The journey

From KSh 1,809 to building African enterprise.

The journey started with a small technology experiment in 2012.

More than a decade later, the work spans financial technology, agriculture, natural resources, construction and sport.

The industries changed. The instinct to build did not.

2012
The first experiment
1809 Ltd
2012 — Start Somewhere
Company
1809 Ltd
Role
Co-founder
What was built
Developed an early parking solution for Nairobi City Council.
Project
City Council Parking System
Location
Nairobi
The first company was called 1809.
The name came from the most ordinary beginning imaginable: KSh 1,800 to register a website and KSh 10 for an emergency “Okoa Jahazi” bundle to test it, of which KSh 9 was credited after the service charge.
KSh 1,800 + KSh 9. That became the name of the company.
The significance was never the amount of money. It was the decision to start.
The company went on to develop an early parking solution for Nairobi City Council.
KSh 1,809
Where it started
What it taught
The first lesson: you don't need much to start building.
2012–2022
Professional foundation
The decade that shaped how I build
A decade of working across government, telecommunications and technology, gaining the experience that would later shape my approach to building businesses and solving problems at scale.
2022
Entering fintech
Enovepay
2022 — Build Infrastructure
Company
Enovepay
Role
CTO
What was built
Built payment technology for businesses across multiple African markets.
Location
Africa
The next chapter moved into financial technology.
Enovepay began as a technology company focused on solving the complexity of payments across African markets.
Over time, the platform expanded into payment acceptance, mobile money, cards, merchant services, business payments, school payments, cross border transfers and PSP infrastructure.
The ambition grew from building software to building infrastructure.
Today, Enovepay operates in 13 countries globally and is being developed as a financial technology platform serving businesses across fragmented payment ecosystems.
13
Countries globally
What it taught
The second lesson: software becomes more powerful when it becomes infrastructure.
2025
Sport as an institution
Airpocket Cycling
2025 — Build More Than a Team
Company
Airpocket Cycling
Role
Founder
What was built
Built a competitive cycling platform that reached the UCI World Championships in Kigali.
Project
Pro Cycling Team in 365 Days
Location
Nairobi
Cycling started as a passion. It became an organisation.
Airpocket Cycling was built with an ambitious objective: create a competitive cycling team within 365 days and establish a platform around the sport rather than simply assemble a group of riders.
The team went on to travel to Kigali for the UCI World Championships.
But the larger ambition is broader than racing. Airpocket is being developed around competition, talent, events, community, sponsorship and the use of sport as a pathway to opportunity.
365 days
From ambition to an international start line
What it taught
The third lesson: build institutions, not just projects.
2026
Agriculture
Agremix
2026 — Enter the Productive Economy
Company
Agremix
Role
Founder
What was built
Building a commercial agricultural platform beginning with animal feeds and expanding into poultry and coffee.
Location
Eldoret
The next chapter moved from technology into the physical economy.
Agremix is being built around agriculture, beginning with animal feeds and expanding into commercial poultry and coffee.
The idea is to participate across the agricultural value chain rather than simply produce one product.
The ambition is to build agricultural enterprises capable of operating at commercial scale.
FeedsPoultryCoffeeProcessingMarkets
What it taught
The fourth lesson: value is created across the chain, not at one point in it.
2026
Natural resources
Agrirock Africa
2026 — Build Around What Africa Has
Company
Agrirock Africa
Role
Co-founder
What was built
Natural stone excavation and exploration of pozzolana.
Project
Green Earth
Agriculture led naturally into a broader question: what other productive assets does Africa already have?
Agrirock Africa is being developed around natural resources, with an initial focus on natural stone and pozzolana.
The objective is not simply extraction. It is to build businesses around resources that can feed construction, manufacturing and other parts of the productive economy.
This is an emerging venture: the beginning of a natural resources platform, not a mature mining company.
What it taught
The fifth lesson: industrialisation begins with productive assets.
2026
Construction and property
Elgon Crest
2026 — Build Something That Remains
Company
Elgon Crest
Role
Founder
What was built
Development of a family villa in Karen.
Project
Fair Acres Karen
Location
Nairobi
There is another form of building that is much more literal. Buildings. Land. Physical assets.
The property and construction chapter represents the physical side of the enterprise building journey.
The initial development is personal, but the longer term ambition is to build and hold productive physical assets rather than simply trade property.
This is the beginning of a longer term construction and property ambition, not yet a large property development business.
LandBuildHold
What it taught
The sixth lesson: some things should be built to outlast you.

What connects it all

Different industries. The same logic.

At first glance, the businesses sit in completely different industries.

Payments. Agriculture. Natural resources. Construction. Sport.

But the logic is the same.

Find a real problem. Build something useful. Create an organisation around it. Make it commercially sustainable. Then build again.

That is increasingly what entrepreneurship means to me.

Not simply owning businesses. Building enterprises.

What I've learned

Start Small

The first company began with KSh 1,809. Big enterprises rarely begin looking big.

Follow the Problem

The sectors have changed, but the approach has remained the same: find something that needs to work better and build around it.

Build Infrastructure

The biggest opportunities are often not the visible products, but the systems underneath them.

Think in Decades

The objective is not to create businesses that look impressive for a year. It is to build enterprises that can still matter decades from now.

Build People Too

An enterprise is ultimately made of people. Jobs, skills, opportunities and institutions are part of what makes a business worth building.

This is still the beginning.

The businesses are at different stages.

Some are established. Some are growing. Some are only beginning.

But they are connected by the same ambition:

to build African enterprises that last.

2012 — Start Somewhere

The decade that shaped how I build

2022 — Build Infrastructure

2025 — Build More Than a Team

2026 — Enter the Productive Economy

2026 — Build Around What Africa Has

2026 — Build Something That Remains