A sought-after keynote speaker, Kaluba captivates audiences with her ability to bridge the gap between technology and humanity. Her signature talk, “Tremendous Consequences of Unexpected Increments,” challenges the dominant “bigger is better” mindset in tech, offering a refreshing perspective on how small, strategic AI interventions can spark profound transformations.
Whether automating mundane tasks or designing systems that unleash creativity, Kaluba’s insights empower leaders to rethink innovation with a people-centred approach.
Kaluba Chikonde is a digital strategy and transformation specialist who guides organisations through technology-led change. With hands-on experience in program leadership and digital product delivery, Kaluba translates complex technical concepts into actionable plans for executives and teams.
She focuses on aligning technology investments with business outcomes, creating governance models that support scaling, and building capabilities in analytics and product thinking. Kaluba has worked across sectors to deliver pragmatic solutions that balance speed with sustainable architecture, helping clients avoid common transformation pitfalls such as siloed data and short-lived pilots.
Her sessions are practical and case-study driven, offering frameworks that leaders can apply immediately to improve customer experience, operational efficiency, and innovation. Kaluba is also a strong advocate for inclusive tech practices that broaden participation and strengthen talent pipelines.
Kaluba Chikonde is driven by an insatiable desire to empower and uplift others, particularly in the realms of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). With a heart brimming with compassion and a mind teeming with innovative ideas, she tirelessly works to cultivate the next generation of leaders in these critical fields. Kaluba’s commitment to excellence and her unwavering dedication to fostering the talents of young minds have garnered her recognition, including being named one of the Next Generation Women Leaders in 2020 by McKinsey and Company.
Kaluba Chikonde’s journey into the world of STEM advocacy and education began with a profound realization of the transformative power of knowledge. Armed with a degree in Engineering from a prestigious institution, she embarked on a mission to bridge the gap between underrepresented communities and opportunities in STEM. Through her work, Kaluba has become a beacon of inspiration, breaking down barriers and paving the way for countless aspiring scientists, engineers, and innovators.
Drawing from her own experiences and challenges faced as a woman in a male-dominated field, Kaluba brings a unique perspective to her advocacy efforts. Her expertise lies not only in technical proficiency but also in navigating the intricate dynamics of diversity and inclusion within STEM industries. As a sought-after speaker and mentor, she imparts invaluable insights on resilience, perseverance, and the importance of representation in driving meaningful change.
Kaluba Chikonde’s impact extends far beyond the confines of traditional education settings. Through dynamic outreach programs, mentorship initiatives, and innovative projects, she empowers individuals from all walks of life to embrace their potential and pursue their passions fearlessly. Her visionary approach to STEM education transcends borders, empowering communities globally to thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
In a world fraught with challenges and uncertainties, Kaluba Chikonde shines as a beacon of hope and inspiration, lighting the path for future generations to follow. Her tireless advocacy for STEM education and diversity serves as a testament to the power of passion and perseverance in effecting positive change. As she continues to empower and uplift those around her, Kaluba’s impact reverberates far and wide, leaving an indelible mark on the world of education and beyond.
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This keynote, delivered by Kaluba and Simon from AI company Teraflow, examines the opportunities and challenges of deploying AI in financial services. Kaluba opens with a visionary look at an AI-driven financial hub, where virtual assistants like “Athena” greet customers with tailored solutions. Simon tempers the vision with realism: more than 90% of AI models never reach production due to misalignment, risk, and lack of explainability.
The discussion highlights the need for explainable AI, ensuring transparency and accountability in regulated industries. Case studies such as ZestFinance show how explainability helps customers understand credit decisions, promoting fairness and trust. Kaluba emphasizes how AI-powered personalization can deepen customer engagement, while generative AI tools like Bank of America’s Erica demonstrate real-world applications in financial decision-making.
Simon shares a case study of building a legal chatbot for a major bank, illustrating how AI requires continuous improvement through collaboration between domain experts and technical teams. Both speakers agree that AI adoption is a journey, not a quick fix, requiring strong data foundations, governance, and a culture of AI literacy.
The session closes with audience questions on privacy and inclusion. Kaluba explains how cryptography and data masking protect sensitive information, while both stress the importance of investing in skills development to ensure communities can benefit from AI advances.
00:00 – Introduction: Teraflow keynote on AI in financial services
01:10 – Vision: Athena, the AI-powered bank assistant
02:15 – Simon grounds discussion: 90% of AI models fail to scale
03:00 – Risks, compliance, and the challenge of explainability
04:20 – Kaluba explains the role of explainable AI in trust and adoption
06:00 – Case study: ZestFinance and transparent credit models
07:15 – AI personalization and generative AI examples (Erica, Bank of America)
09:00 – Case study: legal chatbot for a major bank; need for continuous improvement
12:00 – Human-AI collaboration and fostering AI literacy
13:30 – Building data foundations: data lakes, governance, and quality
15:00 – Closing reminder: AI adoption is a journey, not a race
16:20 – Audience Q&A: privacy, cryptography, and inclusion challenges
The host welcomes Kaluba for an open discussion about her journey from Lusaka, Zambia to South Africa and into tech. After excelling academically, she faced a major setback when medical school doors closed to international students. Pivoting to quantitative management, she failed a key first-year course, which triggered doubt and imposter syndrome. A curriculum change introduced computer science, where she initially struggled, felt isolated in a male-dominated class, and battled confidence issues.
Through persistence, tutoring peers, and discovering a love for teaching and coding, she graduated and entered industry work that evolved from software engineering to data engineering. She explains the role clearly: ingesting data from source systems, cleaning and transforming it, and delivering reliable datasets to analysts and data scientists, often using cloud platforms to scale efficiently.
Kaluba shares the realities of being a foreign national in South Africa, from hiring biases to banking hurdles, and how she differentiated herself by attending tech conferences, networking with peers, and building skills in high-demand areas. A structured mentorship helped her lead projects and quiet self-doubt. Practical tactics included power outfits, pre-meeting affirmations, and asking at least one question per meeting to build visible presence. Her core advice to women: be unapologetically yourself, resist boxes, do the inner work, and find communities that reflect you. Authenticity is a value proposition.
00:00 – Introduction and warm welcome; Kaluba’s background from Lusaka to South Africa
02:10 – Culture shock, curriculum change, and the first major academic setback
05:00 – Discovering computer science; male-dominated classes and imposter syndrome
07:30 – Tutoring others, finding confidence through teaching and foundations
10:20 – Choosing a career path; events, expos, and researching future-proof skills
13:00 – Foreign national challenges; standing out with skills and community
15:10 – What a data engineer does: pipelines, cleaning, cloud, and handoffs
17:30 – Mentorship, confidence-building habits, and leading client-facing work
20:40 – Taking up space, authenticity, and resisting narrow labels
23:00 – Closing advice: inner work, affirmations, community, and being visible
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