Simon Yiga
Co-Founder, Product Development and Sales Manager
Introduction
Some say Simon has the “gift of the gab”. His natural ability to communicate, combined with his engineering thought process, has enabled him to understand both customer problems and the technical solutions to solve them.
As owner of traditional parking management company Afropark, Simon used his experience and customer knowledge of that industry to co-found tech startup “Centinel Systems”.
Simon brings a diverse skillset to the organization, he is responsible for:
- Product design, development and testing
- Business process design and training
- Sales and Client Relationship Building
Background
Simon was born in Uganda and grew up in a small dusty town in the middle of South Africa. The area was relatively isolated but socially and educationally rich and Simon’s view of the broader outside world was shaped on TV, in books and in the then-new internet of the 90s. His interest in technology and big cities was fueled in this era.
When asked what his job as an entrepreneur is, his reply is an energetic: “Problems!”
“It’s an entrepreneur’s job to find value in problems and then build products and services to deliver that value to customers... Products and services that address their real needs and bring simplicity where there is complexity and order where there is chaos”.
Simon leads the team and inspires those around him to embrace change and dream beyond their circumstances to a bigger future than they imagined possible.
Education and Experience
BSc (Electrical) Engineering, University of Cape Town, 2002
Simon has 7 years of experience in Management Consulting at Accenture and Product Development at MTN SA and over 10 years running a successful Parking Management business Afropark in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Daniel Muwazi
Co-Founder, Operations Manager
Introduction
Daniel Muwazi is the definition of a People Person. “Everybody loves Daniel” – even the most difficult customers. As our Operations Manager, he is essentially our “General”, whose style is to drive his teams hard but with a genuinely caring touch.
A skilled and hardworking manager, Daniel’s role at Centinel Systems is:
- Hands-on management of technical teams who install physical telecoms infrastructure.
- Training and supervision of parking attendant teams who serve customers using Centinel’s Parking System.
- Financial administration and control for all sites
Background
Daniel was born in the Ukraine (then a part of the Soviet Union). As a teen, his family relocated to Uganda and Daniel eventually settled in South Africa in the mid-2000s.
Coming from a diverse background has made Daniel talented at effectively working in a range of environments - with a range of customers. From negotiating large lease agreements with taxi bosses in dodgy basements, to personally overseeing difficult installations in pensioner’s homes.
Daniel’s technical attention to detail, strong passion for learning and teaching and his patience with people makes him a very valuable asset to Centinel Systems.
Education and Experience
BSc Computer Science, Makereke University, Uganda, 2008
Daniel spent 5 years working as an IT technician and then a server and network Administrator for an ISP. He has spent over 10 years in management, business administration and supervision of large on site and remote teams for both Afropark and YS-Connect.
David Ekechi
Lead Software Developer
David is a talented software developer based out of Nigeria.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering (Nnamdi Azikiwe University, 2019) and has well over 5 years experience specializing in PHP.
David is a consistent problem solver. His ability to analyze and understand detailed technical problems and translate them into well-made code is his key strength and value he brings to Centinel Systems.