Product Manager in Mali Losinj, Croatia

Conceptualized, built, and launched a product family of AI-powered anti-money laundering solutions.
• Built the product team as VP of product
• Transformed the research and engineering teams, growing from 40 to 100 people
• Led the Agile transformation project, implementing Lean product management and Agile development practices

Worked with the founding team to establish the product vision and developed, tested, and refined the product hypothesis. I assisted with defining the key features and fleshing those out into user stories. I managed the research and user-centered design process, working closely with the UX team on product design. I selected the appropriate technology platforms, recruited the teams, and managed the development process until release. I then addressed the release and launch process, using metrics and analytics to rapidly iterate the user interface and increase conversion and retention rates. I coached leadership and agile teams in establishing key agile ceremonies such as planning sessions and daily stand-ups and effectively utilizing agile artifacts such as product backlogs.

After a successful fundraising round, Oradian was required to rapidly scale its operations to meet its stated objectives.

I worked closely with the founders, and shareholders took ownership of the company strategy and product positioning. Based on market research and product fit analysis, I developed the company's expansion plans to Africa and Asia. I recruited, trained, and coached managing directors and in-country teams in five new markets, eventually leading the sales effort.

I implemented new and lean-agile business processes across the organization, including sales, human resources, and finance departments. I also established new competencies and organizational units.

Womenconnect.org was built to drive financial inclusion and provide mentorship and training for 50 million entrepreneurial African women.

I led the market research and validation project across 14 countries in four languages. Definition and prioritization of the product roadmap, technology architecture, business case development, and lobbying investors to raise $26 million in funding were also part of my achievements. Finally, I led the go-to-market product strategy for new market expansion.

The Gates Foundation and IFC made strategic investments in a number of financial services providers (FSPs) across Africa to drive financial inclusion.

My Role:
• Got involved from project inception to performing initial diagnostics of all investees processes, technology systems, and staff competency levels
• Developed a single integrated technology strategy for all FSPs
• Led the CEO and CIO summit where we integrated teams, processes, and ratified the technology and business strategy across 16 countries, four economic zones, and three languages
• Rolled out new cloud-based core banking systems and developed innovative mobile apps, enabling financial services without the need for heavy and expensive physical infrastructure
• Built an agency banking framework, empowering field agents and further lowering the costs of financial services to underserved markets
• Got involved with lobbying central banks and assisted with creating the digital banking policy frameworks across multiple countries

I assisted SBV South Africa and Panzer technologies with the development of a network of connected, armored vehicles, transporting cash and high-value goods for the four biggest South African banks.

The vehicles included onboard tracking and surveillance systems, enabling the central command center to connect with any vehicle at any time. The command center could also take responsibility for certain operational aspects (for example, remote triggering of drop safes, or security doors), or override the vehicle controls when required.

A new centralized command center was also built in a high-security location running a 24x7 operation. It included various back-end systems, such as cash management, vehicle tracking, logistics, operations, remote management, monitoring, and response operations.

I was responsible for the overall management of the project, and also led the technical design aspects such as the command center systems, onboard electronics, and software for the vehicles.

The South African national Companies and Intellectual Property platform deliver the following functions:
• Registration of companies, co-operatives, and intellectual property rights, including trademarks, patents, designs, and copyright
• Disclosure of information on its business registers

Built a platform that integrated data from multiple internal and external systems, including SAP, SharePoint, data warehouses, IT help desk, and security monitoring control rooms to perform remote monitoring of Barclays Africa's 4000 buildings, branches, and ATM locations.

The platform used advanced analytics to preemptively detect problems and equipment failures, decrease the planning and costs of maintenance activities and increase the security of the bank's assets.

Google for Startups Accelerator is a global series of programs for growth-stage startups to get technical, product, and leadership training from experts, tailored to their business.

Google for startups accelerators serves top growth-stage startups with tailored technical, product, and leadership training from Google experts.

Tookitaki is an independent software company developing Artificial Intelligence-based Anti-Money Laundering software for Financial Institutions to help fight financial crime - with offices in New York, Singapore, and India.

After a fundraising round, the company was required to scale rapidly to meet the shareholders' new aggressive growth and delivery targets.

They were struggling with poor quality, unpredictable delivery, poor performance, low team morale, pervasive inefficiencies, and they were unable to adequately service their existing customer base.

Morné established a new product management discipline - recruited, onboarded, trained, and coached a team of product managers and project managers - to enable the company to increase visibility and take control of their end-to-end delivery process.

He then reorganized the research and engineering teams, creating a scalable team-based model, which could easily be replicated to support the rapidly growing engineering organization.

He joined the leadership team and implemented a new planning and execution process. He coached the co-founders and worked closely with the sales, CS, HR, and finance teams to create a cohesive, high-functioning leadership organization.

After conquering the Philippines with their Cloud-Based Core Banking system, Oradian had to enter new markets to support their rapid growth and meet their company objectives.

The existing organizational structures were not scalable, and the command and control management structure was causing communication bottlenecks and inefficiencies, which constrained the company’s growth.

Morné built five regional offices, hiring local CEOs and establishing cross-functional teams in each country. He standardized operational processes implemented a training academy, knowledge management systems, and best practices.

As a result, the company met its required 300% ARR growth targets and tripled its headcount in 18 months while continuously improving operational efficiencies.

The African Development Bank’s Office of Gender Equality launched a project to build a social media and financial services platform to service Africa’s women entrepreneurs - targeting 50 million users.

Morné started with the project at the conception phase, validating the business model, building the MVP, field-testing the concept. After passing the initial tests, he assisted with the fundraising, and manage to secure $26m in donor funding for the start-up venture.

Since there is a lack of infrastructure across Africa, the organizational design required regional operations in 4 languages to cover 54 African countries. In addition to building the UX, Research, Product, Project and Engineering teams, there were also field operations in 14 countries, working with local partners to assist with the promotion, uptake and adoption of the platform and services to end-users.

As a multi-sided marketplace, the organization also had to interface with financial institutions, investors and donors, which required separate dedicated teams.