Reuben Shumba joined Cellulant Zambia in 2019 as a Junior implementation engineer, under the local pay team. Today, he is a Senior Software Engineer for Tingg Instore. Part of his role is to ensure a simple and intuitive user experience on USSD for all Instore activations. Additionally he also manages USSD applications as a backend engineer for Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.
He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from The University of Zambia.
Reuben describes himself as a passionate, result-oriented person who enjoys serving in ministry, watching movies and learning something new in tech every day.
Let’s learn more about his journey.
What attracted you to Cellulant?
I got attracted knowing I was going into the field I loved most . It helped to marry my passion with my work. I needed to grow, and I have grown.
What do you do from day to day at Cellulant?
As a senior software engineer under in-store, my responsibility is to work on in-store products which allow a merchant to collect payments using various payment methods available in a market. These range from bank to MoMo such that all transactions regardless of payment method, have one unified journey..
I am also responsible for a simple and intuitive user experience on USSD for all in-store production. I manage USSD applications under instore for all markets Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.
In addition to this, I am also responsible for ensuring that every member of the team understands in-store products and services, as well as giving support to the entire Cellulant team(products team, instore team, services desk, etc) as business and customers who are using or consuming instore products.
Read Also; Twabe Mwambazi: A Passion for Customer Service Problem Solving
What drives you?
Cellulant believes employees contribute directly to the growth and success of the company, as a result, I have chosen to be committed to a vision, responsible to drive core values and disciplined to achieve our mission. The next level of success for Cellulant depends on what I do today.
My favourite quote,
“A Man with many Options will hardly commit”
by REUBEN SHUMBA
What would you say is the most exciting part of the job?
Seeing the features and products I worked on brings about an increase in revenue, customer success and delight. The founder of cellulant once said
Go big, Go bold or Go home.
Ken Njoroge
The most exciting part of my Job is knowing there is a way something can be done and my job was to find that way. This has created a possibility mindset to make things possible.
What is the problem you are solving for your market?
Make it convenient for customers to make payments for goods and services, and provide a digital payments gateway where merchants can easily collect money from their stores or business.
What has been your most rewarding moment?
I can boldly say, “Cellulant is small enough to know me and bigger enough to contain me”. This made me realize that the relationship we share at Cellulant is that of a family. A family that eats together lives together.
What is something you wish you knew earlier in your life?
While I was in Kenya 2021, I met one person from service Desk who changed my ways of working. I saw the dedication and focus in what the person was doing. That very moment I concluded in my heart:
Kenyans are very hard working. So it was time to change the way I handle my work. I added focus and speed.
Strategy without execution is useless — Execution without strategy is aimless.
How would you like to be remembered?
I would like to say growth is intentional knowing that nothing changes except you change. Instore at one point was a problematic product but as an engineer behind it, I had a different perspective. I told those in my team, that Instore has helped to reveal parts of the systems that need change.
I would like to be remembered as a person who believed in what was put under my care which is inStore. Working around it with the team to ensure the product is stable in all markets.
Read Also;Cellulant Recognised as a Leading Payments Platform Solutions Provider in Nigeria
What do you love most about working at Cellulant?
The platform was created to express creativity and become anything one can ever dream to become. It’s a place of possibilities. If one never became the best vision of themselves at Cellulant then they never wanted to change else if you change the way you look at things the things you look at change.
Cellulant has a very good working culture and the organization has 80 to almost 100% young people with brilliant mindsets and creativity.
What do you do during your free time to relax?
As a Pastor, I spent most of my time training believers in the work of the ministry until all came to one measure of faith in Christ Jesus.
In your own words, what does cellulant want to do in Africa and why is that inspirational for you?
Enable seamless payments for businesses, banks and consumers across Africa through one channel. This inspires me to remain committed to the responsibility of creating this one channel that connects merchants to their customers, and customers to services and ensures they stay happily connected.
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