Essays

One a week, on AI and business in Africa, from someone doing the work. RSS

• Running a businessWhy a Lagos car-hire site hides which cars it owns

  A car-hire company in Lagos is adding cars that belong to other people. Why we didn't label its own cars, why owners go on a waiting list, and how the big bookings get paid. · 28 October 2026

• Running a businessThe email said my payment was stuck. It had already left for my bank.

  My payment provider said a first licensing payment was blocked. The account showed it already on its way to my bank in Lagos. Why I now check the record first. · 18 September 2026

• Building in the real marketMy tool found sixteen critical problems. Twelve were wrong.

  What building a release-readiness scanner taught me about false alarms, useful checks, and the cost of losing trust. · 29 August 2026

• Building in the real marketI entered ₦450,000. The app showed ₦4,500

  Brik's mobile invoice screen showed a ₦450,000 item as ₦4,500 because its running total treated naira as kobo. I made the mobile calculation follow the same rule as the invoice and added a test for the exact mistake. · 22 August 2026

• The bigger buildWhat ten conferences taught me about the day after

  The stage can create attention. A real talent pipeline begins when people know what to do after the applause. · 16 August 2026

• AI and African businessSoftware built for how business is supposed to happen vs how it happens here

  What Brik and Gidabook taught me about designing around the workflow people already trust. · 8 August 2026

• AI and African businessI tested five ideas and closed every one. That was the result

  What a closed research programme taught me about defining failure before an AI pilot starts. · 1 August 2026

• Building in the real marketPrivacy in Lagos is the person holding your phone. What building Camora taught me

  The assumption that price-sensitive markets do not care about privacy gets the threat model exactly backwards. Notes from shipping a privacy-first app. · 24 July 2026

• The bigger buildThe AI conversation Nigeria isn't having: workforce readiness

  Everyone is debating whether AI takes jobs. Almost nobody is preparing the people who will work alongside it. · 18 July 2026

• AI and African businessWhy "just use ChatGPT" is bad advice for your company

  The gap between an individual using AI and an organisation using AI, from someone who builds with it daily. · 15 July 2026

• AI and African businessYour business doesn't need an AI strategy. It needs answers to five questions

  Five questions that do more for AI adoption than any strategy document, drawn from advisory work with businesses across Nigeria. · 11 July 2026

• Building in the real marketThe invoice is a WhatsApp message

  What building Brik taught me about the gap between how business is supposed to work and how it actually works in Nigeria. · 6 July 2026