Spotlight on our New Board Member- Nicole Noack

We are happy to introduce Nicole Noack, who recently joined Ishango as an advisory board member. She is a highly accomplished Senior Manager and Consultant with over 20 years of expertise in hardware maintenance and development. She has a proven track record of driving innovation, streamlining operations, and producing outstanding outcomes in both large organisations and start-ups. Below, she shares her insights on the potential of AI and data science and how African talent can contribute to the field.

Could you please introduce yourself and your professional background?
I am an engineer by heart with a computer science background. More than 20 years ago, I started my career by developing e-commerce systems and growing a successful online development business in the early years of the internet. I then switched to the aviation industry to apply my analytical skills and agile development know-how to aircraft maintenance, modification, and component development. After almost 20 years in several leadership positions and international projects, I followed my passion and switched to consumer hardware development with a strong data driven background. For the past few years, I have been running my own consulting business for hardware oriented startups and small businesses, and I enjoy my role as a mentor for different accelerators.

What excites you the most about the potential of AI and data science and how African talent can contribute to the field?
For the past decade, software applications in almost all hardware industries have started to enhance products and increase safety, reliability, and cost-of-ownership. Prediction modeling, object detection, or anomaly detection improve almost all industries – and accelerate technological progress in such fields as health, energy, and agriculture. Our societies will benefit from AI in combination with hardware to help us find solutions for our current challenges.

We need talents who are dedicated, skilled, and curious to solve today’s problems. I have worked with African young professionals throughout my career, and the passion and motivation shown were always incredible. I truly believe that Ishango.ai’s initiatives to develop local African data scientists and engineers are beneficial for international industry clients, e.g., from Europe and the US, as well as for local businesses. Furthermore, Ishango’s remote working model enables the young professionals to stay within and support their own communities.

What motivated you to join Ishango.ai’s board? How do you hope to contribute as a board member?
I am convinced that African talent as well as the African technology and startup sectors foresee a bright future. With my experiences and contacts in both the startup and corporate sectors in Europe as well as in the industries I developed my career in, I am certain that I can assist Ishango.ai to grow, understand potential customer demands and processes, and accelerate networking. The Ishango.ai business model combines economic advantages for customers with social responsibility, which resonates with my very own values. Plus – I am sure I’ll also learn a lot myself – so for me, this Board Member position is a mutual benefit, and I am excited to start working with the Ishango.ai team.

What are your aspirations for Ishango.ai in the next five years?
Ishango.ai will be known as the go-to place for extending internal data scientists and data engineers teams for project based work – especially for the European life science, health, agriculture, maintenance, and automation industries. In addition, Ishango.ai will attract the most talented young data scientists and engineers from the African continent to strengthen the local economy and continue to mentor young students.