Brenda is a tech-loving problem solver with a deep passion for meeting user needs and ensuring an optimal customer experience. With a solid foundation cultivated over the past 3 years, she has honed her skills in comprehending the dynamic landscape of agile product development, outlining customer needs, and utilizing data-driven insights to inform …

Should Africa have a say in the future of AI? The conversation surrounding AI is exploding globally, but where does Kenya stand? Safaricom's exploration of AI in their marketing and customer service raises important questions about the role of AI in the African creative economy and for Kenyan businesses. The latest Safaricom Newsroom podcast featur…

Kenya is a rising star in Africa's tech scene, known as 'Silicon Savannah'. But with terms like 'digitization' and 'digitalization' floating around, what's the real story? 🤔 Safaricom's Joe Kanyua joins our podcast to explain the essential differences and how digital transformation is changing the way we live and work. This is the tech talk you won…

Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndegwa highlighted the importance of diversity, inclusion, innovation, and authenticity in driving success and promoting transformative leadership. The Women On Board's Network, which brings together women serving on boards, aims to drive gender diversity and inclusion within board leadership. Ndegwa reflecte…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the biggest trends in the tech world this year. It has enabled companies to understand their customers better and reach out to them. However, there are concerns that AI may lead to a loss of human control. In September of this year, a closed-door meeting of tech companies developing AI unanimously …

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a popular trend in the tech industry, with more than a third of C-Suite executives utilizing it in their business operations. Generative AI platforms like ChatGPT and Dall-E can perform creative tasks such as creating advertising copy and designing artwork. However, there is a debate surrounding whether AI is…

Lade Tawak is an Experience Designer & UX Researcher who has worked with startups, agencies, and multinationals across the globe. She has an academic background in Psychology. She is passionate about Jesus, teaching, and building products, people, & communities. Where to find Lade: Website: http://ladetawak.com/ LinkedIn: https://linkedIn.com/in/la…

Taka Taka Solutions is a company that has invested in equipment capable of recycling flexible plastics, which has created numerous job opportunities for waste pickers. To mark the 50th anniversary of World Environment Day, Safaricom Newsroom engaged with experts, environmental change champions, and plastic solutionists to delve into the concept of …

Ogeh is an experienced product designer practicing human-centered design and crafting products and services with multidisciplinary teams at scale. Where to find Ogeh: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ogechukwu-ezeonu/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ogehezeonu/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/OgehEzeonu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ogeh…

June Barasa is a strategic, innovative, and data-driven Product Manager in technology and innovation with diverse experiences in product development. She loves working on innovative and challenging products that enable people to become more efficient in their day-to-day. Mentions: Pomodoro Technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique…

Chris describes himself as a problem-solver with a knack for design. His design career is influenced by a background in Economics, International Trade and non-profit-management. His design style tends to be minimalist and symmetric, striving for simplicity and convenience. Where to find Karl-Chris: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsabiyumvakc…

Alex Wokabi Karanja is a design lead at Safaricom and a big believer of design with why. Through designOps (operational and project support), and collaboration with other different teams, he helps the entire business deliver value and superior experiences. Where to find Alex: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-wokabi-7aa4a48b/ Twitter: http…

Vanissa Wanick is a Design Researcher, UX Designer & Educator. Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer in Interaction Design at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. Vanissa has more than 10 years of international experience in digital design and user experience design, working as a designer for several companies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi…

Lavet is a service and experience designer at African Leadership Group. She uses her design skills to tackle issues in the social impact space and has experience working in various sectors, including humanitarian aid, education, mental health, and climate restoration. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the streets of Bangkok and trying the loca…

Pier is a digital product designer who loves to push great ideas to life through a human-centered approach. He has shaped digital products across different industries such as entertainment, banking and mobility. He’s currently tackling new challenges as Design Lead at Snapp Mobile. Mentions: Eisenhower Matrix: https://www.eisenhower.me/eisenhower-m…

Lemuel is a Product Manager at The Room, a social impact startup in Africa. Legal background & experience in leading African law firms. Transitioned to startup ecosystem: Sales, BD, Research & APM. Currently leading product discovery for new onboarding, activation & community engagement experiences. Plus, co-organizer of Africa Product Peers. Menti…

Charity is a Product Designer with 4+ years of experience working to solve problems at the intersection of business, consumers and technology. She has designed experiences for a diverse set of customers in ed-tech, e-commerce, fintech, and security, on mobile, web and desktop. She currently works at Microverse as a Product Designer, formerly a Expe…

Eric is an accessibility advocate, designer, developer, writer, and speaker. Where to find Eric: Website: https://ericwbailey.website/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericwbailey/ Mastodon: https://social.ericwbailey.website/home Support the show Where to find the show: Twitter: https://twitter.com/7minProdSeries LinkedIn: https://www.linkedi…

Raven L. Veal, PhD is a Senior Strategic Designer at BCG X. Prior to joining BCG, Raven led innovation strategy at Citi Ventures and design research at IBM. Overall, Veal is passionate about advancing health equity and financial inclusion through the design of new ventures. Mentions: Quote: "We have a world to conquer...one person at a time...start…

Benjamin Hoppe is a Freelance Designer in Toronto. He designs and builds software with the goal of reducing friction and creating unique user experiences. Where to find Benjamin: Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrbenjaminhoppe ReadCV: https://read.cv/hoppe Website: https://benjaminhoppe.co/ Support the show Where to find the show: Twitter: https://twi…

Monica currently works as an Experience Design Manager at the ICRC, where she manages a team of UX Designers as well as the UX Design practice at the organization. Whether it's hosting design meetups, sharing design jobs online or writing about changes in the industry - anything that connects designers with one another gets her excited. Mentions: "…

Courtney is a mixed methods researcher living in the Detroit, USA area. Her research experience includes automotive, govtech, voice AI and finance. She loves helping teams make evidence-based decisions that improve people’s lives and meet business objectives. Where to find Courtney: Twitter: https://twitter.com/OrigamiUx LinkedIn: https://www.linke…

Rebecca Blakiston is a Senior UX Researcher at Ad Hoc, a company that improves government services. Previously, she was a UX Strategist and Librarian at the University of Arizona. She has a decade of experience advocating for data-informed, empathy-driven decisions. Mentions: 'Seven Second Pause of Silence' sometimes called the 'Seven Second Rule':…

As the violence raged in Kenya in January 2008, the media came under increasing scrutiny. One of the main accusations was that the media, particularly radio, was responsible for fanning the flames. When a prominent radio presenter was named along with politicians and civil servants as suspects to face trial at the International Criminal Court, the …

Shpetim Ujkani is a Sr. Staff User Experience Designer at Google. He is designer connecting humans and computers, shaping tools for people and mentoring. Currently, responsible for leading the design at Mandiant ASM within Google Cloud Security and coordinating all core design initiatives—including establishing a consistent design system and improv…

Kofi is a product designer based in Accra, Ghana. He values human connection, growth & openness. He also enjoys solving difficult human problems through design. Previously, he was at Mest as a tech fellow teaching product design and mentoring. Where to find Kofi: Twitter: https://twitter.com/kofijoy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kofijoy/ Lin…

Sasha Petrov is passionate about building things that have never been built before. Currently he is focused on creating products that empower individuals to become the best version of themselves utilizing technology and AI. Mentions: Collaborative Product Design - Book: https://www.agux.co/book/collaborative-product-design/overview Sasha’s Blog: ht…

Otobong Okoko, Senior Product Designer at Zalando. He started his journey in tech as a front-end developer and transitioned to design over a 12-year professional career. His superpower is asking questions to empathize and uncover challenges that are not easily communicated and enjoys giving back to the community through mentoring. Where to find Oto…

Bavithra is a Product Manager with the MoneySmart Group. Bavithra enjoys the dynamic nature of product management and has 4 years of experience doing all things Product in Tech companies. On her free time, you can find her on the yoga mat or chilling with a good book. You can find Bavithra on LinkedIn. Support the show Where to find the show: Twitt…

We are back with Season 2 in 2023! Faruk Shuaibu is a product designer building in the education, agriculture, commerce, and health sectors, where he helped solve challenging problems. In his free time, he enjoys making music, mentoring designers, and playing competitive chess. You can find Faruk on LinkedIn, Twitter (@726f6f6b) and startup (Dako).…

Hey everyone, happy holidays! We celebrate the season! I want to extend my gratitude to all the guests who have taken the time to share with us, and thank you to all listeners for supporting and helping the show to grow in many ways. We will see you in 2023, for SEASON TWO of the 7min Product Master Series Podcast! Support the show Where to find th…

A small group at Safaricom was on tenterhooks on the morning of June 23, 2021 as the company launched the M-PESA app. While M-PESA has grown in popularity and use since it was unveiled in March 2007, the app was a bold new step for the revolutionary payment solution now used by more than 51 million users across Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, the Demo…

When Caroline Masibo was a teenage girl, she did not see herself entering the tech space. But after completing her KSCEs, and during the long holiday in between, she started gaining interest in watching criminal drama. Her attention was drawn to one show in particular, namely ‘Criminal Minds’. In this show, an eccentric tech-savvy female character …

It’s the final episode of Season One. Purity Waigi, Lead Product Manager, Content Experiences at Wikimedia Foundation. Purity is a curious mind currently intrigued by the needs of humanity which remain constant regardless of origin and experiences. She enjoys curating knowledge and bullet journaling as a creative outlet. You can find Purity on Link…

Godfrey Kimani, Product Designer at Safaricom PLC. Godfrey is a problem solver who cares about crafting products and experiences that leave a positive impact on people, the environment, and society. He's excited by the process of deriving user needs from research, creatively leveraging the power of technology to satisfy those needs, and thinking cr…

Dennis Gikunda, Design Lead at Wasoko. Dennis is mainly a product designer & strategist currently focused on solving complex problems in retail, across Africa. Passionate about creating meaningful products that have a positive impact on people's lives. Where to find Dennis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-mugambi/ Twitter: https://mobi…

Andrew O’Regan, Interaction Director (Interim) at Novartis. Andrew has worked in design since the mid 00s, and currently is a design leader and manager. He really believes in deep cross functional collaboration and teams built with this as a principle, but ideally he'd prefer to be growing vegetables. Where to find Andrew: LinkedIn: https://www.lin…

Sharon Wangari, Product Design lead at Paystack. She is a problem solver. She's worked with cross-functions across Africa to create value within the Healthcare, Logistics Retail FinTech, spaces. Where to find Sharon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-wangari-b3b47591/ Support the show Where to find the show: Twitter: https://twitter.com/…

Tessie Waithira, Researcher at Qhala. She's a mixed-methods researcher based in Nairobi Kenya. She studies and thinks about the social, cultural, and economic effects of technology to uncover needs, barriers, and opportunities, and how we can develop impactful solutions. Qhala is a digital consulting firm in Nairobi, Kenya. Where to find Tessie: Li…

Lorine Phoebe, Product Manager at Kasha Global, Inc. Solving problems is her forte. Comedy is her go-to remedy. Kasha is an innovative e-commerce platform based in East Africa, built for women's health, personal care, and beauty products accessibility within urban and rural areas. Where to find Lorine: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorine-o…

Joy Wambui Taracha, UX Researcher at Antara Health. She enjoys discovering various people's perspectives on how they see the world and consequently how they use products. Antara is the only virtual-first healthcare provider in Kenya. They brings its members' personalized care through health navigation. Members have an assigned healthcare profession…

Owning the space where you call home and stopping the monthly rent payment are part of the Kenyan Dream. Over the last 10 years, there has been no shortage of options for the person who wants to own their own home. There are property shows on TV advertising new estates and residences, salesmen and women in traffic handing out brochures for upcoming…

Issues around the collection and protection of personal data have gained traction over the past two years. Everyone who comes into contact with personal data has a responsibility to ensure the data is used for what it was intended for but also well stored. Have you ever wondered what happens to all the personal information that you share in order t…

Earlier this year, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority announced its intention to set up an Intelligent Transport Management System, which it had trialled at several spots in the capital city. The intention of the system is to improve traffic efficiency and flow and suggests, for the first time, that technology could soon come to the aid of Nairobi’s t…

The most dominant story of the past 12 months has been about the pain of the pandemic. Economically, close to two million people lost their jobs in the first three months of the pandemic alone. In April, an interesting statistic arose from analyses of the spending and saving patterns of Kenyans with bank accounts: they had managed to stash away mor…

As the world celebrated World Environment Day, the Safaricom Newsroom sought out Michael Koech, who is in charge of Environment and climate change at Safaricom, and Dr. George Njenga, the Executive Dean of Strathmore University Business School, to discuss how we can leverage technology for a cleaner, more sustainable world. Safaricom is one of the …

On the Safaricom Newsroom podcast today, we talk to three young mums and their families as they reflect on their lives during the pandemic. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums and mother figures out there. You are loved and treasured. Asante Sana Mama!

In this podcast, the Safaricom Newsroom celebrates fathers and the different roles they play in the lives of their children.To commemorate Father’s Day, we got a few men to talk about the meaning of fatherhood and share their views on what being a father means to them.Keith and Allan have been fathers for a couple of years now, Don is about to beco…

Dating can be a complicated dance but quite fun. Has the COVID-19 pandemic raptured or spurred romance? Click play to know how couples are keeping in touch during this period. #SafaricomNewsBy Safaricom PLC

Are you one of those people who are one pay check away from poverty? If the answer is yes, then grab a pen and paper. This episode on Financial Literacy is for you.By Safaricom PLC