Mutethia “Tesh” Mbaabu
Mutethia “Tesh” Mbaabu is a Kenyan technology entrepreneur shaping informal retail across Africa. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Nairobi and, at 19, founded design agency TeshTeq, then launched travel-experience platform Cloud9xp, acquired by HotelOnline in 2020. In 2018 he and classmate Mesongo Sibuti started MarketForce to give neighborhood shops supermarket-level buying power. Their RejaReja app lets merchants in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Rwanda order inventory, access credit, and get same-day delivery. The network peaked at 270,000 users, securing a record US$40 million Series A in 2022.
Rising logistics costs drove a 2024 pivot: operations centered on Uganda, and a new routing engine cut delivery spend 30 percent. Mbaabu also spun out Chpter, an AI conversational-commerce tool for selling on WhatsApp and Instagram; it raised US$1.2 million in 2024 and now serves 5,000 brands across East and Southern Africa.
The only Kenyan in Forbes Africa 30 Under 30 Class of 2023, he is also a Choiseul 100 Africa laureate and Business Daily Top 40 Under 40 alumnus. Through Mesozi Ventures he backs early-stage founders, mentors at Norrsken Accelerator, and lives by the mantra “build big with purpose.” He is an avid motorcyclist and regularly documents his entrepreneurial journey on the YouTube channel ‘TeshTours.’