As the digital field continues to grow, Malta is well-positioned to be a global player thanks to the public and private investment that has poured into the sector over the last years. Creative leaders are shaking things up on all levels, ready to identify and exploit the opportunities available. 

This series catches up with the island’s foremost tech and digital entrepreneurs to understand what they do, and what the future holds.

(Standing, left to right) Kristian Zarb Adami, Edward Borg, Angelo Dalli, Johan Zammit & Gege Gatt / (Seated, left to right) Brian Zarb Adami, Simon Azzopardi & Stefan Farrugia

Those pictured form part of the 'Changing the tech game' series / Picture taken by Bernard Polidano

About yourself, your company and your greatest professional accomplishment to date…

EBO.ai is a technology company working in Artificial Intelligence. Our team is spread over five countries and we focus on AI in healthcare, financial services and iGaming. I serve as EBO’s CEO.

The CEO of a technology start-up needs to be seemingly everywhere at the same time: fundraising, recruiting, selling, team building, coaching, managing investors, customers and vendors. Rather than frantically chasing success through these processes, I realised that success comes mostly when you least expect it but also through an optimist’s outlook coupled with sheer perseverance and vision in knowing what your goals are and how to reach them. I feel that my greatest accomplishment is therefore in understanding that in leading an organisation, you must serve it by giving it meaning and adding value through intelligent optimism.

What are the latest developments in your sector?

We operate in sectors that undergo constant transformation. Customers expect better service whilst enterprises need to reduce costs and constantly re-position their market offering. EBO.ai serves this development by utilising the latest automation tools to essentially re-frame the notion of ‘work’. Through AI, we automate processes which are repetitive (such as making an appointment, managing ‘on-boarding’ and so on) and subsequently allow humans to focus on what really matters: work which thrives on emotional and human intelligence.

What developments do you foresee for Malta to become a digital island?

The problem of living in the midst of this technology revolution is that it is rather hard to take a long-term view of what is happening. Technology is not an instrument but a way of ‘seeing’ the world. We therefore see three key themes emerging.

We see that the future of jobs will be different. With automation becoming an important vector of change, employability will be less about what you already know and more about your capacity to learn and adapt over time. Companies will need to focus more on data. Data allows you to create a profile to better understand your customer and predict needs based on known patterns. However, what is even more critical than capturing data is making it actionable.

Lastly, as Malta grows in its ambition to become a digital playground, we need to make sure that we open a wider debate on privacy and ethical AI. Innovations ushered in with haste may have unfortunate (even if unintended) consequences and may subsequently erode societal trust in technology. Therefore, the success of Malta’s digital evolution has a direct correlation to the social acceptance of technology, the management of pro-privacy requirements and the wider necessity of improving our educational framework to one which promotes creativity in tech and innovation.

This is the fourth in a series of interviews with Malta's leading tech entrepreneurs. Read the first, with IO-Labs CEO Kristian Zarb Adami, here. Or check out the second, with Thought3D Co-Founder Edward Borg, here. The third, an interview with Silicon Valletta President Simon Azzopardi, can be found here.

This feature was first carried in the 2021 edition of Digital Island.