I first started working on digital technologies back when we had floppy disks that were actually floppy. Big 8-inch paper squares with a thin plastic middle that could store a few kilobytes of data. Not megabytes or gigabytes, but kilobytes.
This was the 1980s, and no normal people had email. Phones had cords – long curly cords that you’d stretch across the room to find privacy for your call – and formal letters were typed by hand.
I watched my mom spend hours drafting on a manual typewriter, each mistake requiring correction tape and a few choice words. Frustrated by her struggles, my dad and I pooled our money to buy her a new electronic typewriter. With its fancy screen, she could compose a sentence hit enter and watch it type perfectly – no corrections, no cursing. That moment showed me the power of technology for everyday life. If one small screen could transform my mom’s world, imagine what digital tools could do to address bigger challenges. That’s how I knew I wanted to improve the world with new information and technology solutions.
A few years later, after a budding career in accountancy and a stint in the US Peace Corps program in Russia, I found myself wandering across Asia by train, thinking about how that electronic typewriter had made such a difference in my mom’s life. I knew it was time to focus again on improving people’s lives using the tools of technology.
By 2005 I was leading Geekcorps, the Peace Corps for techies. We were working alongside West Africans to build homemade Wi-Fi antennas and bring Internet access to Timbuktu – yes, that fabled city in Mali.
Locally led digital transformation
It was then, building Wi-Fi antennas from plastic bottles and wire mesh with technically gifted Africans, when I realized that locally led development is possible — even in technology, even in rural Africa. We didn’t need to import Western experts to do the work but just to train people to build and maintain digital systems themselves.
For example, Malians used the Wi-Fi antennas to create TV networks in rural communities that would never be served by traditional telecommunications companies – they are just too far and too small to be interesting for a big company. Yet, the techies who lived there knew their market and created profitable services that pleased everyone.
That led me to Inveneo, a company where I grew our local partner network to 64 innovative tech firms in 16 African countries. Malians, Malawians, and Tanzanians who could implement and sustain digital solutions themselves. And they still do. They’ve gone on to positions of power and influence in their countries, driving digital transformation across the continent.
Digital transformation at the local level
I’ve gone on to work with donors, trying to show them the immense talent and opportunity available for digital transformation in the Global South. With a few successes. For example, creating an RFP for Zambian firms to accelerate tech startups and mobilize investment into technology and tech-enabled companies. Now I am at Humentum, where I aim to guide us and our members to become digital-first organizations.
I see digital tools enabling community service organizations to strengthen their operational capacity and expand their impact, shifting the power of decisions — not “downwards” to “local” organizations — but outwards to the first mile frontlines of development.
We need to meet innovative organizations where they are, driving change in their communities with solutions that accelerate economic and social advancement.
Driving digital transformation together
That is why I’m excited to be at Humentum. Our new strategy sees us working side-by-side with talented leaders to strengthen social good organizations from the inside out, creating operating models that are equitable, resilient, and accountable.
I’m leading the design of digital and AI-driven solutions that streamline process and reduce financial and compliance challenges. I’m inspired by our vision to support 7,500 organizations in adopting these models by 2027—and to extend this reach to 20,000 organizations by 2033.
It’s been a long journey in space and time since I watched Malians align “bottlenet” Wi-Fi antennas in Timbuktu. I can’t wait to see what this new chapter brings, and I ask you to join me. Let’s work together with CSOs, INGOs, and donors to make locally led digital transformation a reality everywhere.
Want to know more about Humentum’s digital-first startegy? Join us to build strong and resilient operational models for now and into the future.