Cameroon: Nelly Chatue-Diop, a geek who promotes investment in cryptocurrencies in Africa

Nelly Chatue-Diop is a Cameroonian computer scientist specialized in data and blockchain. She was ranked in 2020 in the Global Top 100 data visionaries by Hottopics.ht.

A true data enthusiast! Nelly Chatue-Diop talks about her job with admiration, but also with great mastery. Her romance with computer science began in 2000. Winner of a scholarship of excellence from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she studied at the CPE Lyon where she obtained her engineering degree in computer science and telecommunications in 2004. For 3 or 4 years, she worked as a developer. Then, she decided to pursue her studies in finance. “I wanted to participate in these boards and executive committees where decisions were made and which led to the development of IT projects,” she said during a webinar on artificial intelligence in 2020.

She enrolled at HEC Paris in 2006 where she completed an MBA program in finance, marketing and strategy. She pursued her studies at the London Business School as part of an international exchange program in marketing, finance and strategy. She then worked for an investment bank in London and returned to France where she joined an American company specialized in pricing and data and that uses statistical models to recommend the best prices for different items and services.

From intrapreneur to entrepreneur  

In 2013, she joined the French group Casino where she set up the Pricing and Data department. In 2015, she joined Darty group where she developed the same department. She also created the same department for Betclic Group which she joined in 2017. A company specialized in sports betting, online casinos, pokers. She put together a team of 30 people with whom she worked until she left the company in 2020 to embark on entrepreneurship.

During her different professional experiences, she specialized in the detection of fraud in financial transactions. Through her work, she also made it possible to know customers better, to categorise and segment them in order to identify those who add more value to the company and those who are losing ground.

In 2020, she launched her start-up Ejara.io, a blockchain-based mobile investment platform specifically designed for the French and African markets and their diaspora. “Ejara came from a vision that I have, which is to allow everyone, no matter where they are in Africa, to be able to create, increase and protect their wealth and savings,” she stressed during a webinar on artificial intelligence. The platform aims to democratise investment by relying on blockchain (cryptocurrency) techniques.

In her speeches, Nelly Chatue-Diop encourages girls to get into coding. She is also the founder of “Elle en Magasin”, a women’s that promotes women’s careers  in retail.

In 2020, she was named one of the world’s top 100 data visionaries by Hottopics.ht.