Ridwan is an assistant director at Certa Foundation, leading the professional development workflow. He has advised global companies across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East on data protection, artificial intelligence governance, regulatory intelligence, digital ethics, and technology policy. Before joining Certa Foundation, Ridwan co-founded Tech Hive Advisory (a technology policy advisory and research firm with a footprint in Africa and Europe), PrivacyLensAfrica, and Privacy Bar & Bants, where he uses visualisation and podcasting to draw attention to data protection in Africa. He is a policy advisor and a researcher with extensive work across different thematic areas, focusing on Africa and contributing to policy development in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He has published and contributed to book chapters, reports, articles, and guides.

Ridwan holds a Master's in Law and Technology from Tilburg University, Netherlands. He is a certified information privacy professional in European data protection law, a certified information privacy manager, and a trained artificial intelligence governance professional by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Ridwan has organised policy hackathons and facilitated international certification-based capacity-building sessions for law enforcement, government agencies and departments, senior leadership and executives in global corporations, enhancing their capacities in artificial intelligence governance, data protection, surveillance, deceptive design, regulatory intelligence, and technology policy.

He is a member of the Africa Digital Rights Network, the Africa Law and Tech Network, the Africa Data Governance Initiative, and the Privacy Alliance. He also sits on the advisory board of the Continental Approach and is a Trustee of the African Biodata Foundation. He is ranked as a country leader by Who is Who Legal for Data. He is a Fellow of Information Privacy with the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and a Fellow of Access to Justice Tech Design Lab, Tilburg Institute of Law and Technology. He contributes his expertise as a Research Fellow at the African Academic Network on Internet Policy, a researcher at the Responsible Data Governance for Artificial Intelligence, and a member of the privacy working group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is also designated as an expert at the Data Protection Unit of the Council of Europe.