Safaricom Alpha was the telecommunication giant’s “research and development organization” and it seems like it is on rocky ground thanks to another high profile exit.
Huston Malande, former Safaricom Alpha’s Senior Product Designer announced his exit on Twitter.
“As I ponder what to do next with my life and skills, I’m writing an article dropping on Monday (today) about how we built one of the best innovation teams on the continent,” he said on Thursday. “Safaricom Alpha, it was fun while it lasted. Onward and upwards.”
Today on Monday, he decided to shed more light about his previous statement on his Twitter account. “After much consideration this past weekend, I’ve found it premature to publish at this point. Too many things are still in flux. Perhaps when the dust settles and I can zoom out clearly, I’ll post. Until then, hustle continues.”
This is another high profile exit from Safaricom Alpha in recent months after their former Chief Innovation Officer, Kamal Bhattacharya left Alpha in unclear circumstances.
Mr Huston’s work as the Senior Product Designer dealt with designing sprints with high level management as well as providing mission critical UX expertise for innovative products at Safaricom Alpha.
Safaricom Alpha was the company’s innovation lab that was set up in 2017. Within that time, we have seen them launch Bonga which was later on renamed to Zwuup!. The app had deep integration with MPESA as well as having messaging features.
We haven’t seen any products other than Zwuup! from Safaricom Alpha and we now wonder whether we are going to see other projects come to fruition from the lab.
