Hello, I'm Andile Mbele

Thinker | Technologist | Problem Solver

A dynamic Zimbabwean technologist and product builder, passionate about solving real-world problems through code and innovation. CTO at Optimeer Labs, CEO of Vectra Dynamics, and a top 1% GitHub contributor. Known as "Google Jr" and "Productivity Hacker" for my ability to find innovative solutions and optimize workflows.

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10,000+ GitHub Contributions

Top 1% Git Wrapped

Records Processed 40B+

About Andile Mbele

Building solutions that matter

With a deep-rooted background in software engineering, I specialize in designing and building data-driven, AI-powered, and automation-centric solutions across sectors such as healthcare, fintech, enterprise productivity, and education.

I'm the CTO and Co-founder of Optimeer Labs, a product innovation company that partners with businesses to develop internal tools that streamline operations, enhance employee experience, and unlock efficiency.

I also serve as CEO of Vectra Dynamics, leading the development of Spot On Rent, a smart property rental platform, and Lumina, an AI-powered medical assistant that provides diagnostic support, health education, and medication delivery integrations.

Technical Skills

Python JavaScript TypeScript Golang React Django Node.js MongoDB PostgreSQL AWS GCP AI/ML NLP Data Engineering

Professional Experience

Building impact through technology

Lead Software Engineer

Vectra Dynamics March 2023 – Present

Harare, Zimbabwe

Built and scaled a full-stack property marketplace, powering 10,000+ property searches with 99.9% uptime
Integrated intelligent pattern matching and geolocation, improving search relevance and retention by 30%
Redesigned system architecture to handle 200% traffic growth with Round Robin Load Balancing and Redis caching
Led internal AI adoption using RAG for customer service and automated KYC

Data Engineer

District 4 Labs Sept 2022 – June 2025

Chicago, Illinois, USA [Remote]

Engineered Python-based ETL pipelines to clean and structure datasets exceeding 40 billion records
Automated data workflows, reducing manual labor by 80% and processing over 1 million records/hour
Led migration of 4TB on-prem warehouse to cloud-native lakehouse, cutting query latency by 70%
Contributed to Darkside, District4's flagship open-source data solution leveraging one of the largest repositories of compromised credentials and person of interest data for cyber threat intelligence

Lead Software Developer

Solugrowth Aug 2024 – Dec 2024

Pretoria, South Africa [Remote]

Spearheaded cloud-native Vendor Decision Engine operationalizing AHP across 14 weighted criteria
Productized the engine as reusable Django app and REST API bundle, saving $85k/year
Architected micro-service scoring pipelines processing 10k+ supplier records/hour
Built a self-service weighting UI with immutable, time-stamped audit logs that satisfy King IV governance principles and POPIA data-retention rules.

Teaching Assistant & Co-Instructor

Emzini We Code 2020 – Present

Harare, Zimbabwe

Served as Teaching Assistant (2020-2024) supporting CS7: An Introduction to Programming and Computer Science, co-taught with Eric Khumalo
Promoted to Co-Instructor (2025) for the CS7 class, leading curriculum development and hands-on programming workshops
Mentored 100+ students in Python programming, functional programming, data abstraction, and object-oriented programming concepts
Supported course delivery including lab exercises, homework assignments, and three major programming projects
Facilitated collaborative learning through project partnerships, office hours, and Piazza discussion forums

Featured Projects

Innovation that makes a difference

FinePrint

AI-Powered Contract Analysis

NLP/LLM-powered contract-intelligence platform that flags hidden fees, predatory clauses, and compliance risks with 92% precision.

$8,000 seed grant 92% precision Chrome extension

Live Demo

ChatInsight

WhatsApp Analytics Tool

Python/Pandas/NLTK pipeline that parses WhatsApp logs and generates interactive dashboards for message volume, activity, and sentiment trends.

500k+ messages 30s processing Interactive dashboards

Live Demo

Lumina

AI Healthcare Assistant

Multilingual AI Agent delivering symptom triage, treatment advice, and pharmacy referrals in English, Shona, and Ndebele.

$25,000 funding 87% concordance Multilingual

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Publications & Writing

Thoughts on technology, innovation, and building solutions in Africa

Rooibos Radar

Startup & Tech Newsletter

A weekly newsletter covering the latest developments in African tech, startup ecosystem insights, and emerging technology trends across the continent.

Weekly insights African tech focus Startup ecosystem