Kiprop Niyonzima

S

Senior Data Scientist at Interswitch · credit scoring, SQL

Interswitch
Nairobi, Kenya · EAT (UTC+3)
10+ years experience
University of Lagos
English, Swahili
CollaboratingOpen to work
Messaging unavailable

Overview

I work on credit risk modelling at Interswitch in Nairobi. Built the scorecard that lifted approval rates by 11% at flat losses. Before that: Safaricom and KPMG. Most at home with XGBoost and SQL. Amateur photographer; mostly street and food.

Good reasons to reach out
  • Roles in credit risk modelling
  • Collaborators for my side project
  • Thoughtful intros to people in my field
  • Working sessions on survival analysis
  • Second opinions on model governance decisions
Please don't message about
  • Courses and coaching offers
  • Data broker offers
  • SEO and link-building offers

Travels often; replies within 48 hours

Skills
SQLmodel governanceXGBoostcredit scoringPythonsurvival analysis
CollaboratingLooking to collaborate
closes in 3 months

Co-writing a short book about credit risk modelling - looking for a co-author

Project
A short book about credit risk modelling - looking for a co-author
Skills needed
Backend, SQL
Time commitment
A few hours a week
Outcome
Open-source release

A few hours a week. Async-first.

Nairobi, Kenya · remote OKsqlmodel governancexgboost
Open
Open to workLooking for a role
closes in 3 months

Staff Data Scientist roles in fintech - Nairobi or remote

Target roles
Staff Data Scientist
Level
Staff / Principal
Industries
Developer tools, E-commerce
Work mode
Remote
Available
Immediately
Work authorization
Authorized to work in Kenya
What I'm looking for
Scope to lead credit risk modelling work, with a manager who gives direct feedback.
Not interested in
Pure people management

10 years in credit risk modelling. Strongest at Python and SQL. Open to the right conversation.

Nairobi, Kenyacredit scoringpythonmodel governance
Open

Experience

  1. Senior Data Scientist
    Jan 2024 - Present
    Interswitch · 2 yr 9 mo · Full-time · Nairobi, Kenya
    • Replaced 25 hand-built dashboards with one metrics layer people trust.
    • Taught SQL to 94 non-analysts.
  2. Data Analyst
    Sep 2021 - Sep 2023
    Safaricom · 2 yr · Full-time · Nairobi, Kenya
    • Replaced 79 hand-built dashboards with one metrics layer people trust.
    • Took the risk models through 3 regulatory model reviews.
  3. Data Scientist
    Mar 2020 - May 2021
    KPMG · 1 yr 2 mo · Full-time · Nairobi, Kenya
    • Took the risk models through 3 regulatory model reviews.
  4. Data Analyst
    Sep 2018 - Mar 2020
    Flutterwave · 1 yr 6 mo · Full-time · Nairobi, Kenya
    • Wrote the metric definitions the leadership team reviews every week.
  5. Data Analyst
    Mar 2017 - Aug 2018
    Moniepoint · 1 yr 5 mo · Full-time · Nairobi, Kenya
    • Took the risk models through 3 regulatory model reviews.
    • Built the scorecard that lifted approval rates by 4% at flat losses.

Projects

Credit risk modelling benchmark
2026

Reproducible benchmarks comparing SQL and model governance on real workloads.

Write-up: credit risk modelling in practice
2022

A long-form guide to credit risk modelling for people starting out.

References

No references yet.

Education

  1. University of Lagos
    BSc, Mathematics
    2012 - 2016

Details

Compensation expectations
What they are targeting for their next role.
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Direct contact details
Direct email and a scheduling link.
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