A Dedicated Team
Philippe has been working for 25+ years in the ICT industry. He started his career as a consultant with Deloitte; then held managerial positions for Orange, Ooredoo, and Vodafone. He became Global Head of Business Development for Vodafone Group in 2018, a position which he held until March 2024. In that role he notably delivered investment partnerships with multinational corporations; telecom operators; public authorities; and international organizations such as The World Bank Group, the European Investment Bank, the UK’s British International Investment, the US’s Development Finance Corporation, and USAID. He became a Chartered Director in 2023, and now advises ICT companies as a Non-Executive Director, teaches, and supports intl charities
Oluwaseun (Seun) Solanke is a business and technology executive who specializes in harmonizing processes, people, and technology to take organizations to the next level in growth and profitability. He is an AI, fintech and payments enthusiast with vast experience delivering results across United States, Middle East and Africa. His 20+ years career extends across business strategies, organizational development, operations, mobile financial services, and information technology.
Mr. Solanke was previously the Vice-President and Chief Information Officer for Airtel Nigeria where he oversaw the IT & Engineering functions with key focus on service delivery, project delivery, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. During his tenure at Airtel, he helped to spearhead the launch of a digital lab focused on machine learning for identity management and other internal digital platforms. He also drove the startup of a payments service bank, SmartCash PSB, leveraging digital technologies to support the financial inclusion agenda for the organization and country.
Prior to Airtel, he was the Senior Director for Business Support Systems and Mobile Financial Services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa with oversight and responsibility for all major MNOs and their mobile money subsidiaries. Before that, he held various senior leadership roles in other global multinational OEMs including Hewlett Packard and Oracle.
Mr. Solanke has degrees and professional certificates in Pure & Applied Chemistry, Information Sciences & Systems, Fintech, and Management and has attended universities including Morgan State University USA, London School of Economics, Oxford University, MIT and Yale. This has helped him garner skills in digital transformation, data analytics, fintech and payments, cloud, big data, and management. He is currently pursuing a Masters in AI from Hull University, UK.
He has a passion for mentorship and coaching and is a thought leadership within the continent. He is an active member of several technology forums in senior advisory capacities including Fintech Association of Nigeria, IDC West Africa Advisory Council, and CIO Club Africa. Some of his past awards include CIO of Year Telecommunications and Technology 2020 and 2022 respectively.
He is married with two boys and enjoys reading, running, and photography in his spare time.
Shaoyu Wong, CEO of Verysell AI, a seasoned business development and digital innovation expert, is leading this new chapter. With a proven track record in scaling SmartDev’s operations in Singapore, Shaoyu specializes in driving growth, forging strategic partnerships, and enabling enterprises and startups to thrive through AI-driven innovation.
Luan bring to SmartDev over 14 years of experience in accounting and finance in many different industries, including banking, manufacturing, trading and international education services. During her career, Luan has held many critical positions in multinational companies, and she also contributed many innovative ideas to businesses through both growth and recovery phases. She has a deep understanding of the challenges of long-term financial planning and sustainability, business development and annual/multi-year budgeting. She graduated from Hue Economics University, majoring in business finance and accounting.
Anouk Summermatter has over 18 years of commercial, intellectual property, and executive management experience within the education, entertainment, and gaming industries. Anouk is a New York licensed attorney and has worked for law firms DLA Piper and Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. She has also held Associate General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Director positions with leading publicly traded and private companies including Take-Two Software Interactive Inc. and AFS Intercultural Programs Inc. She has worked across multiple continents and provides legal and risk management strategy, vision and direction. Anouk holds a Master’s Degree (MA) from La Sorbonne law school (Paris), a Bachelor’s degree (LLB) from King’s College of London Law School, as well as an Executive Diploma from INSEAD Business School and a degree from Cornell law school. Anouk is a Swiss national.
Joseph is a seasoned Mobile Financial Services and digital payments leader with over 13 years experience in operations, strategy, channel development, sales and general management. Joseph has developed a reputation for exceptional leadership and an ability to guide MNOs and FinTechs to develop effective channels for their Mobile Money services. He has led M&As, regulator engagement and management for licensing across a number of African markets. He has built and managed large teams and has helped develop leaders in multiple spheres in the African FinTech space. Joseph was the Director of International Business Development and Africa Expansion at OPay, where he was an integral part of the leadership team.
Joseph is a keen sports person and loves football.
David has 20 years’ experience in the online payments industry and has spent most of his career developing sales and strategic partnerships channels.
Prior to joining VeryPay, he was Business Development Director for two start-ups. These were FXCPay — a disruptive multi-currency payments solution, and Hokan — a private key management technology provider for crypto custodians. Prior to this, he was VP of Global Partnerships for WorldPay’s e-commerce division. His team developed profitable commercial channels with leading technology platforms and systems integrators across multiple vertical markets.
David has a deep passion for business psychology. He is a qualified NLP Master Practitioner, Cognitive Hypnotherapist, Trainer and Coach. He has led several international leadership programmes and has spent the last 20 years building expert teams.
Ha Nguyen is a highly accomplished marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the global technology industry. She currently serves as the Marketing Manager at SmartDev, where she applies her extensive expertise in B2B marketing, branding, content marketing, and Agile practices to drive growth and success for the company.
Ha's educational background includes a bachelor's degree from a highly regarded university in Vietnam and a distinction MBA from the European Business School. This combination of academic and professional experience has equipped her with the knowledge and skills to develop and execute successful marketing strategies for SmartDev, as well as other entities within the Verysell Group.
With up to 30 year experience in IT & AI, Yurii is taking the role of Chief Product Officer in Verysell AI to bring comprehensive and optimized consultancy for our customers to get business outcome from AI Adoption. He can work well with business process & digital transformation professional with expertise in Healthcare & Life Sciences, Insurance & Financial Services.
His lastest company Wallet Factory was a big name in the financial services. He was responsible for Technical & Delivery ownership of the line of products such as Digital Wallet, Reward & Loyalty Management, and Card Management creating financial ecosystems to fight financial inclusion inequality in emerging markets in MENA and LATAM.
Yurii has both academic and practical approach thanks to his acquisition of Certifications from Big Names in Tech: Microsoft Certified System Engineer, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Certified Scrum Product Owner and Certified Scrum Master as well as a Microsoft Certified trainer and Cisco Certified Network Associate.
Andrey has over 20 years of progressive technology development and executive management experience within the card payments industry. Andrey has held VP and CTO positions with leading point-of-sale terminal manufacturers and VARs, including Lipman, VeriFone, ExaDigm, PAX, Dejavoo Systems and Castles Technology. He provides vision, strategy and direction through the full product life cycle — from inception to implementation, market introduction, and maintenance. Andrey holds both a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science degrees in Information Technology and Computer Science from Novosibirsk Technical University in Novosibirsk, Russia. Andrey is a US national.
A Founder himself (who has gone through an MVP build) and having worked at multiple blue-chip organizations and start-ups, Charlie understands the challenges Founders face. With a strong network and expertise built up over 15 years, Charlie brings invaluable insight and advice to our portfolio companies.
Product Owner / Project manager with more than 12 years' experience, 7 as a software engineer, 5 as manager, I am now in charge of technology directing and managing Scrum projects related to FinTech. I belong to my previous companies' pioneers in Agile and Scrum as I practiced Scrum development for 7 years and became Scrum Master on mobile and web projects. I'm passionate about new technologies, video games and agile. I often participate in agile conferences and Scrum Master training.
Nguyen Le has 14 years' experience in Software Development. He is an experienced Agile coach, with a strong track record in in the outsourcing/offshoring industry. Nguyen is a qualified engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) focused in IT from RMIT University. Nguyen has honed his skills in a number of European, American and Japanese firms working in Vietnam. He is also a founder of Agile Developer community at Da Nang, which helps developers improve their knowledge.
Philippe has been working for 25+ years in the ICT industry. He started his career as a consultant with Deloitte; then held managerial positions for Orange, Ooredoo, and Vodafone. He became Global Head of Business Development for Vodafone Group in 2018, a position which he held until March 2024. In that role he notably delivered investment partnerships with multinational corporations; telecom operators; public authorities; and international organizations such as The World Bank Group, the European Investment Bank, the UK’s British International Investment, the US’s Development Finance Corporation, and USAID. He became a Chartered Director in 2023, and now advises ICT companies as a Non-Executive Director, teaches, and supports intl charities
Oluwaseun (Seun) Solanke is a business and technology executive who specializes in harmonizing processes, people, and technology to take organizations to the next level in growth and profitability. He is an AI, fintech and payments enthusiast with vast experience delivering results across United States, Middle East and Africa. His 20+ years career extends across business strategies, organizational development, operations, mobile financial services, and information technology.
Mr. Solanke was previously the Vice-President and Chief Information Officer for Airtel Nigeria where he oversaw the IT & Engineering functions with key focus on service delivery, project delivery, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and software engineering. During his tenure at Airtel, he helped to spearhead the launch of a digital lab focused on machine learning for identity management and other internal digital platforms. He also drove the startup of a payments service bank, SmartCash PSB, leveraging digital technologies to support the financial inclusion agenda for the organization and country.
Prior to Airtel, he was the Senior Director for Business Support Systems and Mobile Financial Services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa with oversight and responsibility for all major MNOs and their mobile money subsidiaries. Before that, he held various senior leadership roles in other global multinational OEMs including Hewlett Packard and Oracle.
Mr. Solanke has degrees and professional certificates in Pure & Applied Chemistry, Information Sciences & Systems, Fintech, and Management and has attended universities including Morgan State University USA, London School of Economics, Oxford University, MIT and Yale. This has helped him garner skills in digital transformation, data analytics, fintech and payments, cloud, big data, and management. He is currently pursuing a Masters in AI from Hull University, UK.
He has a passion for mentorship and coaching and is a thought leadership within the continent. He is an active member of several technology forums in senior advisory capacities including Fintech Association of Nigeria, IDC West Africa Advisory Council, and CIO Club Africa. Some of his past awards include CIO of Year Telecommunications and Technology 2020 and 2022 respectively.
He is married with two boys and enjoys reading, running, and photography in his spare time.
Shaoyu Wong, CEO of Verysell AI, a seasoned business development and digital innovation expert, is leading this new chapter. With a proven track record in scaling SmartDev’s operations in Singapore, Shaoyu specializes in driving growth, forging strategic partnerships, and enabling enterprises and startups to thrive through AI-driven innovation.
Luan bring to SmartDev over 14 years of experience in accounting and finance in many different industries, including banking, manufacturing, trading and international education services. During her career, Luan has held many critical positions in multinational companies, and she also contributed many innovative ideas to businesses through both growth and recovery phases. She has a deep understanding of the challenges of long-term financial planning and sustainability, business development and annual/multi-year budgeting. She graduated from Hue Economics University, majoring in business finance and accounting.
Anouk Summermatter has over 18 years of commercial, intellectual property, and executive management experience within the education, entertainment, and gaming industries. Anouk is a New York licensed attorney and has worked for law firms DLA Piper and Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. She has also held Associate General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Director positions with leading publicly traded and private companies including Take-Two Software Interactive Inc. and AFS Intercultural Programs Inc. She has worked across multiple continents and provides legal and risk management strategy, vision and direction. Anouk holds a Master’s Degree (MA) from La Sorbonne law school (Paris), a Bachelor’s degree (LLB) from King’s College of London Law School, as well as an Executive Diploma from INSEAD Business School and a degree from Cornell law school. Anouk is a Swiss national.
Joseph is a seasoned Mobile Financial Services and digital payments leader with over 13 years experience in operations, strategy, channel development, sales and general management. Joseph has developed a reputation for exceptional leadership and an ability to guide MNOs and FinTechs to develop effective channels for their Mobile Money services. He has led M&As, regulator engagement and management for licensing across a number of African markets. He has built and managed large teams and has helped develop leaders in multiple spheres in the African FinTech space. Joseph was the Director of International Business Development and Africa Expansion at OPay, where he was an integral part of the leadership team.
Joseph is a keen sports person and loves football.
David is responsible for leveraging the roles that sales and marketing play in driving growth for the business, as well as aligning all revenue-generating departments and building strategic partnerships. David has 20 years’ experience in the online payments industry and has spent most of his career developing sales and strategic partnerships channels.
Prior to joining VeryPay, he was Business Development Director for two start-ups. These were FXCPay — a disruptive multi-currency payments solution, and Hokan — a private key management technology provider for crypto custodians. Prior to this, he was VP of Global Partnerships for WorldPay’s e-commerce division. His team developed profitable commercial channels with leading technology platforms and systems integrators across multiple vertical markets.
David has a deep passion for business psychology. He is a qualified NLP Master Practitioner, Cognitive Hypnotherapist, Trainer and Coach. He has led several international leadership programmes and has spent the last 20 years building expert teams.
Ha Nguyen is a highly accomplished marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the global technology industry. She currently serves as the Marketing Manager at SmartDev, where she applies her extensive expertise in B2B marketing, branding, content marketing, and Agile practices to drive growth and success for the company.
Ha's educational background includes a bachelor's degree from a highly regarded university in Vietnam and a distinction MBA from the European Business School. This combination of academic and professional experience has equipped her with the knowledge and skills to develop and execute successful marketing strategies for SmartDev, as well as other entities within the Verysell Group.
With up to 30 year experience in IT, Yurii is leading the Presales team of Verysellgroup to bring comprehensive and optimized consultancy for our customers to get business outcome. He can work well with business process & digital transformation professional with expertise in Healthcare & Life Sciences, Insurance & Financial Services.
His lastest company Wallet Factory was a big name in the financial services. He was responsible for Technical & Delivery ownership of the line of products such as Digital Wallet, Reward & Loyalty Management, and Card Management creating financial ecosystems to fight financial inclusion inequality in emerging markets in MENA and LATAM.
Yurii has both academic and practical approach thanks to his acquisition of Certifications from Big Names in Tech: Microsoft Certified System Engineer, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Certified Scrum Product Owner and Certified Scrum Master as well as a Microsoft Certified trainer and Cisco Certified Network Associate.
Andrey has over 20 years of progressive technology development and executive management experience within the card payments industry. Andrey has held VP and CTO positions with leading point-of-sale terminal manufacturers and VARs, including Lipman, VeriFone, ExaDigm, PAX, Dejavoo Systems and Castles Technology. He provides vision, strategy and direction through the full product life cycle — from inception to implementation, market introduction, and maintenance. Andrey holds both a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science degrees in Information Technology and Computer Science from Novosibirsk Technical University in Novosibirsk, Russia. Andrey is a US national.
A Founder himself (who has gone through an MVP build) and having worked at multiple blue-chip organizations and start-ups, Charlie understands the challenges Founders face. With a strong network and expertise built up over 15 years, Charlie brings invaluable insight and advice to our portfolio companies.
Product Owner / Project manager with more than 12 years' experience, 7 as a software engineer, 5 as manager, I am now in charge of technology directing and managing Scrum projects related to FinTech. I belong to my previous companies' pioneers in Agile and Scrum as I practiced Scrum development for 7 years and became Scrum Master on mobile and web projects. I'm passionate about new technologies, video games and agile. I often participate in agile conferences and Scrum Master training.
Nguyen Le has 14 years' experience in Software Development. He is an experienced Agile coach, with a strong track record in in the outsourcing/offshoring industry. Nguyen is a qualified engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) focused in IT from RMIT University. Nguyen has honed his skills in a number of European, American and Japanese firms working in Vietnam. He is also a founder of Agile Developer community at Da Nang, which helps developers improve their knowledge.
