I work as a researcher at Bowen University in Nigeria, specializing in electrical and electronics engineering and AI. When I started my PhD in 2015, I was fascinated by how AI could be applied to improve agricultural productivity and over the years, my research has expanded into robotics and applied AI.

I always thought I would become an electrical engineer, but in 2001, the internet was just arriving in Zambia, and I got hooked on computers instead. That curiosity led me to a bachelor’s in Computer Science in 2007, a master’s in South Africa in 2011, and eventually a PhD at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Today, I’m a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zambia and the founder of the Data Lab Research Group.

I still remember the day I realized my first startup dream wasn’t going to work out. I had poured my savings into building a mobile app to help people with type 1 diabetes predict their blood sugar levels. The idea was simple but ambitious: because insulin pumps were prohibitively expensive in many African countries, what if we could predict a patient’s blood sugar a few hours in advance and help them prevent dangerous highs and lows? I had no team, no funding, just a stubborn determination to succeed.

I grew up in western Uganda, in Bushenyi, and stumbled into computer science almost by chance. My cousin mentioned the course, my dad encouraged me to apply for it, and soon I was enrolled at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. I had no idea where it would take me.

In 2019, when I finished university, I wasn’t sure how to turn my passion for artificial intelligence (AI) into a career. In Ghana, people told me, “You can’t really do AI here, you have to go abroad.” I believed that, until I attended Data Science Africa (DSA) in Accra that same year.

I grew up in rural Kenya, surrounded by farmlands. It was a simple life, but it shaped the way I think about problems and solutions. I learned early on how important observation and curiosity are, noticing how crops grew and how animals behaved. Later, I went to high school quite far from home and then to Kenyatta University in Nairobi. That’s where my journey toward data science began.

Data Science Africa (DSA) is proud to partner in delivering the Google DeepMind AI Research Foundations curriculum as part of our strategic commitment to strengthening AI capacity across the continent.