Data engineering leader, AI practitioner, and motivational speaker
Enterprises seeking data-driven transformation, technology teams, sales engineering leaders, and young professionals pursuing careers in data and engineering.
Simon Katende is a data engineering and machine learning specialist with a rare interdisciplinary foundation that spans engineering, finance, defense technology, and applied data science. He holds a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering and a Master’s degree in Data Science, grounding his work in both physical systems and advanced analytics.
Across his career, Simon has built robots, contributed to military systems, developed financial models, and worked hands-on in data infrastructure, model development, and prediction pipelines. This breadth of experience has shaped a practitioner who understands data from the ground up, from raw ingestion and plumbing through to strategic decision-making and business impact.
Currently at Teraflow, Simon is recognized as a thought leader in data engineering and sales engineering. He operates at the intersection of deep technical execution and commercial strategy, helping organizations translate complex data capabilities into solutions that drive revenue, efficiency, and long-term value. His background in sales enables him to bridge engineering teams and business stakeholders with uncommon clarity.
A recurring theme in Simon’s work is the chronic underutilization of data. He views this not only as an enterprise challenge but as a broader human one. In his talks, Simon reframes data as a narrative tool that reveals identity, history, and future direction.
Simon Katende has a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering, a Masters in Data Science, as well as a plethora of experiences ranging from Energy, Finance, development of military wares, and Data and Machine learning consultancy, Simon is not only vastly informed in the finer aspects of data technology, but has also proved instrumental in pushing its ever-expanding frontiers.
His extensive experience – from building robots, missiles, financial models, and even getting his hands dirty in data plumbing and model predictions – makes Simon Katende a particularly multi-hyphenate individual with a unique story to tell. It is little wonder that his story has inspired many young Africans, making Simon a widely-sought motivational speaker.
Simon presently works at Teraflow, where he stands out as a thought leader in the data engineering industry, and where with his background in salesmanship, he bestrides two disparate worlds of engineering and its sales function, harmonizing the two through Sales Engineering, to help businesses thrive.
Interestingly, his experiences in problem-solving roles across various sectors has drawn Simon’s attention to one common and recurrent gap: namely, the underutilisation of data; a gap that has led him to a career that involves solving problems using clients’ data.
Since the underutilisation of data is not a problem peculiar to enterprises, it also affects everyday life too, and so proper utilisation of data can paint pictures that extend beyond organisations, to whisper to us about who we are, where we come from, as well as predict where we are going.
That makes it a tool for everyone – even you.
Working from this unique perspective at the intersection of technology and creativity, his core goal is to solve dynamic problems across different industries and cultures. Simon Katende talents enable organisations to generate value by providing insightful and impactful solutions to their data engineering and artificial intelligence challenges.
He takes this to higher extremes by deploying data analysis in finding solutions for personal life problems. Simon was selected as one of the 100 Brightest Young Minds in Africa, which identifies, connects, and mobilises Africa’s most talented and driven youths to thrive as individuals and networks.
Simon’s message will have you interested and engaged in the world of data, learning to use it better in a way that leaves you knowledgeable and empowered.
“You can’t change or improve what you cannot measure.”
These very words inform Simon Katende’s approach to reality.
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