Ng'andu Fad Sikazwe
Technical product manager & forward deployed engineer.
I help teams decide what to build, build it with them, and make it work in practice. Based in Lusaka, Zambia, I work on financial software and AI products for teams here and abroad.
Available for new engagements
Currently: Technical lead, financial SaaS
Principles
- Problem first
- Evidence over hype
- People in the loop
- Built to last
- Python
- Django
- IFRS 15
- Reconciliation
- 99.5% precision
- LangGraph
- Vue · TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Open banking
- Lusaka UTC+2
From the problem to production
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Make the product decisions.
I work with users and stakeholders to understand the workflow, define the problem, set priorities and agree what success looks like.
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Build with the people who use it.
As a forward deployed engineer, I work directly with your team. I turn requirements into working software, connect it to your systems and test it in your workflow.
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Stay through launch and adoption.
I take the work through testing, release, documentation and training. Feedback from real use guides what we improve next.
Experience behind the work
- FigureFlow
- Consulting technical lead for a Swedish financial SaaS company since 2025. I lead engineering across accounting imports, reconciliation, reporting and AI workflows, with access controls, human review and audit records. My financial software experience
- 11 years
- Building and supporting software since 2015, from the first client meeting to support after launch.
- 99.5%
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Precision on accepted decisions in an AI routing evaluation of more than 10,000 test cases. The system could decline and pass uncertain cases to a person. This measures the decisions it accepted, not every request. The rule is short enough to read:
def route(decision, threshold=0.9): """Act when the model is confident. Otherwise, ask a person.""" if decision.label == "none" or decision.confidence < threshold: return send_to_review(decision) return apply(decision) - The time in Lusaka, Zambia now, UTC+2. I work with teams in Europe and Africa.
- Stack
- Python, Django, PostgreSQL, Redis · Celery, Vue 3, TypeScript, React · React Native, Node.js. I choose tools to fit each problem.
What I care about
I care about what happens after a feature is built. Do people understand it? Does it handle failure properly? Does it solve the original problem?
Ng'andu Fad Sikazwe, on what makes software useful
I bring product thinking and hands-on engineering to three connected areas.
- Applied AI AI workflows and agents that do useful work, tested on real cases, with a person approving key decisions. Explore
- Fintech Payments, reconciliation and reporting, with every figure traceable to its source. Explore
- Software engineering Full stack web applications, from the first client meeting to support after launch. Explore
How I got here
How I think about products
All writing- Engineering Why workflows matter in product development Ideas spark products, but workflows shape adoption. How mapping real user workflows decides whether software gets used.
- Engineering Why Most Home Rental Apps Don’t Succeed in Zambia Many property apps built in Zambia work technically, yet few succeed. A software engineer's view on adoption, incentives and existing habits.
- Fintech Why Zambia Needs Open Banking APIs: Unlocking the Next Wave of Economic Activity Why open banking APIs could unlock new businesses, SME credit and competition in Zambia, and who needs to be at the table to make it happen.
Let's talk.
Need someone to shape the product and help deliver it? Tell me what you're trying to solve, your timeline and any constraints. I reply within two working days.
Product advisory
Understand the workflow, define the problem and decide what to build next.
Embedded delivery
Work with your team to build, integrate and deploy the product, with support through adoption.