Host Company Spotlight – Fyffes

Introducing our new Data Science Project Partnership with Fyffes

At Ishango.ai one of our main goals is to create value for global businesses by giving them access to top data science talent in Africa.

Through our Data Science Fellowship, we have had the pleasure of working with leading companies on data-driven projects that have supported key decisions and delivered real business value to their operations. For our October/November 2022 Fellowship cohort, we are happy to introduce a new host company, Fyffes.

Fyffes is one of the world’s leading companies in the production and wholesale of fresh produce. With an infrastructure that reaches across the globe, Fyffes is involved in the production, procurement, shipping, ripening, distribution, and marketing of bananas, pineapples, and melons.  Today, Fyffes is the largest importer of bananas in Europe and the no. 1 importer of offshore melons in North America.

As part of our partnership, Fyffes is hosting two fellows Mahamat Azibert Abdelwahab from Chad and Percy Chukwudi from Nigeria.

For the 8-week duration of the fellowship, Mahamat and Percy have been assigned the project to develop a python-based data model to estimate the size of pineapples from phone-generated imaging directly taken from the plants in the field and to apply this model to internally developed correlations to predict pictures from pineapples into sizes.

On their expectations for the fellowship, the two fellows had this to say:

I am confident that the program will provide me with professional skills and experience in working on real-life problems. I am looking to develop my technical and communication skills and gain more confidence to enter the world of work.

– Mahamat Azibert Abdelwahab

I love the collaborative approach to project execution at Ishango.ai. Truly none of us is as smart as all of us. The team has been super supportive and I look forward to building an amazing solution with them.

– Percy Chukwudi

Ishango is very excited to partner with Fyffes as a host company for our fellowship. We are grateful for this opportunity for our fellows to develop and showcase their skills. It will go a long way in not only boosting their career prospects, but also shaping them into problem solvers that can create real impact across the African continent.