Podcasts · Pure Digital Passion with Moses Kemibaro
Episode 172: Actnable AI's Dharmendra Jain & Josiah Kimanzi Make African Research Faster, Smarter, & Actionable
· 50 min
Episode Episode 172: Actnable AI's Dharmendra Jain & Josiah Kimanzi Make African Research Faster, Smarter, & Actionable
Dharmendra Jain (Founder & CEO) and Josiah Kimanzi (Client Service Director) reveal how Actnable AI is transforming market research across Africa—from emotional response analysis to qualitative automation. Given their 30+ years running operations for Kantar/TNS across India, Nigeria, Kenya and beyond, they're now building Nairobi-rooted AI tools that fix slow fieldwork, manual analysis, and generic global platforms.What you'll discover in this 50-minute deep dive:1/ How Neuro AI measured identical telecom ads triggering radically different emotions across African cities (Lagos rational, Kinshasa needed full rewrite)2/ Qual AI's "chat with data" magic—turning raw transcripts into instant themes, sentiments, and action recommendations3/ DIA platform unifying structured surveys + unstructured social/media for holistic consumer insights4/ Real client wins: massive data projects delivered under impossible deadlines5/ Why African research lags AI adoption (skills gaps, infrastructure) and how to fix it6/ Future vision: affordable enterprise-grade insights for African SMEsTheir origin stories are pure gold:a) Dharmendra's "falling in love" moment: processing India's Indian Leadership Survey (240K respondents)b) Josiah's anthropologist pivot → Research International → Kantar Nigeria's 20-country client service for Heineken, MTN, Coca-Colac) Nigeria's "beautiful chaos" that forged their partnership (and that legendary chapati meeting!)About Actnable AI: Nairobi HQ serving Kenya, India, USA, South Africa. Specializing in Neuro AI (facial/emotional analytics), Qual AI (qualitative automation), real-time calling agents, and language solutions. Built by practitioners for African market realities. actnable.ai00:00 - Intro: Why AI research matters for African brands00:45 - Dharmendra's data origin: Indian Leadership Survey (240K respondents)02:30 - Josiah's anthropologist → research career pivot04:15 - Nigeria operations: "Beautiful chaos" survival stories07:45 - How they met (the chapati moment!)10:30 - Founding Actnable AI: From Field Management System to AI15:20 - Neuro AI case study: Telecom ads across African cities22:10 - Qual AI & DIA platform: Chat with unstructured data28:40 - Client wins: Speed + measurable business impact34:15 - African research's AI adoption barriers (skills, infra)41:20 - Future: Local AI democratizing SME insights46:30 - Leadership lessons: Ops → founding transition49:00 - Closing: Data-driven decision-making as African standard
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