Christopher Chileshe
Chief Executive Officer
Chris is the Founder and CEO of The Zig. A Zambian native with deep ties to the continent, he saw an opportunity to share the talents of African engineers with the world.
Chris believes Africa’s potential lies in its ability to use its massive young workforce to leapfrog decades of industrialization. He believes we can leverage innovative technologies that help drive physical efficiency by breaking down barriers between man and machine. He is passionate about bringing about positive change through technology and corporate social responsibility.
Chris began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked in Private Banking and buy-side Asset Management building operations technology. Following GS, Chris joined Russell Investments as a Global Application Developer building integration systems for Portfolio Managers on their Fixed Income trading desk. He architected and implemented the company's first Fix Protocol engine integration between Charles River DB, Bloomberg and internal trading systems that managed block trades of over $100 million for various asset classes.
After Russell, Chris went into consulting as an Enterprise Architect leading a team of engineers helping fortune 500 companies develop and implement technology roadmaps that aligned with their business objectives.
Next, Chris joined Microsoft as an engineer where he worked across various large enterprise-grade globally distributed products. His most recent role was with the Connected Store team where he helped build the services responsible for deploying Internet of Things Edge devices at scale for a multi-tenant solution.
Chris received his Bachelor’s in Information Systems with an emphasis on Business Intelligence from Utah Valley University. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Washington, where he plans to develop additional expertise in data engineering, embedded systems, and human-computer interactions.
Chris currently serves as a board member for ComGrow, a Zambia-based startup focused on making village banking accessible to the masses.
In his free time, Chris enjoys playing basketball, listening to music and spending time with his family.
Chris believes Africa’s potential lies in its ability to use its massive young workforce to leapfrog decades of industrialization. He believes we can leverage innovative technologies that help drive physical efficiency by breaking down barriers between man and machine. He is passionate about bringing about positive change through technology and corporate social responsibility.
Chris began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked in Private Banking and buy-side Asset Management building operations technology. Following GS, Chris joined Russell Investments as a Global Application Developer building integration systems for Portfolio Managers on their Fixed Income trading desk. He architected and implemented the company's first Fix Protocol engine integration between Charles River DB, Bloomberg and internal trading systems that managed block trades of over $100 million for various asset classes.
After Russell, Chris went into consulting as an Enterprise Architect leading a team of engineers helping fortune 500 companies develop and implement technology roadmaps that aligned with their business objectives.
Next, Chris joined Microsoft as an engineer where he worked across various large enterprise-grade globally distributed products. His most recent role was with the Connected Store team where he helped build the services responsible for deploying Internet of Things Edge devices at scale for a multi-tenant solution.
Chris received his Bachelor’s in Information Systems with an emphasis on Business Intelligence from Utah Valley University. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Washington, where he plans to develop additional expertise in data engineering, embedded systems, and human-computer interactions.
Chris currently serves as a board member for ComGrow, a Zambia-based startup focused on making village banking accessible to the masses.
In his free time, Chris enjoys playing basketball, listening to music and spending time with his family.
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