Tom Mboya Opiyo appointed director of information systems at Sanku

post-title

He joins the organisation from Unilever, where he served as technology lead for East Africa, bringing more than 30 years of experience in enterprise technology leadership and digital transformation.

Tom Mboya Opiyo has been appointed director of information systems at Sanku. 

In his new role, he will oversee the organisation’s information systems and technology strategy in support of its nutrition fortification programmes.

Before joining Sanku, Tom served as technology lead for East Africa at Unilever from May 2023 to September 2025, where he worked with regional leadership teams to drive digital transformation, strengthen cybersecurity frameworks and support innovation initiatives across the cluster.

Prior to Unilever, Tom served briefly as chief digital transformation officer at Mount Meru Group in Zambia.

From August 2016 to December 2022, Tom spent more than six years at Unga Group as head of ICT and CIO, where led the company’s enterprise technology strategy and oversaw the implementation of key systems including SAP across finance, HR and manufacturing operations.

Earlier roles include continuous improvement lead and manager for business systems implementation at Kenya Airways, head of ICT at SonySugar Company, and over a decade at Chevron (Caltex) Kenya, where he contributed to a major SAP consolidation spanning nine countries across East and Southern Africa.

Tom holds an MBA in finance from USIU and a BSc in mathematics and computer science from JKUAT. He is a certified information security manager and a fellow of the Computer Society of Kenya.

 

 

Related articles

Tech leaders encourage smart AI adoption in business 

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.

Reliance Insurance IT head Imani Mwanri calls for cross border data regulations

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.

Yas Tanzania’s IT director Victor Mtefu’s system migration strategy

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.

AI still needs a human touch, says Reliance Insurance IT head

At the CIO of the Future Summit in Dar es Salaam, tech leaders discussed AI's impact on daily operations. Among the panelists was Imani Mwanri, head of IT at Reliance Insurance, who urged tech leaders to embrace AI while warning against abandoning human oversight. 

Mulwana CTO Robert Jenkins says AI's real risk is missing regulations

Mulwana CIO, Robert Jenkins Sibbechai, believes the biggest gap in how organisations use AI isn't the technology itself but the absence of any rules governing what it's allowed to do with the data it's fed. He explains why this complicates cybersecurity and how a decade of oversharing on social media set the stage for it.

Build AI around local priorities, says IALE institute CEO Dr Allen Mutono

At the CIO of the Future Summit held at the Dar es Salaam Serena on 11 September, Dr Allen Mutono delivered a keynote address that challenged IT leaders to think carefully about how AI is deployed in African organisations. He also urged CIOs to equip their teams for an AI-enabled workplace while keeping human judgement at the centre.

Top