Steven Mwesige takes full CISO reins at Pearl Bank Uganda

At the inaugural CITO East Africa Pitch Parade at Nairobi’s Capital Club, ten partners had exactly four minutes each to pitch solutions to nearly 100 tech executives. Throughout the night, CIOs were treated to a catalogue of solutions ranging from agentic AI to wealth management solutions.

Speaking at the CITO East Africa Pitch Parade at Capital Club East Africa in Nairobi, Dr Mark Nasila, chief data and analytics officer at FNB South Africa and author of two books on artificial intelligence, made the case that Africa's relationship with technology needs to change, from adoption to ownership.

AI is completely changing what companies expect from their IT leaders. Speaking at the CIO of the Future Summit in Tanzania, Siael Macha, head of digital innovations at Mwananchi Communications, explained why IT leaders must now also act as risk managers.

Henny brings more than 25 years of progressive senior and executive leadership experience spanning technology, logistics, financial services and corporate environments.

Peter brings more than 22 years of experience in IT leadership having held senior executive and leadership positions across a wide range of institutions in Uganda. 

Brian has over 20 years experience across banking, financial services, telecommunications and enterprise environments.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly entering business conversations, but fast adoption does not automatically translate into better decisions or stronger results. At the CIO of the Future Summit in Tanzania, Rohit Thaker, CTO of TEAGTL, Godwin Mbekelu, head of IT at Sportpesa and Amiri Sultani Mziray, head of ICT at I&M Bank Tanzania discussed how organisations can effectively adopt AI as a strategic enabler of business.

In recent years, East African countries have made significant strides in efforts towards data protection. However, Reliance Insurance head of IT, Imani Mwanri, challenges countries within the region to also develop cross-border data regulations with growing need for data exchange between countries.

Diana has over ten years experience in implementation and support of information security programs.

She has built a two decade career in IT and has an expansive skillset in digital transformation and strategy, technology innovation and strategic leadership.

At the August CIO of the Future Summit in Tanzania, Yas Tanzania IT director Victor Mtefu narrated how he navigated the high-stakes migration from legacy systems during the telco’s rebrand from Tigo. He also shared why revamping core tech relies far more on strategy and governance than on the technology  alone.

In more than ten years of her career, Catherine Bwire, CISO at Ecobank Uganda, has watched women remain outnumbered in IT careers. To change that, she urges female tech leaders to make themselves visible and mentor the younger generation.