Podcasts · Coffee Pump Podcast

Scuba Diving, Yale University & Global Internet Ecosystems - Nurani Nimpuno | Coffee Pump (E132)

14 Oct 2026 · 1 h 06 min · S1 E132

Konnichiwa,

Nurani Nimpuno has been shaping the internet for 25 years and most people have never heard of her. Born in Sweden to Dutch Indonesian parents, she got into tech because she liked computer games, handed out IP addresses at RIPE NCC before she knew what Unix was, spent years at APNIC and Netnod, chaired Euro-IX, sat on the team that moved internet governance out of US government hands, and then helped build the exchange point in Mombasa and Nairobi. She now runs strategy for LINX - London Internet Exchange.

This episode was recorded at the Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum (https://www.afpif.org) in collaboration with the African IXP Association (https://www.af-ix.org).

We talk about:

– Scuba diving with reef sharks, and why an hour underwater leaves you exhausted

– Going back to school for an Executive MBA

– What she learned at Yale University

– Growing up in Sweden

– The mango she ate in Mombasa at 11 that made her want to come back

– Leaving a comfortable job to start an internet exchange company from scratch

– What it really took to get the Mombasa exchange off the ground

– Why 300 small ISPs in Kenya have never heard of peering

– Why most of Africa's internet traffic still leaves Africa

– Walking into rooms of older men who assumed she knew nothing

– How LINX picks its next market, and why AS numbers tell you everything

– Why she understands Japan less every time she visits

Hope you enjoy the episode.

Best,

Team Coffee Pump

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Find Nurani Nimpuno:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nurani-nimpuno-b140a71/

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/nurani.nimpuno

AfPIF and AF-IX:

Africa Peering and Interconnection Forum: https://www.afpif.org

African IXP Association: https://www.af-ix.org

Equipment supplied by Cameras Africa:

Website: https://www.camerasafrica.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camerasafrica_

Find our host Sajid Vayani:

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sajvayani

Coffee Pump Spotify, Apple and Socials:

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/sajvayani

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