The Ndichu Twins. PHOTO: COURTESY Techies Paul and Edward aka Eddie Ndichu are known for many things, notably their contribution to Africa’s financial technology evolution.
The baby-faced twins honed their skills in Australia, with Eddie graduating at the famed Murdoch University in Perth, while Paul cutting his teeth at Curtin University.
Still, the journey towards offering technology solutions to blue-chip firms has been anything but straight forward for the look-alike brothers.
Their dad passed on when they were still in campus and at some point Eddie had to work as a flair mixologist, adept at fixing great cocktails using his skills at many a private party and numerous bars, for upkeep and to offset fees arrears.
“The belief is that the foundation has to be strong for the building to stand on its own. My background helped alot to the person I am today,” he says.
He retained the job, for the income, even after landing a standard 9 to 5 software analyst job at construction technology company – Click Home, where he configured software on possibly one of the first ever hand held-sized smartphone, the Pocket PC / Personal Digital Assistant.
After sometime working with mobile devices in Africa, he returned to Nairobi to hunt for a job.
His break came when he took up a management trainee position at a leading cement manufacturer and rose to the regional sales manager, tasked with improving the supply chain, with an original organizational plan to deploy laptops in the field.
He would soon join Standard Chartered Bank, where he rose to Regional Head Digital, with a duty to launch online services, and oversee mobile lending. It is here where he lead mobile money integrations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana & Nigeria.
Kenya’s largest bank KCB was his next stop, as the Head of Digital Financial Services and Mobile Payments. The team he now on heads manages over 80% of the bank’s customer base, processing upto 60% of the Bank’s total transactions and 90% of the Bank’s total loans, all on mobile.
Paul, meanwhile, who comes across as the more private cum corporate twin.While Eddie took to mixing drinks, Paul became a cash in transit security agent.He later worked in economic development for the government of Australia before immersion into fintech start when he landed a job at Cellulant – a now leading mobile commerce company across Africa, as the Chief Business Officer.Here, he lead the charge in building […]