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Abel is the founder and CEO of Kocela, a Kenyan company specialising in mobile solutions.

The company’s open-concept space has all the typical characteristics of a startup: colourful post-it notes displayed along the wall, coffee and tea available all day, and a team of 14 bright minds, all under 30 years.

As a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Abel had intended to work in computer repairs and maintenance, but in 2011, he attended a workshop on smartphone app development and was immediately hooked.

“I decided to abandon computer maintenance and instead focus on software development,” he says.

Two years later, he founded Kocela.

Photo courtesy of Neil Palmer.