Custom software development
Systems designed around the way your organisation actually works, not the other way round. Web platforms, internal tools, portals and mobile apps.
Taking on new projects for this quarter
We build the software that runs Zimbabwean business.
Custom systems, ERP, CRM and point of sale. AI that earns its keep. Workflows that stop eating your week. Security that holds. We design, build and support it all ourselves, from Harare.
10products in the Dataforge family
14days from discovery to written proposal
24hour monitoring on managed clients
100percent of code owned by the client
Scroll
What we do
Nine ways we get organisations unstuck
Most of our clients arrive with the same sentence: the system we have is holding us back. Here is how that usually gets fixed.
ERP design and implementation
One connected picture of stock, sales, purchasing, finance and people, with multi currency and branch consolidation handled properly.
CRM and customer platforms
Every customer, conversation and deal in one place, wired into WhatsApp and email so nothing falls through the cracks.
Point of sale and retail
Tills that keep selling when the internet and the power do not. Fiscalisation, mobile money, stock and shrinkage reporting across every branch.
AI strategy and implementation
Chosen for a real problem and measured after launch. Customer assistants, document understanding, forecasting and staff copilots on your own data.
Cybersecurity
Find the holes before somebody else does. Assessments, penetration testing, hardening, tested backups, staff training and incident response.
IT transformation
A costed roadmap your board can act on, with sequencing, risk and change management. Then we implement it with you, phase by phase.
Cloud and infrastructure
Migration, hybrid design, networking, monitoring, backup and disaster recovery, plus power resilience for the systems that cannot go down.
Consulting and advisory
Straight answers before you commit budget. Systems selection, vendor review, architecture, and second opinions on projects that have stalled.
IT transformation
Most technology projects fail on the plan, not the code.
We start by understanding the business, then produce a technology roadmap that a board can actually approve: what changes, in what order, what it costs, what it risks, and who has to be brought along.
- An honest assessment of what you run today, including the parts nobody wants to discuss
- A costed and sequenced roadmap, not a slide deck of buzzwords
- Legacy systems retired in a safe order, with a rollback at every step
- Change management and training so the organisation moves with the technology
- Skills left behind inside your own team
Strategy workshop
Our own products
Ten systems already built for this market
When something we have already built fits, you get there faster and cheaper than starting from a blank page. Every one of these is configured to you.
Flagship product
Ruzivo Educore
The school management system built for Zimbabwe, from ECD and primary through secondary to colleges, on the ZIMSEC or Cambridge curriculum. Admissions, attendance, a real time markbook, report cards and position in form, fees through Paynow, parent and student portals, and a built in AI assistant. It keeps working offline through load shedding and syncs when the connection returns.
Enterprise resource planning
Forge ERP
Finance, stock, purchasing, sales and production in one multi currency system, with USD and ZWG side by side, landed cost on imports and a month end that closes on time.
Learn more →
Retail and hospitality
Tengai POS
Offline first point of sale for shops, supermarkets, pharmacies, bars and restaurants. Keeps trading with no internet, then syncs. Fiscalisation, EcoCash, InnBucks and Paynow.
Learn more →
Artificial intelligence
Vhura AI Desk
An AI assistant for your customers on WhatsApp, your website and email, grounded in your own catalogue and pricing so it answers accurately and hands over cleanly.
Learn more →
Why Dataforge
Five things our clients say made the difference
Built for Zimbabwean conditions
Multi currency by default. ZIMRA fiscalisation handled properly. EcoCash and Paynow where money moves. Systems that keep working through a power cut or a dead link and sync when the connection returns.
You own what we build
Source code, data and documentation belong to you. We will host it or hand it to your own team. No lock in, and no holding your data hostage at renewal time.
Fixed scope, fixed price, honest timelines
Every engagement starts with a discovery that produces a written scope and a number. If we think a project is a bad idea, we will say so before you spend money on it.
We stay after go live
Most failed systems in this market failed after installation, not during it. Support, training and continuous improvement are written into the contract, not sold to you later.
Security is not an afterthought
Every system we ship is reviewed against the Cyber and Data Protection Act and hardened before it touches production. We would rather find the problem ourselves than read about it in the news.
How a project runs
No mystery, no surprises at the invoice
You will always know what is happening, what it costs and what comes next. The first conversation and the discovery workshop cost you nothing.
Discover
We sit with the people who do the work, map how things run today, and agree what success looks like in numbers. You leave with a written scope and a price.
Design
Screens, data model and integrations are designed and signed off before code is written, so nothing surprises you halfway through.
Build
We deliver in short cycles. You see working software regularly and steer it, rather than waiting months for a reveal.
Deploy
Data migration, training, a parallel run where it matters, and a go live plan with a rollback. We are on site for the first days.
Support and improve
Agreed response times, monitoring, and a quarterly review of what to improve next.
Harare, Zimbabwe
Who we work with
From a single shop to a group with branches in five towns
The problems change with the sector, but the pattern rarely does: too much manual work, numbers nobody trusts, and systems that do not talk to each other.
Retail, wholesale and distribution
Manufacturing and agro processing
Schools, colleges and training
Banking, microfinance and insurance
Mining and construction
Health, clinics and pharmacies
Transport, logistics and fleet
NGOs, churches and development partners
Professional services and government
Questions we get asked
The honest answers
How much does a system cost?
It depends entirely on scope, and we will not pretend otherwise. A focused automation or a single branch point of sale is a modest project. A group wide ERP is a programme. We run a short discovery, then quote a fixed price in writing before you commit to anything.
How long does a project take?
Small systems go live in four to eight weeks. Mid sized ERP, point of sale rollouts and school deployments usually run three to five months. We deliver in phases, so you get something useful in production well before the whole programme is finished.
Will it work during load shedding or when the internet drops?
Yes, and we design for it from the start. Our point of sale, school and field systems keep working offline, queue their work safely on the device, and sync automatically when the connection returns.
Do we own the software and the data?
Yes. Source code, data and documentation belong to you. We will host the system for you or hand it over to your own team, whichever suits you.
Do you support systems you did not build?
Yes. We take over existing systems, stabilise them and support them, and we are often brought in as a second opinion on projects that have stalled.
Do you work outside Zimbabwe?
Yes. We serve clients across the region and work remotely with organisations further afield, with on site visits where a project needs them.
Worth reading
Practical notes for people who run systems
One email when we have something genuinely useful: a security warning worth acting on, a change in fiscal rules, or a pattern we keep seeing go wrong. No campaigns, and you can leave at any time.
Tell us what is not working.
One conversation, no charge, no obligation. If we are not the right people for it, we will tell you who is.