Mesongo Sibuti
Mesongo Sibuti is a Kenyan software architect and entrepreneur, co-founder and CTO of MarketForce and, since 2022, conversational-commerce startup Chpter. A 2015 BSc Computer Science graduate of the University of Nairobi, he started out building credit-scoring engines before teaming up with classmate Tesh Mbaabu to digitise informal retail across Africa.
At MarketForce, launched in 2018, Sibuti created the RejaReja ordering and last-mile stack that scaled to 270 000 shops in five countries and drew a record US $40 million Series A round in 2022. He later led a 2023-24 turnaround that trimmed loss-making routes and concentrated operations on Kenya and Uganda, cutting delivery costs by 28%.
Sensing rising social-commerce demand, Sibuti co-built Chpter, a tool that lets merchants sell, collect payments and fulfil orders inside WhatsApp and Instagram. The venture raised US $1.2 million pre-seed in September 2024 and now supports brands in Kenya and South Africa, where he heads product and engineering.
He mentors engineers through Andela, invests via Decagon Ventures, and sits on Kenya’s manufacturers digitisation task-force. Talks at Harvard Business School and Slush showcase his lessons on scaling African tech. He is now opening Chpter’s APIs to banks and FMCG distributors while prototyping AI assistants that help shopkeepers run smarter businesses.