Lynnette Asudi, The Queen of Mobile Engineering (and Chocolate!)
Apps, Chocolate and a №1 Album on Shower Billboard, all in a day in the life of a Mobile Engineer powering Africa’s fintech revolution
Lynnette Asudi is the head of mobile engineering at PesaKit. An interesting combination of introverted reservation, smarts, wit, and innovation; she embodies the culture at the fintech startup bringing digital and financial services to MSMEs & merchants in Africa. We had a chance to pick her brain on several issues as we celebrate the UN International Girls in ICT Day.
Born in Nairobi, she grew up in Umoja and went to high school in Kiambu and the lakeside City of Kisumu before pursuing an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at the University of Nairobi. How she ended up there is an interesting turn of events.
What did you want to do as a young girl in High School?
I always wanted to be an Engineer, a Civil Engineer. I love the sciences, STEM was my thing. I didn’t like the arts. After my results came out my dad wanted me to be a nurse but the thought of handling blood in a hospital wasn’t my cup of tea lol. We settled on Business Administration, but luckily, a friend talked to my dad about Computer Science and that’s what we ended up choosing.
Early Days
I love doing practical things, I’m a hands-on person and enjoyed the practical sessions and experiments in high school. Theory sickens me, even today. I want a task I can dig into and complete practically.
Before joining University I spent my year after high school at my Dad’s company managing the company website at the office. It was an eye-opening experience but I didn’t quite feel like that was my thing.
During my campus stay, a team from iHub explained about Android developers and I was really curious to know what people at iHub were up to, it seemed quite fun and practical. I did an Android development class with Mlab and immediately knew that was my thing. I even developed a mobile app for my final year project, it was love at first sight with mobile applications and app developments.
PesaKit
I am currently the head of mobile engineering at PesaKit. Basically, I develop user interfaces for mobile applications, communicate with the Application Programming Interface (APIs), perform unit tests, and push updates. A lot of testing, coding, and testing again until everything works perfectly. We usually have results we are expecting and I have to ensure the API is communicating with the mobile app and test to ensure we get the correct responses from the servers. Usually, this means hours of correcting and rectifying code with a backend engineer and then testing everything again to validate the correct results.
Think of the public transport sector, an API is like the matatu communication system that tells the owner of the matatu what routes the matatu went on and how much money was collected at the end of the day. The matatu in this case is the back end. Just like a real-life matatu conductor would, APIs sometimes misbehave and the information doesn’t flow smoothly so we have to keep updating and testing them.
ICT in Africa
I am so excited to see how everyday mobile phone users have warmed up to mobile money and digital services on their devices. It’s been a long journey, especially among women, we are naturally more cautious and as providers in most households in Kenya, we want the assurance that our money is safe.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency technology are the future and I look forward to being part of the growing field of innovation looking to make them safer and able to accommodate more people across the globe and here in Africa specifically.
This used to be a very male-dominated space years ago and it’s amazing to see more and more women joining this space and making breakthrough inventions and innovations. Every industry needs a woman’s touch, it’s better than Midas’.
Favorite Tool
Firebase by Google is the one for me. As a platform for developing and testing mobile applications, it gives me a lot of options especially considering all the devices that operate on the deep, wide ocean that is Android.
I love crashlytics specifically because it offers a window to devices I don’t have. An application could be working on say a Samsung phone but fail on a Tecno or Oppo device, all this data is available on crashlytics and helps me in my testing and development.
Greatest Achievement
My career highlight so far is being the first PesaKit employee, having been here from inception leading a team of 10 colleagues and seeing us grow to double that size today. It’s especially exciting to see more women join the company and take inspiration from my work here. I’ve always believed technology for its own sake is useless, true innovation is felt in its impact on people’s lives. The fact that the app I helped create is putting smiles on users’ faces and money in their pockets every day is a great source of pride for me. It’s my finest contribution to the ICT industry so far and I look forward to making more improvements to the app and adding more exciting features for all PesaKit users.
Real-Life Hero
One name stands out for me when I think of innovation in ICT. Jessica Francisca Colaço, she’s done a lot in the tech space and I look up to her and I strive to have a great impact in ICT as well.
Parting Shot
I’d like to tell all the young dreamers out there, especially the girls to go for it! There are no limitations in this day and age, everything is available online and you can become whatever you want to as long as you put in the work.
Fun Facts, Lynette’s Favorites
Colour- Yellow! It’s the brightest color and full of life.
Food-This is a cheat, chocolate. I can have chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and supper haha.
Current read-Data Science. Google is everyone’s friend.
Music-I bump to gospel music in the house, just don’t ask me to sing, please. I am a loud member of shower records only.
Movie-Any action movie. I love crime dramas and seeing how the crimes are resolved.
A happy International Girls in ICT Day to all the women innovating to make this world a better place for everyone!
