Savanrith Kong, the First Chief Experience Officer for the United States Department of Defense joins the show to discuss why customer experience is critical in defense and national security. He also shares personal reflections on his leadership journey, insights from building the DoD's CX office from the ground up, and the strategic importance of storytelling, data-driven decisions, and user-centric design within large government organizations.
Episode overview:
In this conversation, Fatu Ogwuche shares insights into her transition from working at Meta and consulting for Nigeria's Electoral Commission to launching her own media platform, Big Tech This Week. She discusses her entrepreneurial spirit, creative approach to storytelling, and the unique position independent creators hold in today's media landscape.
Andile Masuku describes Ogwuche as "low-key the industry's head of intelligence" - a title earned through her knack for asking the right questions, journalistic research methods, and ability to get people comfortable enough to share meaningful insights about the African tech ecosystem.
Key topics:
- Transitioning from corporate roles to independent media ownership
- The power of personality-driven content creation
- Building authentic connections with interview subjects
- Research as a foundation for compelling storytelling
- The growth and evolution of Africa's tech media landscape
- The balance between reporting ecosystem challenges and celebrating wins
Notable points:
1. Ogwuche started Big Tech This Week as a hobby while working at Meta during the pandemic, seeking creative expression outside her corporate role
2. Her experience representing Nigeria's Electoral Commission on television at age 24-25 shaped her understanding of effective communication
3. The African tech and media ecosystems are both relatively young—many major startups and publications are only 10-16 years old
4. Independent creators are increasingly collaborating across borders to tell stories in fresh, compelling ways
5. Thorough research and genuine curiosity are central to Fatu's interview approach, allowing for deeper conversations with tech leaders
Projects mentioned:
- The Crossover Show 2024 - Ogwuche's year-end review featuring conversations with ecosystem leaders about significant trends and looking ahead to 2024 | Link: https://youtu.be/s31x58-EnJU?si=dvGqM9PDDnHFkSJP
- "If Weekend Go Sweet" - A collaborative op-ed between Ogwuche and Masuku examining African tech's 2024 "Wednesday signals" | Link: https://www.africantechroundup.com/op-ed-if-weekend-go-sweet-fatu-ogwuches-reading-of-african-techs-2024-wednesday-signs-2/
- Backstories with Fatu - Ogwuche's interview series featuring tech entrepreneurs who don't typically do many interviews | Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFFlwhyjoaXiZl0M34txzp8ACjqAQt8wC&si=v3XWNApO8Hik1rWo
Fatu approaches her work with an authenticity that makes interview subjects comfortable sharing insights they might not reveal elsewhere. As both she and Andile note, what sets her apart is her combination of strategic intelligence, legal background, natural curiosity, and creative spark—along with a commitment to presenting information in ways that engage and inform.
As the African tech ecosystem continues to develop alongside its media landscape, voices like Fatu's provide not just reporting but vital context and nuance, helping audiences understand both challenges and opportunities in a balanced way.
Don Gossen is Canadian, but at this point, in name only. He lives in Portugal with his wife and 2 daughters. He grew up all over the world, and his career has afforded him to travel the globe. He's been in the machine learning space for 20 years, but spent his early days in statistical modeling - which was fun to setup, but boring to operate. For fun, he enjoys traveling and skiing, in particular off trail - and anywhere in Japan during the winter.
In 2016, Don caught the crypto bug, but not from the speculative component. He was fascinated with the providential integrity that is found in the blockchain. This culminated with 20 years of experience in deep tech, and led him down the path of AI agent payments.
Yann LeCun is the chief AI scientist at Meta. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the strengths and limitations of current AI models, weighing in on why they've been unable to invent new things despite possessing almost all the world's written knowledge. LeCun digs deep into AI science, explaining why AI systems must build an abstract knowledge of the way the world operates to truly advance. We also cover whether AI research will hit a wall, whether investors in AI will be disappointed, and the value of open source after DeepSeek. Tune in for a fascinating conversation with one of the world's leading AI pioneers.
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Arun Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of NobleReach Foundation joins the show to discuss innovative approaches to integrating top talent from the private sector into public service. He shares his personal journey and parallels between his early aspirations to become a sports general manager and his professional experience as a venture capitalist and the critical importance of assembling the right team and resources. We also address the broader implications of current workforce events and technological advancements, such as AI and cybersecurity, and their impact on workforce dynamics within government.
Shmuel Kliger is a self proclaimed old man. He was born in Israel, and served in the army for 6 years. It was in the army where he obtained his passion for the space, from which he got his bachelors, masters and eventually, his PhD. Outside of tech, he is married with 4 kids and 2 grandchildren. He met his wife during grad school, and they now live in New York. When asked what he did for fun, he laughed and said that he enjoyed living in the "best city in the world", with everything at his fingertips.
When his past venture winded down, Schmuel found himself at the center of an idea that was the culmination of all his years in technology. To build something that could not only process large amounts of observability data - but could make sense of it, and take appropriate action.
Today is going to be a special episode, a bit out of the ordinary to our normal programming. I'm participating in Podcasthon, which gives Code Story the opportunity to dedicate one episode to a charity of choice. Hundreds of podcasts are participating in this, releasing their episodes simultaneously in a coordinate effort, with the goal of creating a massive and international wave of inspiring audio content.
Whats the point? The point is to raise awareness for a huge number of charities worldwide.
The charity I've chosen is the American Cancer Society.The American Cancer Society is fighting cancer through research into cures and support for existing patients in their family. This not for profit organization, and is enabled to do its work through donations, grants and other sources.
If you feel led to help fight cancer and support patients, go to the cancer.org website and click Donate. You can even give in Honor & Memorial of someone who's life has been impacted by cancer.