Scope
Led digital product and infrastructure strategy at a Malawian non-profit, from in-field user research and capacity assessment to mobile app delivery and web performance optimization. Managed a team of 10 communication and IT professionals as an Acting Director while representing the organization nationwide through conference presentations, workshop facilitation, and stakeholder engagements.
Technology
- Domains: Education, Non-profit Operations, Digital Marketing
- Platforms: Google Analytics, HubSpot, Power BI, Tableau
- Implementation: Python, SQL, WordPress, JavaScript, .NET (MAUI), AWS, cPanel
Key Contributions
- Strategic Guidance: Conducted a capability assessment across security, privacy, data, and AI domains, translating a 5-year organizational vision into an actionable digital roadmap with KPI tracking across communications, IT, and data priorities
- Digital Marketing Implementation: Led analytics-driven content and engagement strategy for the organization's WordPress web presence, emergelivelihoods.org, achieving 8x year-over-year traffic growth while improving accessibility and frontend performance
- Mobile App Delivery in Low-Resource Context: Refined UI/UX design, roadmap, and outsourcing strategy of an e-learning application, unblocking the app release in 3 months while achieving 80% cost reduction
Testimonial
Takuya has great work ethic and demonstrated strong professionalism whilst working with Emerge Livelihoods. He's always timely and committed to excellence in delivering diverse projects and services. Additionally, Takuya was great at planning and executing ideas as well as documentation through report writing and blog articles.
— Wangiwe Joanna Kambuzi, Founder and Managing Director at Emerge Livelihoods
Presentations & Facilitation
- WTO 2025: Leveraging Collaborative Opportunities for Cross-Border Trade (Workshop)
- ICTAM 2025: Digital Productivity for ICT Professionals (Training)
- ICTAM 2024
- Why Do We Digitalize? Contextualizing and Sustaining the Transformation in Systems (Talk) [Slides]
- Mastering Business Intelligence Tools (Training)
- AfriLabs 2024: Technology and Innovation in Malawi: Challenges and Opportunities (Workshop) [Slides]
Learn More
Author: Takuya Kitazawa
I am a product builder, mentor, and advocate for sustainable technology development with a decade of experience in AI/ML products, data systems, and digital transformation. Based in Canada and originally from Japan, I have lived and worked globally, including part-time residence in Malawi, Africa. Visit my portfolio to learn more about my work, or reach out to me at [email protected].