Dr Wahab Disu is an engineer, technology entrepreneur and product specialist whose career has taken him from mechanical engineering and robotics research into digital banking, InsurTech and financial technology.
He is the founder of Kairo, a fintech venture focused on financial services, and has built his career around developing technology products and infrastructure for financial institutions and consumers.
Before moving fully into entrepreneurship, Disu accumulated experience across engineering, academic research, digital banking and insurance technology. His professional journey includes roles at Mintyn, Unyte Africa, the University of Hertfordshire, TimTechVille and the Lagos State Government.
From Mechanical Engineering to Robotics
Disu’s academic journey began at the University of Hertfordshire, where he completed an International Foundation Programme in Engineering and Science between 2016 and 2017. He subsequently studied Mechanical Engineering at the university, graduating in 2020 with First Class Honours.
He remained at the university for postgraduate research, completing a PhD in Mechatronics, Robotics and Automation Engineering between 2021 and 2024. His doctoral research focused on the use of robotics in additive manufacturing, particularly sustainable cementitious materials and robotic 3D printing. The research examined ways of improving the mechanical strength and buildability of 3D-printed concrete using robotic fabrication.
As a Lead Researcher at the University of Hertfordshire between February 2023 and February 2025, Disu worked on the development of robotic systems for additive manufacturing. His work involved collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric on robotic subsystems, including safety enclosures and extrusion nozzles, for 3D-printing experiments.
He also managed experimental programmes, technical risks and laboratory resources while applying data analysis to evaluate the mechanical performance of materials.
Entry Into Digital Banking
Between October 2020 and December 2023, he worked as a Product Manager at Mintyn, an online banking platform where he was responsible for directing versions 2 and 3 of the company’s mobile application.
The products recorded more than 120,000 downloads and generated transaction volumes exceeding $18 million while he also led the company’s observability and monitoring strategy, which he says increased system uptime by 17%.
Another project under his leadership was the launch of a syndicated loans platform, which reduced loan-origination time-to-market by 30%.
Building an InsurTech Company
Disu subsequently moved deeper into financial technology through Unyte Africa, where he served as co-founder from February 2022 to February 2026.
At Unyte Africa, he focused on the technology infrastructure behind embedded insurance designing and launched insurance APIs that enabled integration with more than four digital banks and reached more than four million users, according to his professional profile.
His responsibilities included defining the technical product roadmap and developing systems for claims automation, policy issuance and customer onboarding. He also worked on API infrastructure, authentication and compliance controls needed to connect insurers with financial institutions.
Artificial intelligence became part of the company’s approach to insurance as Disu drove its adoption in risk assessment and underwriting workflows before overseeing Unyte Africa’s entry into the UK market with a cloud-native insurance platform, which he says was delivered within six months and under budget.
Building Kairo
Kairo represents the latest stage of Disu’s career where Disu has so far leveraged his over five years of experience working on digital banking and financial technology products.
His background at Mintyn exposed him to digital banking, payments and lending technology, while his time at Unyte Africa provided experience in embedded insurance, APIs, automation, compliance and AI-driven financial services.
Kairo sits within the broader fintech landscape in which technology companies are attempting to make financial services more accessible across borders and currencies.
For Disu, the progression from digital banking product management to insurance infrastructure and then fintech entrepreneurship represents an expansion of the same underlying focus: using technology to simplify financial services.
