Table of Contents
Adam Gouveia, Chief Financial Officer
Adam Gouveia has a wealth of financial professional experience, spanning over 13 years in various organizations, including but not limited to a hedge fund, a bank, and an accounting firm. He joined AZA in 2016, as the Head of Finance. In this role, he led the expansion of the finance team to Nigeria and Senegal. He also oversaw financial planning across the AZA global footprint. Adam rose in rank and within a year, he was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer.
Working at a hedge fund through the height of the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 was a defining moment in his career. He learned more in four months than the previous four years of his professional career. Adam transitioned from traditional finance to fintech in 2013 where he joined Pantera Capital to focus on crypto/blockchain companies. This transition paid off greatly and eventually led him to AZA.
He considers his leadership style as decentralized; empowering managers to make decisions within smaller teams, often within different offices.
Adam studied at the University of California where he graduated with honors in Managerial Economics. He also received his MBA in Finance from the same university in 2013.
He enjoys biking, snowboarding, reading, and cooking for friends.
Callum Dryden, Chief Technology Officer
Callum Dryden is the Chief Technology Officer responsible for providing the technical strategy for the company and bringing the entire software development of AZA’s products in-house. He is also in charge of the security of the entire AZA platform as well as the company’s technical architecture including design, supervision, and implementation.
Callum joined AZA in May 2017 and has over 10 years of experience working for start-ups such as RightScale and Intrallect Limited where he held various leadership positions.
As a senior software engineer at Rightscale, he worked on a new product used by large enterprises such as Volkswagen and Australia Post to analyze, optimize, and forecast cloud costs. Callum has vast experience working on multiple diverse applications.
With a love for problem-solving, whether it is in the context of software, business, or people, Callum enjoys working in teams and strives to continuously push the boundaries while creating new ways of doing things.
Callum graduated from Napier University in 2009 with honors in Software Engineering.
He enjoys riding motorbikes, skiing, scuba diving, cooking, and traveling.
Deepika Adusumilli, Chief Product Officer
Deepika Adusumilli joined AZA in January 2020 as the Chief Product Officer.
Deepika started her career as a Management Trainee at General Electric and has since built a dynamic career as a Product Director with over 16 years of strategic and development experience. In the last 16 years, she has led teams in building applications, developed strong product and marketing teams across organizations, delivered strategic products based on data-based decisions, and managed end to end delivery from conception to in-life improvements.
She previously worked at HSBC and Lloyds where she led large digital transformation projects, building data-led decisions, and data-led innovation to engage customers with relevant propositions to promote brand loyalty.
Deepika holds a BTech degree in Electronics and Communication from JNTU University-India and a Master of Science Degree in Software Engineering from Gannon University.
She loves painting, traveling, and spending time outdoors with her son.
Michael Nderitu, Chief Risk Officer
With a rich and deep background in Treasury and Trading, Michael Nderitu joined AZA as the Head of Trading in May of 2016. In this role, Michael was responsible for managing liquidity across dozens of accounts in over 10 currencies; monitoring capital control and intercompany flows; analyzing the volume and timing of currency being traded in each country alongside monitoring bank rates and parallel markets. He held this position for 3 years before transitioning to his current role as the Chief Risk Officer.
Michael has an impressive 14 years of experience under his belt, much of which was spent in the banking sector. He has previous experience working in banks such as NIC Bank, Spire Commercial Bank Limited, Dyer & Blair Investment Bank, among others. Michael is credited with successfully leading the first team to test and implement automated trading in the Nairobi Securities Exchange through the ATS Platform. Michael also successfully managed the regulatory, liquidity, and counterparty issues of Chase Bank Limited when it was placed under receivership in 2016.
Michael studied at the United States International University where he received his Bachelor of Science in International Business Administration majoring in Finance.
He enjoys DIY projects, out of town drives, and other outdoor activities.
Teresia Kairu, Chief Operating Officer
Teresia Kairu is AZA’s Chief Operating Officer with a wealth of experience in finance, with special expertise in audit and transfers pricing. In addition to this, Teresia specializes in setting up processes and systems for the preparation of accurate financial reports for all stakeholders. She oversees the operations of the entire AZA team, of over 100 people, spread across 6 offices on 2 continents. This involves both capacity building and setting up of people and company products.
Teresia joined the company in 2015 as the Finance Manager. In this role, she managed the whole finance and accounting workflows from reconciliations, consolidated financial reports, and external audits to liaising with tax experts to ensure compliance with tax regulations in all of AZA’s jurisdictions. She held this position for 3 years before she was appointed Head of Finance and eventually, Chief Operating Officer.
Teresia joined AZA from Safi International, a renewable energy start-up where she was responsible for it’s Kenya operations. Working at Safi International offered her invaluable experience in management and operations. She has also previously worked at Vodacom Kenya where she was responsible for the managing and reporting of financial information of the company.
A mentor and a leader in both her private and professional life, Teresia’s management style is anchored on consistency, dependability, and having an open mind. She is a team player and enjoys tackling challenges head-on which she believes breeds resilience and patience.
She graduated from Strathmore University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and Accounting. She is also a Certified Public Accountant from Kenya College of Accounting.
Teresia enjoys traveling, spending quality time with her friends and family, and belting out chords when she is on her own.
