Barlow Kasule

Barlow Kasule

I build the whole system, from the web app and mobile-money integration to the data pipelines and ML models behind it.

I lead the data and AI function at FutureLink Technologies, a Kampala fintech, and I have built web systems since 2018 for fintechs, national research and statistics bodies, schools and private companies. You get one engineer who can design, build and run both the product and the data behind it.

  • MSc Data Science, Trento
  • 3 yrs lecturing data science
  • 16 NARO research institutes
  • 200+ schools on SchoolPlus
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Barlow Kasule
Kampala, Uganda · Data & software consultant

A school fee, paid from any corner of Uganda

A parent in Gulu pays school fees from a basic phone, through FLT's MSACCO USSD menu or app and MTN MoMo or Airtel Money. SchoolPlus, which I built, picks up each payment through its integration with FLT's SavingsPlus platform and matches it to the right pupil. The school sees who has paid without a trip to the SACCO.

  • GuluSchool feesUGX 450,000 ✓
  • MbararaSchool feesUGX 120,000 ✓
  • SorotiSchool feesUGX 450,000 ✓

Simulated payments, for illustration.

Read the SchoolPlus story →

Map of Uganda with simulated school-fee payments moving from towns across the country towards Kampala.JinjaMbaleGuluLiraAruaMbararaMasakaFort PortalHoimaSorotiKabaleMorotoTororoKitgumMasindiMubendeKampala

What I build

Four kinds of work, each one already running somewhere.

  • Data platforms & reporting

    Pipelines that pull scattered transaction data into one source of truth, with dashboards and automated regulatory reports.

    Seen in FLT Analytics Platform

  • Web systems & payment integrations

    Multi-tenant web apps, offline-first desktop systems, and MTN MoMo and Airtel Money integrations. Laravel, Vue, React, FastAPI, Rust.

    Seen in SchoolPlus, UBOS portal & .UG registry

  • Predictive models in production

    Churn prediction, forecasting and risk scoring, evaluated on data the model never saw and wired into the tools people already use.

    Seen in FLT Analytics Platform, Kalman filter audit

  • Data strategy, assessments & training

    Field requirements, surveys, architecture roadmaps and costed proposals, plus training for your team.

    Seen in NARO Big Data Platform

Selected work

Fintech, research, public sector and education: the same engineer across the product and the data.

  1. FintechFLT Analytics PlatformOne source of truth for a fintech's mobile-money transactions, serving dashboards, Bank of Uganda reports and in-app reporting, with churn and revenue models on top.
  2. Fintech · EducationSchoolPlusA school management platform that grew out of reconciling SACCO fee payments, built solo as V1 and re-architected as a multi-tenant V2.
  3. ResearchNARO Big Data PlatformRequirements, survey evidence, architecture roadmap and costed proposals for a data platform serving NARO's Secretariat and 16 research institutes.
  4. Public sectorUBOS Gender Statistics Portal & .UG registryRequirements, design, build and user acceptance testing of the UBOS Gender Statistics Portal, plus DevOps and CI/CD for the .UG domain registry.

Same data, opposite conclusion

Merge two SACCO branches' loan books and bigger loans look riskier. Split them again and the trend reverses in both. My MSc thesis turned this reversal, Simpson's Paradox, into a check on integrated data. Try it in the Lab, next to a Kalman filter you can break on purpose.

Open the Lab →

I studied data science in Italy, taught it in Kampala for three years, and now build the systems institutions run on.

My MSc at the University of Trento asked when integrated data can be trusted. The same question sits behind the reporting I build today, from national research data to a fintech's regulatory reports.

Full background, skills and education →

  1. 09/2023 – nowLead Data Science & AI Engineer, FutureLink Technologies, Kampala
  2. 01/2022 – 2025Consultant, Data Science & Engineering (part-time), National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), Entebbe
  3. 11/2021 – 2024Lecturer, Data Science (part-time), ISBAT University, Kampala
  4. 10/2020 – 07/2021Web Systems Developer & DevOps Engineer, Infinity Computers & Communications Company (i3c), Kampala
  5. 12/2018 – nowFreelance web systems developer, Self-employed
  6. 02/2013 – 08/2015Administrator, Aunt Rebecca Primary School, Bukomansimbi

Tell me about your project

Based in Kampala. Available for projects in Uganda and remotely. Describe what you need and I will reply by email.

Email me at Barlow.kasule@outlook.com with a short description of your project.