Baba Bekezulu

Baba Bekezulu's work experience begins in 2012 as a Business Intelligence Analyst Graduate at Massmart, where they compiled reports and investigated reporting discrepancies. From 2014 to 2015, they worked as an IT (GTSS) at Standard Bank Group before transitioning into a Data Scientist role at the same company, where they developed predictive models using Hadoop big data platform and languages such as R, Python, and SAS. In 2017, Baba joined FNB as a Data Scientist, focusing on building fraud detection models using tools like Spark, Hadoop platform, and Python. From 2018 to 2020, they worked at Discovery as a Data Scientist, specializing in personalization of products through machine learning techniques. In 2020, Baba moved to Ringier South Africa as a Senior Data Scientist before joining Vodacom in 2021 as a Senior Data Scientist and later becoming a Principal Data Scientist in 2023.

Baba Bekezulu completed their National Senior Certificate at Elukhanyisweni Secondary School from 2005 to 2007. Baba then pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, they obtained a Higher Diploma in Computer Science from the same university. In 2012, Baba Bekezulu pursued a Foundation Management Diploma in Organizational Leadership at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. Lastly, in 2013, they obtained a BSc (Honours) in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of the Witwatersrand.