FasterDev Automates Software Engineering to Accelerate African Digital Transformation
Co-founded by Hannington Mambo, the SaaS platform reduces costs and deployment timelines for SMEs across the continent.
Hannington Mambo is leveraging automation to bridge the digital divide for African businesses by simplifying how software is built and deployed. Through his venture, FasterDev, Mambo aims to remove the technical and financial barriers that often prevent small and medium enterprises from modernizing their operations.
FasterDev is a SaaS platform specifically designed to automate the repetitive and error-prone aspects of software engineering. Originally developed as an internal tool for Mambo Software, the platform evolved into a standalone service that helps businesses create essential digital infrastructure, including accounting systems, SME management software, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for schools and SACCOs. The venture was co-founded by Hannington and his brother, Lamek Mambo, and is currently led by CEO and angel investor Amadou Chico Sissoko.
The Gap in African Software
The drive to create FasterDev stemmed from a persistent gap in the market: African businesses often find themselves trapped between prohibitively expensive custom-built software and off-the-shelf solutions designed for Western markets that fail to meet local needs. Mambo, a self-taught programmer with a professional background in accounting and humanitarian operations—including experience at Save the Children—identified that the primary barrier to digital transformation was not a lack of talent, but rather the inherent complexity and inefficiency of the development process.
To scale this solution, Mambo utilized support from the Tony Elumelu Foundation. In 2018, he was selected for the foundation's Entrepreneurship Programme, which provided $5,000 in seed capital and critical mentorship to help transition the tool into a scalable platform capable of serving the wider continent.
Impact on the Digital Economy
By automating the engineering pipeline, FasterDev allows African SMEs to deploy locally relevant tools without the traditional overhead of high-cost development cycles. This shift reduces the regional dependency on imported software systems and encourages the growth of a self-sustaining digital economy. As Mambo notes, "Africa’s challenges are best solved by entrepreneurs building solutions for the continent."
Future Outlook
As FasterDev continues to scale under the leadership of Amadou Chico Sissoko, the platform's ability to lower the entry barrier for software creation could accelerate the adoption of ERPs and management tools across various sectors. The focus remains on reducing deployment timelines and costs, ensuring that digital transformation is accessible to businesses regardless of their size or technical expertise.