at as a trusted advisor to organizations across verticals and called upon to advise on methods to counter cyber threats, attacks and cyber espionage. Providing essential consultative support and building key relationships are of utmost importance as well. In this line of business, trust is an important asset to deliver the right advice to high profile executives.

Waseem is the CTO and Systems Engineering Manager for North, East and Western Africa at Palo Alto Networks.
In his leadership capacity, he oversees the Company’s technical team and manages the field engagement with key clients and partners across the region.
He joined the organization in 2016 and has more than 15 years of experience within the information, cyber security sector and cloud for both Enterprise and Telecom sectors. He has worked with leading organizations such as Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems. His expertise lies in developing a deep understanding of every customer’s business needs and security requirements and addressing them accordingly.