Timothy Wahome sees AI as a tool that should already be reshaping how people work, solve problems and access opportunity. His approach to technology is rooted in real-world impact, where speed, reliability and access carry real consequences for how people live.
Timothy Wahome views AI as a non-negotiable tool that should have been embraced years ago, and that belief shapes how he approaches his work and the communities around it.
In a continent where technology often arrives late and unevenly, Timothy speaks about speed, access and responsibility with the ease of someone who has spent years translating abstract systems into everyday solutions. His thinking is grounded not in hype but in lived experience of what technology can unlock when applied to real problems, at scale and with people in mind.
“I always tell my team, if you are not using AI right now to help reduce your turnaround from a month to three days in terms of development, I don’t see how I can have you in my team in the next quarter. For me, AI is non-negotiable. It is something that ideally should have been embraced three or four years ago,” he says.
At Onfon Mobile, where Timothy serves as CTO, he leads technology strategy and operations across multiple African markets. The company’s focus on device financing places technology directly in the hands of people who rely on their phones for transport, healthcare, payments and connection.
He pioneered Onfon Mobile’s growth from Kenya to Vodacom Mozambique, Vodacom South Africa, Lesotho, and Tanzania, and later to Safaricom Ethiopia, Vodacom DRC, and MTN Cameroon, all with the target to upscale Africa with smartphones to drive the continent’s growth and success.
“If your mobile phone is the link between you getting fare to go see your kids, or making a payment at hospital, the criticality of providing a device to a user is very real,” he notes. “So when there is a system fault, even if it affects one or two people, it becomes a very serious matter.”
Curiosity first
Long before he held regional responsibility, Timothy’s relationship with technology was shaped by curiosity and problem-solving rather than formal ambition.
“Exposure to computers at an early age and later to robotics and programming gave me a language for dismantling and rebuilding systems. For me, it was about problem-solving outside the norm of computers. You are not just programming; you are trying to solve a certain problem,” he explains.
That instinct followed him into unexpected spaces. While at university, Timothy became frustrated not by a technical limitation but by a social one. As part of a Christian community of about 4,000 students, he struggled with how Bible study groups were formed, finding the experience alienating as an introvert. Rather than accept it, he built a system.
“We created a campaign and sent everyone a personality test. At the end of the day, we built an ML model to categorise members so that each group had a balance of characters. That was the first AI model I built, not for profit, but to solve a community problem,” Timothy says.
He says the result was immediate. What had previously taken weeks was completed in a day, and feedback from participants changed the atmosphere of the entire group.
“The comments we got were that this was the best Bible study on campus. Of all the things I have achieved that made profit, this is the one I always recall because it came from a very personal place,” he says.
That story sits at the centre of Timothy’s philosophy. Technology, in his view, is not about prestige or abstraction but about reducing friction and creating dignity. This principle shapes his leadership style, particularly in how he builds and supports teams across countries.
People over titles
“Leadership, from my perspective, is about growing people, not just professions. I am not always looking for someone who is already very skilled. If I provide you with the right environment, you will be able to showcase yourself,” he says.
He pays attention to people’s early experiences, like how they handled responsibility in school, instead of just looking at their current technical skills. He wants to build teams where people feel safe to try new things, make mistakes, and learn, especially in fast-moving work environments.
“You need a comfortable environment where you can make mistakes and innovate on the go. Performance matters, but how you handle people goes beyond metrics,” Timothy says.
He recalls how that approach was tested when Onfon Mobile faced a major system fault affecting nearly half a million customers in Kenya. For a business built on reliability, the incident proved defining.
“We had prided ourselves in never having an incident,” he says. “This forced conversations about redundancy and resilience. It also showed us the real impact on customers. It reminded us that this goes beyond profit.”
The experience reinforced his belief that technology leaders carry a communal responsibility, particularly in markets where digital infrastructure fills gaps left by other systems.
“As much as I am empowering people, I am bringing a community up, and you have to maintain that trust,” he says.
Access matters
When Timothy speaks about AI, his focus returns to access. He sees the technology as a leveller, capable of narrowing gaps between institutions, geographies and backgrounds that once defined opportunity.
“AI has bridged the gap in education. Five years ago, where you studied mattered a lot more. Now access to knowledge is there. You can learn best practices that would have taken 10 or 20 years of experience,” he notes.
Rather than advocating for AI as a formal subject, he views it as a tool to be absorbed naturally, shaping how people think, build and solve problems across sectors.
“It’s not about teaching AI. It’s about embracing it to take you to the next phase in your career or creativity,” he says.
Outside work, Timothy returns to music as a counterweight to the intensity of his role. He describes playing the saxophone as a realm where logic gives way to feeling and connection occurs effortlessly.
“Music moves your mind from a very strict, structured space to another perspective of life that can sometimes be inexplicable. It’s calming and it opens up a way to relate with people,” he expresses.
