Belle Plaine, Minnesota — Building across the Americas & Africa

Hi, I'm Gratien Asimbahwe.

Software engineer and founder of KAKEL ENTERPRISES LLC. I build mobile, web, and fintech products that connect communities from the United States to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, and beyond.

Explore my ventures Get in touch

10+years shipping software
8active ventures under KAKEL
3continents served

About

Engineer first. Operator by necessity.

I've spent the last decade writing code for mobile and web — from small Android utilities to production systems serving tens of thousands of users. Today I split my time between hands-on engineering and running KAKEL ENTERPRISES, the holding company I founded to back the products and platforms I believe in.

My focus is simple: make quality technology accessible to people who have historically been served last. That conviction took me from building Android apps in my spare time to running a Pan-African news outlet, a fintech licensed in eight countries, and an e-commerce store that ships globally.

I work primarily in Kotlin, Java, Dart/Flutter, TypeScript and Node.js, and I lean heavily on AWS for the infrastructure that holds it all together.

Experience

Where I've built.

May 2025Present

Best Buy

Software Engineering Consultant · Contract

Software engineering consulting on enterprise mobile and web platforms for one of North America's largest electronics retailers.
2019Present

KAKEL ENTERPRISES LLC

Founder & CEO

A diversified holding company spanning fintech, media, e-commerce, software, and agriculture across North America and Africa.
Sep 2017Present

LE JOURNAL.AFRICA

Owner · Self-employed

A private newsroom that gathers information about Africa in real time from a curated set of trusted local and international media.
May 2025Apr 2026

Bleachr LLC

Software Engineering Consultant · Contract

Continued with Bleachr as a consultant after the full-time tenure, supporting strategic engineering initiatives through wind-down.
Mar 2019Oct 2025

Bleachr LLC

Mobile Software Developer · Full-time

Built native and cross-platform mobile experiences for live sports and entertainment audiences. Kotlin, Android Jetpack, MVVM, Coroutines, Dagger.
Nov 2021May 2025

Citizens

Software Engineering Consultant · Contract

Software engineering on enterprise platforms inside a regulated US banking environment — feature and platform work shipped under strict review and compliance gates.
Nov 2021Apr 2022

JPMorganChase

Software Engineer · Contract

Six-month engagement on financial-services platforms — engineering work inside one of the world's largest banks.
Jun 2017Mar 2019

AFRIREGISTER LTD

Developer

Built domain registration and registry-adjacent tooling for the African market. Bujumbura, Burundi.
Jun 2015Dec 2018

CubeMEDIA

CEO

Early-stage media venture in Bujumbura — my first taste of running a company while still writing the code.

Education & certifications

Where I've studied.

Degrees

2025

Stevens Institute of Technology

Master's degree, Computer Science

System development, programming, and applied software engineering.
2013 – 2016

Université Lumière de Bujumbura

Bachelor's degree, Computer Science

Foundations in system development and application deployment.

Certifications

2024

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Tutorialspoint · TP-G9R7N96B

Project management, risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis.
2023

Corporate Finance — Professional Certificate

Columbia Business School

Capital structure, valuation, and financial decision-making.
2023

Risk & Return — Verified Certificate

edX

Portfolio theory, risk measurement, and return decomposition.

Ventures

The KAKEL portfolio.

Eight businesses, one thesis: bridge the technology gap between North America and Africa.

Fintech

Pesanet, Inc.

Digital payments, cross-border transfers, P2P lending, and virtual banking. FinCEN-registered, NMLS-licensed, serving 50,000+ users across 8 countries.

Media