Tech Talk Africa

Green Tech Diplomacy featuring Belgium's Ambassador to Kenya

What are your thoughts? [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2529883/fan_mail/new] Kenya’s tech story is bigger than startups and bigger than mobile money. When digital infrastructure grows, energy demand grows with it and that forces a hard question: can the digital economy scale without going green first? We talk with Belgian Ambassador Peter Maddens about why his team links “digital and green,” and what that looks like on the ground in Nairobi, including a retrofitted net zero embassy with solar power, water recycling, on-site cooking gas, and hydroponic farming. From there, we zoom out to the Kenya Belgium relationship inside the broader European Union ecosystem and what each side genuinely needs from the other: trust, capability, and practical collaboration. A big thread is digital policy and governance. We dig into GDPR, privacy, and what an EU adequacy decision for Kenya could mean for cross-border data flows, SaaS growth, fintech partnerships, and investment confidence. We also unpack the less glamorous but crucial plumbing of deal-making, including double taxation agreements and how markets assign “risk” when deciding where capital should land. The conversation gets candid about old attitudes, shared responsibility, and why adding value locally matters as much as writing new policies. We close with AI governance, “green AI,” the role of public private partnerships, and why education is still the foundation underneath every serious development goal. If you enjoy smart, honest conversations about technology, climate tech, regulation, and investment in Africa, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review with your biggest takeaway. Credits Host:  * Stella Gichuhi Producer:  * James Njoroge Executive Producers: * Harry Hare * Agutu Dan

How To Become A Builder Not Just A User | A Conversation Featuring The Special Envoy on Technology, for Kenya

What are your thoughts? [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2529883/fan_mail/new] Guest: Ambassador Philip Thigo - The Special Envoy on Technology for Kenya AI hype is loud, but the real question is quieter: are we building the infrastructure that makes AI work for us, or are we stuck as permanent users of other people’s systems? I’m joined by Ambassador Philip Thigo, the only African tech envoy, to unpack what “AI is infrastructure” means from a Kenyan and African perspective and why that framing changes everything from investment to regulation. We break down the AI stack in plain language: compute, data, talent, use cases, and model innovation, including the hard truth that many African languages are missing from today’s dominant models. Philip argues that talent is the shortest path to sovereignty, particularly for countries that cannot realistically own massive compute or hyperscale datasets. We discuss small language models, local context, and why being a builder matters, with vivid examples such as flood prediction and the type of granular data that global models often overlook. From there, we zoom out to the money and the power. Why do investors keep funding only “the model,” and what returns exist in energy, infrastructure, and applied AI use cases? How do development banks catch up when AI moves faster than traditional timelines? We also tackle data localization versus real data governance, the value of data, and the information battlefield of misinformation and disinformation, including the need to label synthetic content and raise the economic cost of harm. If you care about Kenya’s AI strategy, Africa’s AI future, AI policy, data governance, and tech diplomacy, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s building, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Credits Host:  * Stella Gichuhi Producer:  * James Njoroge Executive Producers: * Harry Hare * Agutu Dan

People Still People | A Conversation with Serge Blockmans

What are your thoughts? [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2529883/fan_mail/new] Guest: Serge Blockmans - Independent Advisor | Change Management Go live is a moment. Transformation is a behavior change that survives the moment. I sit down with Serge Blockmans, who helped bring SAP and ERP into the East African market, to revisit what digital transformation looked like in Kenya before the term became fashionable. Back then, organizations wanted controls, governance, and trustworthy data, not buzzwords. That foundation still shapes today’s ERP implementation decisions across finance, procurement, logistics, HR, and payroll. From there, we get honest about why so many programs stall after the system launches. Serge makes the case that “best practice” can become a convenient excuse to skip business analysis, process design, and real ownership. We delve into why a PMO is still often treated as optional, why change management is sometimes confused with project management, and how resistance to change can manifest in various settings, from boardrooms to procurement committees to frontline super users. Then we step into AI transformation. Embedded AI in SAP and ERP often resembles an advanced form of robotic process automation: faster tasks, fewer clicks, quicker analytics. However, if your processes and data are disorganized, AI can exacerbate the mess even faster. We also explore agentic AI, native AI apps, and the uncomfortable truth that your organization remains legally accountable even when an “autonomous” workflow makes the call. If you lead technology, transformation, or operations, you’ll leave with clearer definitions of success, sharper questions to ask before buying tools, and a strong reminder to protect the change management budget.  Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review with the biggest people challenge you’ve seen in transformation. Credits Host:  * Stella Gichuhi Producer:  * James Njoroge Executive Producers: * Harry Hare * Agutu Dan

Building Amanzi Cloud: Decentralized AI Infrastructure For Africa By Africa Featuring Justice Mukaro

What are your thoughts? [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2529883/fan_mail/new] Guest: Justice Mukaro - Founder of Strateji & Zimbabwean entrepreneur   What happens when Africa stops importing assumptions and starts exporting standards? We sit down with founder and computer scientist Justice Mukaro to unpack a bold, practical plan for sovereign AI: Amanzi Cloud, a decentralized infrastructure designed to keep data local, cut costs, and connect every country into one living network. Justice’s water metaphor makes complex systems feel simple. Traditional hyperscalers are like dams; Amanzi is a network of boreholes—nodes in data centers, institutions, and smaller machines—linked by secure “pipes” that track flow, prevent leaks, and respect each nation’s laws. That shift unlocks data sovereignty without isolation, enabling cross-border collaboration, fair pricing for builders, and privacy-first compute that aligns with global trends toward decentralization. From a chance intro to a data center tour to a new partnership, we map how relationships move pilots from pitch to reality. We also go deep on the human side of infrastructure: how Afrocentric tech means more than branding; why educating through product beats slide decks; and what it takes to be a diplomatic innovator who can talk policy on Monday and ship code on Tuesday. Justice traces Strategy’s pivots—from WhatsApp-native surveys to dataset curation to hardware-aware cloud design—showing how mission fidelity and flexibility can coexist. The stakes are clear: if Africa doesn’t feed its context into AI, the systems shaping daily life will misread the continent and harden those errors at scale. Walk away with a clear mental model for decentralized cloud, concrete steps for building sovereign data pathways, and founder-grade lessons on partnerships, pricing, and courage. If you care about AI ethics, privacy, and equitable growth—from Nairobi to Harare to Lagos—this conversation is a roadmap and a rallying cry.  Subscribe, share with a builder or policymaker in your circle, and leave a review telling us: what’s the first node your community needs? Credits Host:  * Stella Gichuhi Producer:  * James Njoroge Executive Producers: * Harry Hare * Agutu Dan

After The Hype: AI, Power, And Policy With Harry Hare

What are your thoughts? [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2529883/fan_mail/new] Tech Talk Africa | Season 2 Episode 02: After The Hype Guest: Harry Hare, Chairman & Publisher at CIO Africa A pandemic rewired our habits, but did it truly change our leadership? We open the door on Kenya’s post-COVID tech reality—how hybrid work became muscle memory, how decision-making evolved, and where old instincts still hold back progress. Then we wade into the storm ahead: elections, uncertainty, and AI stepping onto the political stage. From deepfakes that stress-test public trust to hyper-targeted messages that could raise the quality of civic engagement, we map the risks, the safeguards, and the surprising opportunities for those who prepare. We also challenge a popular narrative: AI isn’t a bubble; the hype is. Real value sits in workflows where data governance, model observability, and human-in-the-loop controls turn experiments into reliable operations. That shift depends on skills and structure—teams that can instrument CRMs, segment audiences responsibly, and build processes that fail safely. Policy enters here, but only if it points to a coherent North Star. Regions that commit to practical bets—chip assembly, logistics, data centers—create ecosystems that attract capital and talent. Clarity compounds. Inclusion is not a side panel; it is a performance edge. We talk candidly about women in tech leadership—why visibility lags, how confidence and nomination pipelines stall, and what it takes to get more women shaping models, data, and product decisions. The recurring theme is scale: Africa doesn’t lack creativity; it lacks the structures to grow pilots into platforms. Strong foundations, smarter governance, and regional market depth can change that. We may have missed the internet wave, but AI offers a second chance—if we align, build guardrails, and scale what works. If this conversation sparked a thought, share it with a friend, subscribe for more Tech Talk Africa, and leave a review with the one shift you think Kenya must make next. Credits Host:  * Stella Gichuhi Producer:  * James Njoroge Executive Producers: * Harry Hare * Agutu Dan