Notes from a studio that ships.
Guides for buyers evaluating Ethiopian software companies, engineering notes from real constraints, and the arithmetic behind what a team costs — including the parts that argue against hiring us.
Top software development companies in Ethiopia (2026)
A criteria-based ranking compiled in Addis Ababa — with competitors described honestly, our own limitations named, and a methodology you can check yourself.
How to choose a software development company in Ethiopia
A seven-point rubric, the red flags we have learned to watch for, and an honest scoring of ourselves against it — including where we lose.
What a four-person team in Addis actually costs
Everyone quotes an hourly rate. Nobody quotes the overhead, the ramp-up, or the month you lose to a bad hire. Here is the full arithmetic of our own engagements.
Worried outsourcing means lower quality? Here is what we do instead of promising
Quality is a process artefact, not a personality trait. The five things we put in every engagement so you can check it rather than hope for it.
The most overrated thing in software: a big in-house IT team
Headcount feels like control. Often it is just fixed cost with a slower feedback loop attached — and the wrong shape for work that comes in waves.
Your mission is to experiment, not to exhaust your runway
Half of startups do not reach five years, and running out of cash is the most common cause. A month-long build is a hedge against that, not a compromise.
Designing for a 3G afternoon
Bandwidth in Addis is not a constraint you handle once. Building Ahoon Studies for university students changed how we treat media, forms and first paint on every project since.
Will Ethiopia be part of the AI wave?
One of the world's youngest populations, more than 43 million mobile internet users, and a digital economy projected to add ETB 1.3 trillion to GDP by 2028. The constraint is not talent.