Takuya Oikawa Joins Degas as Tech Advisor – Building a Global Engineering Team and Strengthening its Product Development

Background of Technical Advisor Appointment:

‍Under our vision of ‘Changing people’s lives, dramatically’, we leverage technology to increase productivity of farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Degas has provided financing to a total of 46,000 smallholder African farmers who were previously ineligible for loans from conventional financial institutions. Degas’s approach involves data collection, primarily through native applications, localised operations, and AI-driven credit evaluations.

To expand our presence in Africa, we are actively developing systems designed to operate in near real-time, even within unstable network environments.This comprehensive approach includes product development by an engineering team based in Asia. Their focus ranges from establishing advanced agricultural land analysis methods using satellite data to designing user interfaces and experiences tailored to the diverse cultural preferences of the local population in Africa. Furthermore, we are diligently working on the creation of platforms that enable traceable supply chain processes for various companies beginning with our partnership with Fuji Oil Holdings. Moreover, in our steadfast commitment to contribute to global decarbonisation from Africa, we have been selected as part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges program to develop Large Language Models (LLMs)-based system, concurrently we are also focusing on new technology areas.

In light of the recent appointment of our CTO, we are thrilled to announce the appointment of Takuya as Technical Advisor. With a background rich in experience from his leadership roles in pioneering product development, including his tenure overseeing Windows development at Microsoft and contributions to Chrome and ChromeOS development at Google, Takuya brings a diverse range of expertise to our team.
His diverse expertise will be instrumental in shaping the direction of Degas’ product offerings, driving technological innovation, and fostering the ongoing expansion of our business.

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Statement from Takuya Oikawa:

‍“The reason I joined Degas as a technical advisor is because I deeply resonated with their vision of “Changing people’s lives, dramatically”. The potential of technology, especially in Africa’s agriculture sector, is immeasurable. Degas’s attention to the details on the ground, while at the same time aiming for great progress through the use of technology, symbolizes their sincerity and their ability to always seek the best, without being satisfied with the status quo.

Under Doga’s leadership, Degas is seamlessly integrating global access for smallholder farmers and environmental considerations into their operations, leveraging advanced technology and exceptional execution capabilities. Initiatives such as satellite data-driven land analysis and operational optimisation techniques have the potential to redefine the agricultural landscape for the next generation.

I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to support Degas in their mission to reshape the future of agriculture and dramatically change people’s lives.”

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Takuya Oikawa Profile:

‍‍Takuya Oikawa currently serves as the CEO of Tably, Inc., a firm dedicated to aiding product development across a spectrum, from startups to major corporations. Following his graduation from Waseda University’s School of Science and Engineering, Takuya began his career as a software engineer at Japan DEC. He then oversaw the development of the Japanese and Korean versions of Windows at Microsoft Japan Corporation before serving as a product manager and engineering manager at Google.

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Casual Interviews:

‍Degas is currently recruiting for various tech positions, including front-end engineers, back-end engineers, Android engineers, and machine learning engineers. We also offer casual interviews for those interested. Feel free to reach out to us at dev@degasafrica.com to learn more.

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