Writing & Essays

Why Africa Needs a Single Property & Payments Rail

Nov 30, 2025 SlasProp+SlasPay

Most countries treat property and payments as two separate universes. One lives in dusty land registries and paper files. The other lives in bank systems, mobile money and a maze of cross-border rules. For African markets, that split is a huge drag on growth.

This is the core bet behind SlasProp+SlasPay: land, housing and money flows should sit on the same digital rails. Not as a fancy brochure site – but as underlying infrastructure used by governments, banks, developers and buyers.

The current reality

In many African markets, a single property transaction can involve:

• Fragmented land records across ministries, local governments and physical archives
• Manual title verification dependent on “who you know” instead of what the data says
• Cross-border buyers trying to send funds into a system that doesn’t “see” the asset clearly

The result: slow deals, high risk and an invisible ceiling on how much capital can realistically flow into housing.

What a unified rail looks like

A modern system should do three things well:

1. Map the land and assets – with GIS and digital parcel maps, not sketchy plans.
2. Digitize ownership and transactions – so every change of hands leaves a secure trail.
3. Connect to trusted payments – so funds move in sync with verified property states.

When those three layers talk to each other, housing finance becomes less about “trust me” and more about verifiable data.

Enter SlasProp+SlasPay

SlasProp focuses on the asset side – listings, land records, due diligence and GIS-backed verification. SlasPay focuses on the money side – cross-border flows, local settlement and compliant rails that banks and regulators can live with.

Together they aim to:

• Give governments better visibility into land, transactions and revenue
• Give banks cleaner data to underwrite mortgages and project finance
• Give developers and agents faster, safer ways to close deals
• Give buyers (local and diaspora) a clearer path from “I’m interested” to “I own it”

Why now?

Cloud infrastructure is mature, blockchain rails are no longer experimental and regulators increasingly want tools – not just policy papers – to unlock housing supply and formalise land markets.

My role in the experiment

With a background in GIS, telecoms and market analytics, I’ve spent years watching how infrastructure changes behaviour: when you map things properly, money flows differently. SlasProp+SlasPay is my attempt to turn that observation into a real product and a real infrastructure layer.

If any of this resonates – whether you’re in government, banking or proptech – reach out. This rail only works if it’s built with the people who will actually run trains on it.

From Maps to Money: How GIS Can Reshape Housing Finance

Nov 18, 2025 GIS & Housing

Most conversations about housing finance start with interest rates, collateral rules and credit scoring. Those are important, but they sit on top of a more basic question: Do we actually know what exists on the ground?

In many emerging markets, the answer is “sort of”. There are pockets of digital cadastral data, siloed government systems and a lot of information trapped in paper and human memory. That’s where Geographical Information Systems (GIS) come in.

GIS as the missing layer

At its core, GIS ties data to location. Once you do that, interesting things become possible:

• Overlay land parcels with demographic and income data
• See where infrastructure investment has (or hasn’t) reached
• Identify corridors where housing demand is high but formal supply is low

That’s not just “nice mapping”. It’s the foundation for smarter allocation of scarce housing capital.

From coverage maps to credit maps

In telecoms, we used GIS to find coverage gaps, optimise rollout and design better retail footprints. The same logic applies to housing:

• Banks can use GIS to see where to pilot new mortgage products
• Governments can target subsidies and infrastructure where real demand exists
• Developers can de-risk projects by understanding their catchment areas properly

Why this matters for SlasProp+SlasPay

SlasProp is being designed as a GIS-aware platform from day one. Parcels are not just rows in a database; they are spatial objects with relationships to roads, utilities, economic centres and risk layers.

When that spatial layer connects to SlasPay, you don’t just move money – you move money with context:

• A bank funds a parcel in a mapped ecosystem, not just “Plot 21, Block 4”.
• A regulator approves schemes with clear visibility of supporting infrastructure.

The long-term vision is simple: combine GIS, proptech and fintech into a single decision layer for housing. Governments get better policy levers, banks get cleaner risk data and citizens get a clearer path into formal housing.

Exploring the Transformative Potential of GIS and Blockchain for Land Management in Developing Countries

Mar 10, 2023 GIS & Proptech

The world has come a long way since the time when land ownership was determined by simple physical markers. In today’s digital age, land management is a complex process that depends on accurate, up-to-date information. This is where Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and blockchain technology collide.

GIS makes it possible to create detailed maps that clarify boundaries, resources, topography and infrastructure. Combined with a centralized, queryable database, GIS helps governments and institutions monitor changes in land use and ownership over time, spot irregularities and resolve disputes more efficiently.

Blockchain, meanwhile, brings a secure, tamper-resistant ledger for recording ownership and transaction history. Smart contracts can automate key steps in land transactions, reducing delays and the need for costly intermediaries – a big deal where land registries are outdated or fragmented.

Together, GIS and blockchain have the potential to:

• Increase transparency in land markets
• Reduce fraud and double-selling of land
• Improve trust between citizens, institutions and investors
• Lower friction in cross-border or multi-party transactions

Pilot initiatives in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and India are already testing these ideas, using detailed spatial mapping plus blockchain-based registries to modernise land records and improve service delivery.

For developing countries – particularly across Africa – these combinations are not just “nice technology”. They are a foundation for fairer, more investable land systems that can support housing, infrastructure and economic growth.

IT Career Development and Job Satisfaction: A Journey Worth Taking

Mar 03, 2023 Careers & Growth

As technology becomes more deeply woven into every part of life, demand for IT talent keeps rising. That doesn’t automatically translate into fulfilment, though. Career satisfaction in IT depends on how intentionally you develop your skills, shape your path and manage your own growth.

Some of the most effective levers for building a fulfilling IT career include:

• Specialising with intent. Depth wins in a crowded market. Whether in cybersecurity, data science, DevOps or another niche, focus builds signal.
• Staying current. Conferences, meetups, research papers and practitioner blogs keep your skills market-relevant.
• Investing in your network. A strong professional network surfaces new roles, collaborations and learning opportunities you won’t find on job boards.
• Taking on stretch work. Hard projects, leadership opportunities and new domains are what actually grow your capability.
• Continuous learning. Certifications, structured courses and deliberate practice help translate curiosity into demonstrable competence.

Mentorship, self-belief and alignment with your values matter just as much as technical depth. Roles in software engineering or data science, for example, can be highly rewarding when they blend complex problem-solving with environments that allow people to grow, lead and have tangible impact.

The core idea: treat your IT career as a long-term project. Design it, don’t drift through it – the satisfaction curve is much higher that way.

Geospatial Analysis and AI: The Intersection of Two Emerging Technologies

Feb 20, 2023 GIS & AI

Geospatial analysis and artificial intelligence are powerful on their own. Combined, they create something bigger than the sum of their parts: systems that understand not just “what” and “when”, but also “where” and “why here?”.

Geospatial analysis uses location data to understand patterns in the real world – from infrastructure and demographics to environmental change. AI uses algorithms and machine learning to detect patterns, make predictions and automate decisions across massive datasets.

Together, they unlock applications such as:

• Precision agriculture. Satellite and drone imagery plus AI models help optimise inputs, predict yields and detect disease at field level.
• Transportation and logistics. Real-time traffic data and network maps feed optimisation engines for routing, fleet management and congestion reduction.
• Public health. Spatial models track and predict the spread of disease, guiding more targeted interventions and resource allocation.

As sensing, connectivity and compute become cheaper, geospatial–AI systems will underpin a growing share of decisions in sectors from finance and insurance to housing and urban planning.

Exploring the Rise of Technology Startups: A Global Overview

Feb 15, 2023 Startups & Ecosystems

Technology startups are now part of the economic core in every major region. What varies is the maturity of ecosystems, the availability of capital and the kinds of problems founders choose to attack.

North America – and Silicon Valley in particular – remains a reference point for scale, capital depth and the density of experienced founders. Europe has built strong hubs in London, Berlin, Paris and beyond, often with sharper focus on fintech, deep tech and regulated industries.

Asia’s startup story has been defined by rapid scale in markets like China, India and South Korea – supported by large domestic markets, targeted government programmes and maturing capital pools. The Middle East has begun to lean into technology as part of economic diversification, while Africa is emerging as a frontier where mobile, fintech and infrastructure startups are building around very real constraints.

The common pattern: when capital, talent, supportive policy and real market pain line up, startups stop being “side stories” and become central infrastructure.

The Widespread Uses of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Across Industries

Jan 29, 2023 GIS & Applications

GIS has quietly become part of the backbone of modern decision-making. Any sector that cares about “where things are” and “how they relate in space” now has a geospatial component.

In telecommunications, GIS supports network planning, optimisation and fault management. In finance, it’s used for risk assessment, branch and ATM placement and understanding economic patterns at neighbourhood level.

Healthcare uses GIS to track disease outbreaks, understand access to services and plan interventions. Property and asset managers use it to monitor portfolios, occupancy and maintenance. Government agencies rely on GIS for emergency management, environmental planning, transportation networks and much more.

As data volumes grow and the world gets more complex, spatial context stops being optional and becomes a standard layer in how organisations see reality.