CMU-Africa intern creates customized communications solution

Using his software and AI engineering expertise, Eddy Kayiganwa led a team that created a customized communications solution for an international food distribution company during his internship. Kayiganwa is earning his master of science in information technology at Carnegie Mellon University Africa.

“When applying for internships, we were given opportunities to apply through CMU-Africa and also were encouraged to look for internships independently,” he said. “I saw that Tianlu Digital Services had an incredible project for their client, Europ Foods.” The company distributes frozen food products to restaurants, supermarkets, and other customers throughout Europe.

Kayiganwa spent last summer building a new customized digital platform for Europ Foods at their headquarters in Alicante, Spain. The company was using an outside web platform and wanted its own customized web platform and mobile app.

As the engineering lead, Kayiganwa had a team of three people, including another intern and two engineers. “It was a large project, but I have a background in software engineering, so I know how to build good mobile and web applications,” he said. He also credits CMU-Africa for preparing him with leadership skills, cloud courses, and cultural awareness.

The team was tasked with creating a web platform to track orders and shipments and a mobile app for customer communications. To understand the needs for the project, the team spent time at the warehouse to learn how orders came in, how they were received, and how drivers delivered shipments. The team met with drivers, sales representatives, and the administration for their input.

One of the goals was to give customers the ability to change their orders before delivery. Under the prior system, once orders were scheduled for delivery, they could not be changed. With the new system, customers can communicate directly with drivers and sales representatives about their orders before delivery and can also place ongoing orders.

 “For example, if an order hasn’t arrived yet, the customer can just message their sales representative in real time,” Kayignawa said. The team leveraged use of AI to make the process of creating the new platform and app move faster.

While in Spain, he joined “the biggest food fight in the world,” La Tomintina, a festival held in Buñol, Spain, where participants throw tomatoes at each other. “They close the streets and bring trucks with tons of tomatoes. It was really fun,” he said.

He also spent a day sailing on the Mediterranean, went to a football game, and traveled to Barcelona.

When you get to CMU-Africa there’s a focus on becoming not just a leader, but a future African lead in technology. CMU-Africa helped me do just that.

Eddy Kayiganwa, student, CMU-Africa

Kayiganwa feels he is making a difference for other interns. “I had a great experience with my internship. I was the first intern at Tianlu Digital Services from CMU-Africa. Now, the company plans to recruit more interns from CMU-Africa,” he said.

After graduating this semester, he plans to pursue his Ph.D., focusing on the fintech space at the intersection of technology, data, and financial systems.

“When you get to CMU-Africa, there’s a focus on becoming not just a leader, but a future African leader in technology. CMU-Africa helped me do just that,” he said.