Project Manager | Program Manager | Product Manager
(UTC+3)—Flexible,open to Relocation & Remote Work Across Time Zones
© Kennedy Kinyua. All Rights Reserved
Talk to me!Introduction
Project Manager, Program Manager & Product Manager
Product & Program Leader who ships customer-centric fintech & iGaming platforms across Africa and Europe.” 8 years | 12 products | 95 % on-time delivery
8+
Years of
Experience
12+
projects completed in
5 countries
About
Every great project begin with an even better story
Passionate about social transformation, financial inclusion, and education, I bring a holistic approach to leadership, combining technical expertise, program development, and product innovation to drive meaningful change.
Catalyzed the creation of cross-functional technology partnerships by aligning stakeholder visions, orchestrating the implementation of a new project management framework for global partnerships, resulting in 95% on-time project delivery. Adept at managing complex projects, scaling programs, and leading cross-functional teams to drive innovation and social impact. Proven expertise in portfolio management, product development, program execution, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring sustainable and scalable solutions.
Education
My Education Journey
B.Sc Artificial Intelligence
IU International University of Applied Sciences - Germany
Diploma in Electrical & Electronics Engineering
Technical University of Kenya
Samsung Graduate Program
Samsung Engineering Academy
Certifications
Resume
Experience
Global Partnership Program Manager UMUZI - African Coding Network, ZA, Remote
- Engineered program development and implementation of a 12-week digital literacy fellowship, co-creating gender-responsive modules with alumni, and incorporating curriculum development best practices. Facilitated workshops and teacher training sessions, empowering 2000+ underserved learners and informing a 'Girls' Education' curriculum toolkit.
- Implemented robust Project Planning and Issue Management Strategies, resulting in on-time project delivery and minimized disruptions.
- Supported preparing and analyzing budget proposals for participatory grantmaking, interpreting donor guidelines, reviewing submissions for completeness and justification of planned activities, proposing adjustments, and preparing budget revision reports—achieving a 20% reduction in overhead costs and ensuring availability of funds for program delivery.
- Monitored and evaluated projects, implementing technical guidelines by analyzing financial and performance data, conducting periodic status reviews, identifying deviations, and initiating follow-up actions, resulting in a 30% improvement in effectiveness and stakeholder accountability.
- Responsible for prospecting and implementing account plans for strategic account growth, which led to the signing of 9 high-value partnership deals (MOUs) with government ministries, NGOs, and bilateral agencies throughout Africa. These partnerships drove 99% compliance and a 25% increase in partner satisfaction.
- Collaborated with product and curriculum design teams to co-develop digital learning tools based on user research, leveraging insights to optimize retention, increasing partner engagement by 30%.
- Utilized data-driven analysis (SQL, Tableau) to shape partnership lifecycle strategies, resulting in a 30% improvement in program effectiveness and informed quarterly roadmap adjustments shared with cross-functional teams (Sales, Product, Marketing).
Head of Alternative Learning Pathways, UMUZI - African Coding Network, ZA, Remote
- Head, coordinated, and managed region program accounts operations support and operational oversight for Meta & Google pathways.
- Developed digital enablement & building product EdTech projects, which led to an online delivery churn rate of 38 % from 78%.
- Implemented digital transformation and personalized student experience, leading to a 30% completion rate of freemium online scholarships.
- Managed, orchestrated, and led technical brainstorming, partner, and competitor humanitarian analysis with Unicef, Meta, Google & Coursera, leading to a reach response of 3000 underserved youth in Africa.
- Improved the overall demand of the alumni by 25% through targeted training technology programs and resource mobilization, resulting in business growth.
- Accelerated Global NGOs & Government funding renewal by 5% to increase regional community learners' demands & learners' customer experience.
- Transformed curriculum program optimization by 25%, which has resulted in new dissemination of learner pathways pipelines & business transformations.
- Directed learning percentage completion rates & retention from 17% to 43% by monitoring pathways' product & key performance indicators.
- Coordinated regional & country-level inputs to donor meetings, conferences, and communications, scaling 25% of partner engagement deliverables.
Product Manager, BPO Limited, Malta
- Worked with the Head to ensure successful and smooth implementation of product solutions, through conducting post-implementation review analysis through client feedback and incorporating good practices in subsequent deployments.
- Representing the end user and working with SMEs to understand requirements, supporting the definition of features and co-creating user stories and other required artefacts using Jira and Confluence( Atlassian)
- Owned the team backlog, and user journeys and took ownership of the documentation this helped in maintaining and prioritizing in line with Product Management direction and earliest delivery of value to our customers
- Collaborated closely with the Product team to ensure features are well documented, and that business priority is understood and aligned with team activities using Scrum and agile methodologies.
- Collaborated with the Product, sales and digital teams by managing product expectations in shaping the product roadmap.
- Conducted regular reviews of the product offerings to ensure a product fit for purpose is still met in the user journey.
- Actively participated in team and program ceremonies, backlog refinement sessions, kanban refinement, UI designs, patterns, and IIteration planning activities, Led the system's demo after each iteration this helped in performing preparation activities for program increment planning.
- Accountable for all product risks, and mitigations via effective collaboration in identifying, escalating and mitigating risk & compliance issues.
- Understanding the heavy fintech regulations scope by ensuring adherence and compliance with relevant policies, processes & regulations.
Techno Brain LTD, Software Tester Engineer
- Led a project to integrate accessibility features into software applications for a global Microsoft program, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and enhancing user trust and a 20% increase in positive feedback.
- Administered software & project management tools to revamp customer satisfaction & privacy protection pass rate from 65% to 92%.
- Reduced bug rate by 35% by identifying critical issues early in the development cycle and improving overall software quality and reliability
- Tested more than 100 Windows applications with a 90% test pass rate.
- Enhanced testing efficiency by 60% through developing and standardizing a comprehensive suite of test cases that modernized the testing process.
- Revised Cross-Functional Collaboration by 50% which accelerated productivity & timely delivery of high-quality software.
- Participated in User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for multiple software releases, ensuring alignment with business requirements and high-quality product delivery
Gamcode Limited Kenya / Betin Kenya, Training and Support Coach
- Orchestrated and deployed coaching programs for diverse teams across 40 locations, optimizing operational efficiency and performance management. This initiative elevated KPIs by 25% and surpassed OKRs within 12 months.
- Engineered and delivered high-impact value-proposition reports and strategic business plans to clients, driving a 20% increase in ROI and enhancing customer retention within 9 months.
- Spearheaded and executed in-depth market research in collaboration with key stakeholders, accelerating merchant network expansion from 200 to 423 retail merchants within one year.
- Mentored and upskilled 50+ shop attendants on customer reconciliation best practices while redesigning the account management tracker, leading to a 20% improvement in efficiency within six months.
- Devised program materials to diverse cultural and linguistic contexts, ensuring effective Localization and successful program implementation.
Skills
My Technical & Management Skills
Expert
- Retention & Engagement Strategy
- Roadmapping & Backlog Grooming/li>
- Curriculum & Content Design
- Product Lifecycle Management
- MVP Planning & Delivery
- Wireframing (Visio, Mural, Figma)
- Stakeholder & Relationship Management
- Program Increment (PI) Planning
- Reporting (Google Analytics, Hubspot)
- Curriculum Design & Gender Equity Integration
- Agile Methodologies (Scrum, Kanban)
- Remote Cross-Regional Facilitation
Proficient,
- Budgeting & Financial Reporting
- Community Outreach & Safeguarding
- Risk Escalation Matrix
- Resource Planning & Scope/Risk Contro
- Policy Development& Proposal Development
- Program Implementation & Process Management
- Quality Assurance Process
- Relationship Management
- Account Management
- Service Delivery
- Organizational Assessments
- Cloud (Azure, Aviatrix, OCI)
Tech Stack
My Tech Stack
Nifty
Mural
Miro
Product Board
Confluence
Figma
Keynote
Google Sheets
Data Studio
Google Analytics
Optimizely
Even More
Marketing & Organizational Tools
100%
Jira
100%
Zendesk
100%
Slack
100%
G Suite
100%
Notion
100%
Intercom
100%
Asana
100%
Scrum & Agile
100%
Airtable
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we work together long-term or just on a project basis?
I offer both options. Whether you're looking for a long-term partnership or need project-based support for a specific campaign or project, I'm here to help however you need.
How do you determine the pricing for your services?
Pricing is determined individually based on the scope of work, whether it's a long-term partnership or a one-time project. Once we define your goals and what's needed to reach them, I'll give you a fixed rate or monthly retainer.
Services
What I Can Help You Solve
Strategic Projects
Built for brands ready to link growth strategy to revenue goals - funnel mapping to the tracking framework.
Good for:
- Performance diagnostics
- Funnel mapping
- Persona strategy
- Paid media clarity
- Tracking frameworks
- First-party data strategy
Example: 1-2 days per week
Fractional Growth Partner
I join your team on a part-time basis, owning strategy, and collaborating with in-house teams.
Good for:
- Fast-growing startups without a CMO
- Businesses expanding into new markets
- Teams needing senior management support without hiring full-time
Example: 12-week fixed-scope
iGaming & Betting Specific Growth Kit
Specifically for Sports-betting brands looking for a CRM, licence contacts, and launching into new markets, especially the African market.
Includes:
- Launching the Journey Kit
- First-party data strategy
- CRM integrations
- Payments Integrations
- Collab with content creators
Example: Fixed-price package
portfolio
Featured Projects
Betbeto – Shipping a Cross-Border iGaming Platform in 7 Months
Challenge
Betbeto aimed to enter the Kenyan and Ethiopian betting markets while simultaneously preparing for a soft launch in Spain. We faced rigorous licensing requirements, fragmented payment rails, and low consumer trust in RNG fairness.
My Role
- Owned product strategy, compliance roadmap, and release plan.
- Led a squad of 11 (Design, Front-end, Back-end, QA, Legal, Marketing).
- Presented bi-weekly progress to board and investors.
Key Actions
Regulatory “One-Pager” Playbook
Consolidated each country’s betting regs into a single decision matrix, cutting legal review time by 75 %.
Fair-Play Engine
Integrated iTechLabs RNG certification and published seed hashes to build user trust.
Local Payments Hub
Rolled out M-Pesa STK push, Ethiopian Telebirr, and SEPA in one modular gateway—99.8 % success rate.
Retention Flywheel
Launched level-up missions & free-bet drops that lifted 30-day retention from 18 % → 32 %.
Outcomes
- 124 K registrations in first six months.
- $5.1 M gross gaming revenue (GGR) in year 1.
- 98 % compliance pass on first audit cycle.
- Launched Spain beta 3 weeks ahead of La Liga season.
“Kennedy translated an impossible multi-region timeline into a disciplined, sprint-driven rollout—zero critical issues on go-live.”
— Azad Baban, CTO, Betbeto
C Winz - A Betting Website
Challenge
Broadcasters wanted a second-screen experience to keep Gen Z viewers engaged during football matches. Existing apps suffered from low stickiness (< 10 % weekly active users) and lacked partnerships with telcos for micro-payments.
My Role
- Led product vision, UX, and partner integrations.
- Managed a fully remote team of 7 across 3 time zones.
- Negotiated revenue-share terms with Safaricom & SuperSport.
Key Actions
Real-Time Quiz Engine
Implemented Socket.IO back-end to push questions within 300 ms of live match events.
Micro-Payment Wallet
Integrated telco airtime billing—users could enter contests for as little as KES 5 without credit cards.
Gamified Loyalty Ladder
Designed badge tiers and streak bonuses that boosted day-7 retention by 1.8×.
Broadcast Sync API
Built a webhook pipeline that let TV producers trigger bonus rounds during ad breaks—added a new sponsor revenue line.
Outcomes
- 58 K installs in first 60 days (organic + influencer drops).
- 37 % weekly active vs. industry 10 % benchmark.
- 5.4 min avg. session during match half-time.
- $420 K sponsorship revenue booked for 2022 season.
“Cwinz kept our viewers glued during half-time, driving record ad recall for sponsors—Kennedy’s team shipped the MVP in just 90 days.”
— Azad Baban, CTO
Exprizo — Global Fintech Wallet
Exprizo – Launching a Borderless Fintech Wallet in 5 Regions
Challenge
Exprizo’s leadership wanted to open five African and European markets in under 12 months, but faced fragmented regulations, currency-conversion costs, and lack of on-the-ground KYC partners. Previous pilots took 18+ months per country, threatening competitive advantage and investor confidence.
My Role
- Owned the end-to-end product roadmap (0 → 1 → scale).
- Led a cross-functional squad of 9 (Design, Eng, Compliance, Ops).
- Set quarterly OKRs, budgets, and stakeholder updates for C-Suite & investors.
Key Actions
Regulatory Fast-Track
Negotiated a shared sandbox agreement with the Kenyan & Moroccan central banks—cutting approval time from 6 months to 6 weeks.
Modular Architecture
Spearheaded migration to a country-agnostic micro-service stack, enabling plug-and-play KYC, FX, and ledger services.
Customer Discovery
Ran 12 JTBD interviews and 3 design sprints that uncovered “instant partner settlement” as the #1 buying trigger.
Growth Playbook
Launched a referral API and revenue-share program that onboarded 67 B2B clients pre-launch.
Outcomes
- 5 markets live in 11 months (vs. 24-month baseline).
- 73 K active wallets and $18 M TPV in first 90 days.
- 95 % on-time delivery across 6 major releases.
- Projected USD 4.2 M ARR by Q4 2025.
“Kennedy’s roadmap shaved a full year off our market-entry timeline. He combined laser-focused discovery with execution discipline we’d never seen.”
— Richard,CEO, Exprizo
contact
Let's Work Together!
info@kennedykinyua.com
* Marked fields are required to fill.