Ep 90 – Ali Talks Tech with Totogi and Zain on Sudan's telecom crisis

Last week at the NOVACOM 1-to-1 Telco Summit in Kenya, I connected with fellow podcaster Ali Hussein Kassim, host of Ali Talks Tech, which focuses on Africa’s changing tech landscape. We decided to record a joint episode about Totogi’s recent work with Zain to restore critical mobile services in Sudan after they were knocked out due to the ongoing civil war. 

Abdalla Hamid, Director of IT at Zain Sudan, joined us to talk about how Totogi got Zain back up and running in just 18 days thanks to the power of the public cloud. Listen now to hear:

• The dire situation Zain Sudan faced when it suffered a 40-day outage of essential services, and how Totogi helped it get back online [06:14];
• The way Totogi’s Charging-as-a-Service revolutionizes telco charging, lowering TCO by up to 80% and deploying in weeks instead of 6-18 months [16:07];
• Why I’m supercharged about Totogi’s ability to transform the telco industry and help the world’s unconnected [20:40].
• How Totogi and Zain plan to move forward together, leveraging the latest AI tech in Africa—even on 2G networks! [23:39].

Links and resources

• Read the announcement of Totogi’s exciting partnership with Zain 
• Check out my recent blog and episode 89 to find out why the public cloud is PERFECT for Africa.
• Watch the video of our conversation on YouTube.
• Read McKinsey & Company’s recent report, Africa’s leap ahead into cloud: Opportunities and barriers
• Check out the Ali Talks Tech podcast for insights on Africa’s rapidly changing tech landscape.
• See the graph showing the networks going down in Sudan in early February.

• Everyone at the conference got a delicious local welcome gift: Mocha Bombs in dark chocolate. Delicious! Give them a try if you ever get a chance!
• Check out this episode on our YouTube channel.
• Read the transcript for this episode here.

Wanna talk public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.

This week’s guests

About Ali Hussein Kassim, Ali Talks Tech founder and host

Ali is a serial entrepreneur and a regular commentator and contributor on all things tech and the policy and regulatory landscape across Africa and beyond. He consults on digital transformation, and serves in leadership roles on public and private sector boards including Africa Fintech Network, Association of Fintechs in Kenya, and Kenya ICT Action Network. He enjoys mentoring and investing in tech entrepreneurs across Africa.

About Abdalla Hamid, Director of IT, Zain, Sudan

Abdalla Isamaldin Abdalla Hamid is a results-driven professional with 15+ years of experience in project management, business analysis, and digital transformation. As Director of Information Technology (IT), he aligns IT strategy with business goals and oversees IT operations. Abdalla’s expertise encompasses BSS, project and program management, software development, automation, IT infrastructure and digital transformation. He holds an MBA and certifications in project management and service engineering. 

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Podcast credits

• Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios Royston, TelcoDR
• Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
• Editor/Marketing: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
• Editing: Andrew Condell
• Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
• Music: Dyami Wilson

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