Richard Ruoro, Nairobi
CTO at DataLock, the company behind Kinga. Co-founder of Silicon Savannah Talent. Founder of Zabuni, Unganisha, Kioo and Savanna Avia. I design the architecture, write a good part of the code, and stay until it ships.
About
I started in Kenya’s SMS infrastructure in the early 2000s: Sasanet’s free-SMS platform, the Katiba constitutional-education campaign, and Global Message Company, which I co-founded in 2011 and still run.
The 2010s were web platforms, portals and business systems for companies across East Africa. Since 2020 the work is AI-native products: SST Oracle, Kioo, Zabuni, Unganisha and Kinga, plus formal input on Kenya’s AI policy and the AI Bill 2026.
What that gives a client is one person who can sit with the board on Monday and review the pull request on Tuesday.
What I do
Each one is backed by something I have shipped. The proof is named on the right.
A connected team of AI agents for the work that never gets done: an executive assistant that triages inbox and calendar and briefs you before every meeting, a content agent that turns each interview into owned posts, monitoring agents for news, policy and tenders, a website and SEO agent, and impact reporting for donors and boards. This is agentic AI in daily use: a multi-agent system built on large language models, self-hosted so your data stays on your own server, with a human in the loop where it matters.
Built the way I run my own operations: Nia, my agent, lives on my own server and runs my day. Recently designed as a six-agent suite for a Nairobi health and safeguarding organisation.
Discuss this →AI-native applications built on large language models (LLMs): generative AI features, semantic and vector search, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), recommendation engines, document AI and workflow automation.
Production AI, not demos. Patterns proven on SST Oracle, Zabuni, Kioo and Unganisha.
Discuss this →Business websites, web applications, talent marketplaces, member portals and e-commerce, from a single sharp site to a full platform. Fast, mobile-first, and built to be found by search engines and AI assistants.
Proven on SST Oracle and the ten client sites listed under Work.
Discuss this →Lending, payments, savings and transaction systems on the rails Africans use.
M-Pesa Daraja, Co-op Bank Open API, SACCOs, chamas and agency networks. Proven on Kinga.
Discuss this →Technology and AI strategy, roadmaps, system architecture and transformation programmes that engineering teams can build.
For boards and leadership teams deciding how technology should serve the business. Also as a fractional CTO.
Discuss this →Messaging platforms, enterprise integrations and communication systems: the foundations that carry scale.
150M+ SMS sent across Kenya through the Sasanet, Katiba/CoE and Global Message Company years.
Discuss this →Guidance on AI adoption, AI governance, compliance and emerging technology.
Including formal submissions on the Draft Kenya AI Policy and the Kenya AI Bill 2026.
Discuss this →Work
7 products live and 10 client sites online today. Status is checked every ten minutes. The screenshots are of the real sites.
My own companies, plus products I architect and run for others.
Tender-to-bid automation for Kenyan suppliers
Reads a government tender PDF, turns it into a structured checklist, tracks statutory certificate expiry, runs the gap analysis, fills the price schedule and outputs one serialised submission PDF.
Founder & builderNext.js · TypeScript · Python · PostgreSQL · Playwright
Africa's community operating system, starting with boda boda SACCOs
Members save, pay and borrow through their SACCO with M-Pesa in front and a bank rail behind: itemised fees, two-second confirmations, daily statements, Kiswahili built in.
CTO, DataLock · built the complete app · brand identityFlutter · Python API · PostgreSQL · M-Pesa Daraja · Co-op Bank Open API
AI candidate search and talent intelligence for African hiring teams
Semantic candidate matching for African talent: vector search over structured CV data, recruiter-grade scoring, milestone escrow with per-member splits, and an admin console teams actually use.
Co-Founder & Lead Technology Architect · Silicon Savannah TalentNext.js · Fastify · PostgreSQL + pgvector · Gemini embeddings · n8n · Refine
Blood donor matching for Kenya, privacy first
Matches a blood request to compatible donors nearby across 1,620 Kenyan towns and 1,051 health facilities, without leaking a name or a diagnosis.
FounderNext.js 16 · PostgreSQL 18 + PostGIS · n8n
AI beauty technology with skin-aware virtual try-on
A skin-aware try-on engine that respects African skin tones, paired with personalised AI recommendations that feel like an honest in-store consultant.
Founder & Product ArchitectFlutter · Firebase · ML Kit face-mesh · Gemini · Pinecone · n8n
Aviation software built in Africa: WingsPath and Avicore
Savanna Avia is the company behind WingsPath, an AI-powered aviation management platform for African operators (airworthiness records, maintenance intelligence, regulatory workflows), and Avicore, the aviation intelligence platform for East African pilots.
FounderNext.js · TypeScript · PostgreSQL · AI document intelligence
The operating system for African aviation
An aviation intelligence platform built Africa-first: airstrip data, community pilot reports, digital pilot passports, and AI safety assessments for East African operators.
Founder · a Savanna Avia Ltd productReact · Aviation intelligence · AI safety assessments · Maps & geospatial
A live globe of Kenya's skies, seas and ground
Live aircraft, ships, satellites, earthquakes and public cameras on a 3D globe, tuned for Kenya. Built on the open-source God's Eye View project; I adapted, localised and host it.
Deployed & adaptedVite · Node · PostgreSQL · Redis · Open-source God's Eye View
Offline-first field operations for teams where there is no network
A field app that keeps working with no signal and syncs itself when the network comes back, built for agricultural teams that spend their day far from a tower.
FounderFlutter · PostgreSQL · Background sync
Safe peer-to-peer lending for Kenya
Lend to friends without the drama. Borrowers post a need with clear terms, lenders choose who they trust at a fair rate, money sits in escrow until the terms are met, and repayments are reminded and verified automatically.
FounderFlutter · M-Pesa · Escrow · CRB integration · CBK NDTCP licensing
Built for the businesses that run them. Screenshots are of the live sites.
How technology gets governed, and the foundations it runs on.
A national blueprint for sovereign, open-source agricultural AI
A six-volume programme master document, from business case to engineering playbooks, for an AI platform serving coffee, tea, livestock and extension services at national scale: 5M+ farmers across 47 counties. Written for government, donor, investor and engineering audiences.
Author · programme architectPostgreSQL + pgvector · RAG · n8n · Kubernetes · Multi-cloud · MLOps
Formal submissions on how Kenya should govern AI
A formal response to the Ministry of ICT on the Draft Kenya AI Policy (August 2026) and a memorandum on the Kenya AI Bill 2026: practical input on adoption, risk, and how the law lands on the people actually shipping AI products.
Policy contributorAI governance · Policy drafting · Regulatory submission
Enterprise messaging and bulk-SMS infrastructure across East Africa
One of Kenya's longest-running communications infrastructure companies: bulk SMS for enterprises, government agencies and NGOs across East Africa, now moving into AI-augmented messaging with LLM workflows and an API-first architecture.
Co-Founder · since 2011SMPP · Telco integrations · Enterprise messaging
Running right now: 17 sites, status checked every ten minutes.
Questions
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Contact
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