About
I am a boy grown tall so I face everything with bad jokes, questions, and doubt. I am a seeker of stories; the good, the bad, the tragic and everything in between. In a sense this makes me a griot. I approach life as a boy grown tall armed with bad jokes, questions, and doubt. I spend my days going through streams of data looking for a story to tell. I am strongly convinced that doubt is the instrument that identifies a good story, cautionary tales or bad stories. Such stories could be how well did we do today? Are we dropping the ball in some sectors? What do we need to take seriously? Are we forgetting something? My free times are then spent listening to podcasts, reading through history, biographies and science articles still in pursuit of stories and the instruments that have worked for griots before me. Music is but a punctuation for a good story therefore my music palette is as wide as the variety of stories i have read and come across. Whenever I can and often, i spend a few moments on a run, cycling or on mountains because that's the one way I manage to reflect on the stories I have come across, and to remind myself, because i always need reminding, that I am but a character in the story of the universe.
Data Scientist & Story Seeker and Teller.
Enterprise Data Scientist | Data Science & Analytics | Analytics Consultant | Data Strategy | Data Governance | Speaker
Building teams that ensure organisational single source of truth.
Skills
A top level highlight of some skills I have acquired over the years.
Resume
Python | R | Java | MySQL | PostgreSQL | MandoDB | HBase | BigQuery | Kafka | Docker | Git | Cloud Computing (GCP, AWS, and Azure) | Protobufs | Kubernetes | Java.
Summary
Prestone Adie
I am an accomplished data professional with an academic background in a quantitative field and 10 years of progressive experience, I understand the transformative power of data in addressing societal challenges. I have successfully led and managed diverse teams, fostering collaborative and inclusive environments. My expertise lies in architecting cohesive frameworks that integrate and analyze complex data systems, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Throughout my career, I have demonstrated proficiency in traditional and advanced data science techniques, including machine learning and statistical analysis. I have implemented scalable approaches to embed data science practices into curriculum development and digital learning. Additionally, I possess a comprehensive understanding of data technologies, cloud platforms, relational databases, and data visualization tools.
Beyond my technical qualifications, I excel in communication and stakeholder engagement. I am dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, and have a track record of driving collaboration and achieving results in global and matrixed environments. My strong project management skills, interdisciplinary mindset, and ability to thrive in remote and cross-cultural settings are but the icing on the cake.
Education
Master of Science, Actuarial Science
2024
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Bachelor of Science, Actuarial Science
2010 - 2014
Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Kenya
Board Memberships
Data Science Africa
2022 to Now
Africa, Remote
- Leading communication and industry associations
Sigana Moro Studios
2015 - Now
Nairobi, Kenya
- Leading strategy direction and events management.
Professional Experience
Head of Data, Global
March 2024 - Present
Engie Energy Access
Africa, Remote
- Working on delivering solar based power services to off the grid customers. Working with a team of data engineers, data analysts, data scientists and machine learning engineers to build tools and insights that empower on the field and boardroom based colleagues to make decisions on time.
Tech Lead, Data Science
Nov 2022 - Dec 2023
Kyosk.app
Africa, Remote
- Leads the development of the data science and analytics platform for the next marketplace for dukas in Africa by providing an oversight role on data science matters. This includes developing and owning the data science strategy to cover building data pipelines to handle ETL, model training, and deployment leveraging some of the key software development tools for streaming and orchestration.
Head of Data
Jan 2022 - Nov 2022
Xetova Ltd
Africa, Remote
- Developed and owned the organization’s Data Strategy roadmap in line with the overall business strategy. This strategy was implemented with a team of data scientists, analysts, and engineers with whom we changed the outlook of Data utilization in Supply Chain and Banking institutions.
Data Scientist
May 2018 - Dec 2021
Africa's Talking
Africa, Remote
- Developed and owned the organisation's data science Strategy working with various squads to actualise data science tools. Similarly, I carried out the implementation of this strategy by building data pipelines and supervising model developments and monitoring.
Data Scientist
Dec 2017 - April 2018
Co-operative Bank of Kenya
Nairobi. Kenya
- Provided data science support for the team working on the bank's digitization strategy leading to models that powered account opening, loan applications, and approvals.
Open Data Analyst
Apr 2015 - Dec 2016
Kenya Open Data Initiative
Nairobi, Kenya
- Managed the Open Data Fellows data science team and provided support to government Institutions through whom we developed and employed a robust data processing lifecycle that continues to be employed by Kenyan government departments and Agencies. Similarly, I developed training activities as part of the wider communication efforts that also included training activities and reporting on impact evaluation strategies.
Blog
More Posts Coming Soon
Testimonials
Sifa Mawiyoo
Geographic Data Analyst | Cartographer | Geoinformatics | 3's Drones, Smart Sensors and Automation | Open Data Advocate
I worked with Prestone for almost two years at the Kenya Open Initiative. He was the lead community engagement officer and resident data scientist. He performed both roles splendidly. Organised multiple events with developers, academia, government and non-government stakeholders to bolster our engagement and interaction with data users and publishers. His organisation skills were excellent and as he grew into the role he took the initiative to create and lead our special ops teams of open data fellows. They were tasked with working on internal Government data science and analytics projects particularly linked to data publishers to lead to greater insights and publishing outcomes for the platform. Some examples included building out early open source dashboards for the digital literacy program at ICT Authority and in-depth financial analytics for the Higher Educations Loans Board among several other projects. He brought open source projects with mentoring opportunities for new graduates to the Open Data Initiative I would recommend him for work in Data science roles he is interested in contributing to.
Oganga Lance
PPM, SSM®, SMC™, PRINCE2®Oganga Lance, PPM, SSM®, SMC™, PRINCE2®
Prestone is amongst the BEST Data Scientists with an eye for details. Supported business with deep insights mined from Data to inform Product Development process. He has a great demeanor and worked well with diverse teams. Doesn't fit will in straight jacket rigid policies and process areas. He is a best candidate for Self driven roles and initiatives where he is allowed to take responsibility for his work. Dependable.
Zablon Msagha
Product Design Lead
Prestone is a gifted data scientist with a rare combination of patience, data analytics, and research skills. He has been instrumental in helping the team make data-driven decisions when building products to endure customer satisfaction.
Irungu Kubai Gachau
Business Intelligence Analyst at Africa's Talking
Prestone has a thorough understanding of what he does, HE IS BRILLIANT!. He is very thorough on the requirements of any project before getting engrossed. He is also very good at documenting his work and catering for everyone who will interact with his work. The efficiency with which he runs meetings and projects is enviable. Working with Pres for over 2 years I have seen his brilliance shine through in some impossible tasks and I am more than certain there is still lots more to come. The results of his work as a data scientist continue to show his prowess in all matters data. He continuously seeks to improve his command of the ever changing and very broad data analytics scene through participation in various conferences and research. I would confidently recommend Pres for any role that falls within his skill-set and even beyond it!
Kathleen Siminyu
Kiswahili Machine Learning Fellow at Mozilla
I worked with Prestone for a little over a year, in which time he proved to be a skilled and strong-minded individual. He was an asset to the data department both in terms of strategic planning and implementation and aided execution efforts by keeping team focused on the roadmap and staving off exernal pressures and requests that would sometimes be a distraction. I'd trust him to get a job done and done well.