Topic cluster
Technology, explained.
Plain-language explainers of the technologies real African businesses actually encounter. What things are, how they work, what they're worth, and what to do about them — without engineering vocabulary.
Start here · The pillar piece
What "the cloud" actually is, explained for business owners
No jargon, no diagrams with lightning bolts. What the cloud really is, what you are actually paying for when you pay for it, and the three questions to ask before you move anything into it.
Technology · 9 min · 14 May 2026
Read the pillar →More in this cluster
- 05 Jun 2026Technology · 9 min
Buy, rent, or build? Choosing software for your business
Every business eventually faces it: use an off-the-shelf product, pay monthly for a service, or build something custom. Pick wrong and you waste money or trap yourself. A clear framework for the most expensive recurring decision you make.
- 02 Jun 2026Technology · 9 min
What a website actually costs — and why quotes vary 10×
One developer quotes 300,000 shillings, another quotes three million, for "the same website." Neither is lying. Here is what you are actually paying for, why the range is so wide, and how to brief it so the quotes finally make sense.
- 27 May 2026Technology · 8 min
Domains, hosting, and email — the three things every business confuses
They sound like one thing your developer "sorts out." They are three separate things, you should own all three, and confusing them is how businesses lose their website and email to a freelancer they fell out with. Untangled, in plain language.
- 19 May 2026Technology · 8 min
What an API actually is, explained without code
Developers say "we'll connect to their API" as if everyone knows what that means. Here is the plain-language version, using a restaurant, that will let you follow any technical conversation about connecting your systems.
- 16 May 2026Technology · 9 min
Cybersecurity basics for a business with no IT department
You do not need a security team or expensive software. Almost every breach of a small business comes through the same handful of doors. Here is how to lock them — in plain language, this week.
Other topic clusters
AI for business
AI for African business
Practical AI adoption for African SMEs, founders and operators — the version of the AI-for-business answer that does not assume Silicon Valley conditions.
Explore →Systems
Systems & documentation
Systems thinking for founders and teams — decision logs, documentation defaults, the four-document rule, and the long compounding effect of writing things down.
Explore →African tech
African technology
Tanzania and East Africa specifically — what technology actually looks like on the ground, and why generic Western tech advice often fails here.
Explore →Founder
Founder discipline
The long game — habits, weekly reviews, building in public, saying no, and the slow work of building a calm, profitable African technology company.
Explore →