In developed nations, corporations often rollup and eat independent mom and pop shops into big box retail or big .coms that centralize supply chains and logistics. Meanwhile, independent sellers are the backbone of emerging markets. But a collision is starting to occur and it’s happening fast. Big corporations want to bring the same strategy to these emerging markets, so how can the independent seller maintain their independence? To do that, they need technology partners like RedCloud. In this conversation, we learn how RedCloud sits at the forefront of the 3 key disruptions inside of emerging markets: employment, technology, and sustainability. Learn how Soumaya Hamzaoui, Co-Founder and COO and JD de Jong, SVP of Product combine data, technology and deep knowledge of emerging economies to help independent sellers.

Key Moments:

• A personal mission: Born in Algeria, Africa, Soumaya discusses how her childhood shaped her understanding of emerging markets.
• Unlike Amazon: Commerce has existed in emerging markets since the beginning of civilization. Yet independent sellers face existential challenges if big corporations are allowed to enter their markets and gobble up all of the opportunities. Learn how RedCloud hopes to not be like Amazon, and would rather focus on keeping independent sellers independent.
• Data for emerging market independent sellers: discover how the team developed the right products for these markets and how they overcame challenges unique to their customers.
• Challenges in emerging markets: Gain unique perspectives into how international marketplaces work.

Key Quotes:

• “We are not only here to develop the technology, but we are also here to educate these businesses on the value of digitization, on the value of data. [According to a World Bank Report] 90% of these businesses need training and upskilling to keep up with the pace of the evolution of how the economical world and technological world is evolving. 88% need support in digitization on how to take their business from traditional businesses to fully digital business. And another 80% need mentorship and support on how to transform their business. - Soumaya
• “It is one thing to give a user access to create their own visualization. It's an entirely different thing to create not just the visualization, but an interpretation of what that visualization means. - JD
• “When companies look at emerging markets and the lack of digitization, they think there's a reluctance to digitize and there really isn't. It's not about the adoption of technology, but the simplification of and the cost of that technology.” - JD

Mentions:

• World Bank Reports
• M-Pesa in Kenya
• Large Language Models (LLMS) with Dialects
• Marketplace Counterfeit Challenges
• Book: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Bios:

Soumaya Hamzaoui describes herself as an Entrepreneur and Product Strategist. She has a strong track record of developing products across Enterprises focused on the fintech and commerce global industries. She has deep sector expertise built over the last 15 years across Africa, Asia, and EMEA in mobile money, digital financial services, and FinTech launches. She attended prestigious universities in France and Algeria.

Juandre (JD) de Jong is a seasoned Product professional and Chartered Management Accountant, currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Product at RedCloud. Juandre combines his financial acumen with a deep understanding of customer needs to drive product strategy and innovation. He has a proven track record of successfully launching and scaling innovative products that meet market demands. He was born in South Africa and currently resides in the UK.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Description:
Cindi Howson is joined by Valerie A. Logan, CEO and founder of the DataLodge and Chief Strategy Officer at DATA SOCIETY GROUP, and Jason Beyer, Vice President of Data and Analytics at Bridgestone Americas. They delve into the vital concepts of data literacy and AI literacy, sharing their insights and experiences in fostering a data-driven culture within organizations. Valerie, widely regarded as the "godmother of data literacy," sheds light on the three key pillars of her approach: mindset, language, and skills. Jason provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Bridgestone is cultivating data literacy, including partnerships with HR, creating a data marketplace, and fostering a community of data enthusiasts.

Key Moments:

• Valerie Logan explains the three pillars of data literacy: mindset, language, and skills (06:16)
• Jason Beyer shares Bridgestone's approach to scaling data literacy, including partnering with HR and creating a data marketplace (22:10)
• Valerie highlights the importance of leadership in modeling the right mindset for data literacy (29:28)
• Cindi, Valerie, and Jason discuss the evolution of data literacy to AI literacy (33:48)
• Lightning round with fun questions for Valerie and Jason (38:26)

Key Quotes:

• ISL (Information as a second language) is really a foundational methodology for how we look at the enablement of people, the empowerment of people with this capability. And when I talk about data literacy in ISL, I look at it really as three things, mindset, language, and skills. - Valerie A. Logan
• Terms, Techniques, then Tools. If you're trying to drive a different behavior, a tool is part of that. But how somebody thinks, how someone engages is also part of it. - Valerie A. Logan
• Leaders need to think about data fluency different from those that may be using data in their role or may have data as a role and recognize that there's different levels of fluency, proficiency, and the core literacy that go along with that. - Jason Beyer
• Even before we called it a data literacy program, we had this mindset and approach as a COE team and our value contribution to the organization is we need to raise the water for the entire organization in how we use and make the most of our data assets. - Jason Beyer

Mentions:

• Data Literacy Movement
• Information as a Second Language (ISL) methodology
• The Data Lodge and Bridgestone Data Literacy Webinar
• Generative AI and prompt engineering classes

Bios

Valerie A. Logan
Founding The Data Lodge in 2019, Valerie is as committed to data literacy as it gets. With train-the-trainer bootcamps, and a peer community, she’s certifying the world’s first Data Literacy Program Leads. Valerie is excited to also serve as the Chief Strategy Officer of DSG. Valerie has more than 30 years of experience in consulting leadership and telecommunications. She lives between the Adirondacks in Upstate NY, and Sarasota, FL with her husband Brian, and their yellow lab, Cooper, the Lodge mascot.

Jason Beyer
A Data, Analytics, & Technology pioneer with a proven ability to lead transformational change. Jason brings global experiences from automotive, retail, industrial manufacturing, construction, medical, and government industries. He believes what’s good for society is good for business. Jason serves on multiple boards for his community of Nashville, and for the data industry

Description:

In this episode, Chris Stephens, Field CTO at Appen, dives into how CDO’s are navigating the world of generative AI. From setting clear expectations to driving adoption within organizations, Chris and Cindi explore the challenges and opportunities in this evolving landscape. Chris shares Appen's innovative approach to integrating humans into deep learning processes and discusses the potential of synthetic data. Plus, he shares how crucial human expertise is, in shaping ethical AI practices and touches on the impact of legislation and industry trends on AI's future.

Key Moments:

• The Impact of generative AI on CDOs [06:19]
• Appen and the excitement of generative AI [10:34]
• The potential of synthetic data and content curation [12:13]
• The importance of CDOs embracing generative AI [17:40]
• The early stage of generative AI and funding innovation [26:39]
• The importance of human in the loop [34:09]
• The role of legislation and industry leadership [38:46]

Key Quotes:

As a CDO, I think you absolutely have to figure out how to grab onto that, take ownership of it, and provide the leadership that your company needs - if you don't, then of course someone else will.

All of the challenges come on the non-technical side. Being successful in these programs is about more humanistic type skills than it is being a wizard in the technology space, in my opinion.

The work that Appen does is working in support of all of these global organizations and the key is getting humans involved in these loops.

Mentions:

• Deep learning
• Deep fake
• Synthetic data
• Gartner
• Generative AI

Bio:

Chris has been leading large-scale data transformations for over a decade, bringing advanced analytics capabilities to the world for 25 years. Most recently, he served in CDO roles at GEICO, Zendesk, and American Eagle Outfitters. Prior to that he helped lead the Data Science practice at Pivotal Software helping organizations around the world adopt modern data and software practices. He is Field CTO and Head of AI Solutions at Appen bringing AI systems to life for organizations around the world. He is an advisor to Insight Partners and Battery Ventures helping shape a new generation of technology and teams. He is Adjunct Faculty at Carnegie Mellon University teaching our next generation of data and AI leaders. He is passionate about the human side of data, transformation, and innovation. He hails from Pittsburgh with his wife and 5 young adult children. An avid music fan, he reminds us that, "you who choose to lead must follow."

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.