Tresford Himanansa II

Tresford Himanansa is the Founder and CEO of XyPNET. A geek figure, tech visionary and business trailblazer, his leadership is fueled by his long term dream of building one of Africa’s biggest Technology company.

Tresford Himanansa born in Livingstone on 4 February 1987. He is the first born in a family of 5, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He attended Primary School at Dambwa Primary School in Livingstone. After completing his primary school education Tresford was accepted at St Raphael’s Secondary School in Livingstone where he schooled for two years from Grade 8 to Grade 9. In 2001, he moved to Ndola, where his father was transferred to by his former employer Zamtel. He started secondary school education at Lubuto High School in Ndola and schooled for three years from Grade 10 to Grade 12. Tresford had initially applied for Electrical and Electronics at the Copperbelt University (CBU) but because of his interest in Computers he applied for Computer Studies at the Evelyn Hone College of Applied Art and Commerce, it was while at Evelyn Hone College where he developed great skill in Computer Programming. While at College, Tresford was regarded as the best programmer by his class mates. People used to go to him when they had problems in writing Computer programs. Tresford having a professional qualification in Computer Science, is running the Company self-motivated and self-resolved, arguably second to none when it comes to Computer programming know-how in Zambia. Since he founded XyPNET in 2010, he has grown the company from 0 clients to now over 200 companies and a good number of individuals. In 2010, Tresford founded XyPNET, a Software Development and Web Hosting Company from his bedroom. Tresford has been called the Bill Gates of Zambia as he spends most of his time writing code on his computer.

Himanansa began using computers and writing code after completing secondary school. He took a short computer lessons course near his then home in Northrise, where he was staying with relatives Mr Peter Chilumbu and Mrs Ivy Chilumbu. He enjoyed developing computer programs, especially games and some other applications. In such program, he built a program which worked like Google.

By the time he began classes at Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, Himanansa had already achieved a “reputation as a Computer genius”. During his final year at college, he developed a software program that the college wanted to buy, but for some reasons, the school didn’t buy the program. While at College, Tresford was regarded as the best programmer by his classmates. People used to go to him when they had problems in writing Computer Programs.

After completing college, Tresford founded an Information Technology Company and named it XyPNET. From his first contract he got 2,000 Kwacha, (approx $400 USD), and put every coin back into the business. “I didn’t have capital but just an idea. From my first contract, I got K2,000 to put every little thing into the business” Due to his good leadership qualities, the Company has seen some exponential since inception and has triggered a chain of products and services beyond XyPNET’s core web designing and Hosting. The Company now offers online productivity software, Email Hosting (Customized Email Addresses,) a School management System Called Bosku, Computer networking and a social networking site service (Amunzi).

The Company leads the local social networking service with its social network Amunzi which had over 450,000 users as of December, 2013.

Tresford founded Amunzi in June 2011 in his bedroom at his parents’ home in Ndola, Zambia. Tresford is responsible for all operations of the social network and setting the overall direction, product strategy and goals for the social network. He is the main man and leads almost the entire design of Amunzi’s service and development of its core features, technology as well as infrastructure. Until March 2013, Tresford was the President and CEO then he appointed his cousin Clive Simanansa as President and Sikeba Kandala as Vice President. Before their appointments, Clive Simanansa served as Vice President, Product and Sikeba Kandala served as Vice President, Media Relations. In 2012, Tresford observed the rise in the number of Features being suggested by the users everyday and after taking some general routines from the structure of the site, he started coding the new Version which he called “Amunzi Reloaded”. On October 24, 2012, he and his team launched Amunzi-reloaded which came with a Package of better and improved new features.

In 2013, Tresford again decided to improve the site and redesigned the social network, this time he called it Amunzi-Amplified.

He has been called the Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Larry Page of Zambia by many media houses in his home country.