Lionel Bisschoff
CEO and Founder
Lionel has over 25 years’ experience as entrepreneur, consultant and director in the technology space. Lionel has trained, coached and mentored startups and corporate executives; designed, directed and delivered multi-million corporate programmes across a broad range of industries; authored books on the impact of technology on individuals, companies and countries and presented at some of the most prestigious conferences such as TED.
Lionel founded Learning Machines with the aim of benefiting organisations through the correct application of machine learning, big data and cloud services in their value chains. His vast experience of business processes and how technology should be applied across various industries, uniquely positions Learning Machines as a thought leader in the application of artificial intelligence in South Africa.
Kabelo Mofokeng
Data Engineer
Kabelo has worked as a data engineer for the past 10 years. He is a specialist in SAS, with strong skills in data analysis, ETL and SAS Programming using various tools (BASE SAS, Enterprise Guide and Data Integration). He gained experience at various large enterprises, including ABSA, Mutual & Federal, Eskom and IQVIA. He has been trained in Advanced SAS Programming and Macros and holds National Diploma in Information Technology from University of Johannesburg specializing in Software Development.
Otto Saayman
Data Engineer
Otto started coding at age 11 and has been working in the IT industry since 1997. He has extensive experience in full stack web-based application planning, development, deployment and hosting. This made the transition to big data technologies a natural progression. He has experience in setting up and using the Hortonworks Data Platform in a production environment as well as developing, testing and deploying ETL and AI workflows using Scala and Python.
Mark van Heeswijk
Data Engineer
Mark is a Python back-end engineer with expertise in desktop and web applications, as well as automated workflows. He has contributed to projects like audio fingerprint recognition for music and ad tracking on live broadcasts, computer vision for detecting branded TV content, and large-scale data engineering workflows. Mark is passionate about driving the AI revolution forward.
Pedri Claasens
Data Engineer
Pedri holds a PhD in Biotechnology and has a deep passion for Bio-Tech and Bioinformatics. His interests led him to Software Development, where he honed his skills as a back-end developer with a focus on payment API systems. This expertise paved the way for him to join Learning Machines, where he developed a profound appreciation for AI systems and gained experience working on them.
Felix Kamdem
Data Engineer / Data Scientist
Felix is a data scientist/data engineer with experience in building and deploying AI solutions within the field of Computer Vision and predictive modelling. He has a B-Eng Electrical and Electronics as well as a Bsc in Information technology from the University of Johannesburg. He is a firm believer in the capabilities that deep learning offers in solving real world complex problems given the right amount of data.
Stefan van Rensburg
Data Engineer
Biography coming soon
Wayne Schoeman
Data Engineer
A seasoned Software Developer turned Data Engineer, specializing in Generative AI within the financial sector. With over a decade of expertise in Python, .NET, and C#, he has contributed to building scalable software solutions across Government, Insurance, and Financial sectors, now leveraging that experience in data engineering, automation, and AI-driven innovation. His ability to bridge software development and data engineering enables the creation of high-performance systems that drive business success.
Ronald Conco
Software Developer
Ronald is an experienced technology team leader with expert knowledge in server technologies and frontends, such as Amazon AWS, LAMP, RabbitMQ, Java SE, Twitter Bootstrap, etc. He studied software development at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Lionel’s TEDx Talk
In his TEDx talk, “A radical idea for the economic transformation of nations”, Lionel explains how the world is being transformed through automation, and how nation states need a new way of thinking to keep up with the changes that are happening. Take a look at the video below:
Societal Renaissance
Lionel’s book, Societal Renaissance, describes the increasing inequality, growing public debt, growth or slums and youth unemployment and the steps we need to take to eradicate this.
The book explains how we can collaborate better locally and globally, by applying our latest understanding of complex adaptive systems, money, capital, human nature, digital value exchange, peer-to-peer platforms and lean product development and manufacturing.
Concrete proposals are made on how to reform monetary systems, financial services industries, politics and societal systems with the hope of inspiring the public to contribute in a meaningful way to bring about societal change.
You can download the book here.
