01
Origins
Bakone established
Bakone was formed first as a separate enterprise-development and implementation business, creating an early foundation of practical market-facing and stakeholder work.
Our Story · Founded 2017 · African-Owned
The meaning behind Mitaa
Built from the streets.
Designed for Africa's markets.
Mitaa means streets or neighbourhoods in Swahili. It reflects where our thinking began: with the local economies, informal enterprises and public-serving environments that conventional systems too often struggle to see.
“Buy Local First. Nunua Mitaa Kwanza.”
Read our journeyWhy Mitaa Exists
Africa's real economy has never lacked value. It has lacked visibility.
Mitaa began with a local-first conviction: the activity taking place in streets, neighbourhoods, townships and villages deserves better tools, stronger commercial pathways and greater recognition in the decisions that shape African markets.
Our early work across ICT services, school connectivity, community Wi-Fi and underserved markets exposed us to the realities of access, adoption, local coordination and delivery. It also led to a deeper question: what happens after people are connected?
That question shaped Mitaa's direction towards practical digital systems, structured data and Market Intelligence that help businesses, institutions and implementation partners understand and serve real markets more effectively.
Digitising trade is not only about technology. It is about making participation visible, useful and capable of creating better decisions.
Our Operating Foundation
“Motho ke motho ka batho.”
A person is a person through other people. Botho keeps Mitaa grounded in shared humanity, dignity and mutual progress. It shapes how we listen, design and deliver: understand the real context, build with people rather than around them, work with integrity and leave clients and communities with useful capability they can build on.
People firstIntegrityPractical innovationCollaboration
The Journey
From practical field exposure to a connected market-intelligence company.
02
2017
Mitaa founded
Mitaa was established as an independent local-first company around a simple belief: Africa's streets, neighbourhoods, townships, villages and informal markets deserve better tools, visibility and commercial pathways.
03
Foundation
Digital and commercial work
Early digital services and commercial assignments built experience in translating business needs into practical systems, proposals and market-facing tools.
04
Field
Community and school connectivity
Connectivity work in public-serving and underserved environments exposed Mitaa to the realities of access, trust, adoption, coordination and long-term operational support.
05
Platform
Mzunguko takes shape
The need for better informal-market visibility led to the development of Mzunguko as Mitaa's proprietary platform and future Market Intelligence layer.
06
Venture
Apex Hewa, trading as HEWA Connect
Formed after Mitaa as a separate 50/50 joint venture between Mitaa and Net & Tel, combining market and ecosystem strategy with specialist network capability.
07
Today
One connected portfolio
Mitaa now brings together digital products, business-launch support, commercial execution, Market Intelligence and programme implementation—allowing clients to solve an immediate need while building stronger long-term capability.
The Turning Point
Access creates possibility. Visibility creates intelligence.
Create practical access to people, services and opportunities.
Turn fragmented activity into usable profiles, workflows and records.
Translate ground-level participation into evidence and insight.
Use the intelligence to improve products, programmes and commercial decisions.
Mitaa Today
Six products. One route from foundation to intelligence.
The portfolio connects what clients often have to manage separately: identity, technology, commercial readiness, market evidence and programme delivery.
Mzunguko
Mitaa's proprietary flagship platform for informal-trade digitisation and Market Intelligence, currently in active development.
Digital Product Studio
Websites, apps, dashboards and practical digital workflows built around how organisations and users operate.
Commercial Enablement
Tender, proposal, pricing, BOQ, pitch and project-mobilisation support for live commercial opportunities.
Business Launch Studio
Business profiles, brand systems, websites and coordinated launch assets for market-ready ventures.
Market Intelligence
Research, mapping, field data, analysis and decision briefs that replace assumptions with evidence.
Programme Implementation & Impact Reporting
Mobilisation, stakeholder coordination, field delivery, milestone tracking and evidence-based reporting.
How We Work
Grounded enough to be practical. Ambitious enough to build forward.
Start with the real environment
We design around the people, devices, connectivity, institutions and operating conditions that actually exist.
Establish once. Build forward.
A profile, product, proposal or programme should become a reusable foundation—not a disconnected once-off output.
Build. Test. Learn. Scale.
We separate current capability, controlled pilots and future ambition so that growth is evidence-led and commercially responsible.
Connect delivery to intelligence
Every useful workflow should improve visibility, accountability or decision-making for the client and the people being served.
A Clear Ecosystem
Three stages. Clearly defined organisations.
Bakone was formed first. Mitaa followed in 2017 as an independent company. Apex Hewa, trading as HEWA Connect, was formed afterwards as a separate joint venture between Mitaa and Net & Tel. The organisations collaborate where relevant, but their ownership and roles remain distinct.
Bakone Business Solutions
An independent enterprise-development and stakeholder-alignment business, and a strategic implementation partner for selected market-facing initiatives.
Visit bakone.africa
Mitaa
Owns and develops Mzunguko and leads digital products, Market Intelligence, commercial solutions and programme implementation.
Apex Hewa, trading as HEWA Connect
A connectivity and managed-services venture co-owned equally by Mitaa and Net & Tel. Mitaa contributes market and ecosystem strategy; Net & Tel contributes specialist network capability.
Visit hewa.co.zaOwnership clarity: Mzunguko is proprietary to Mitaa. Apex Hewa, trading as HEWA Connect, is a separate 50/50 venture between Mitaa and Net & Tel. Bakone remains an independent strategic implementation partner.
Where We Are Going
Building Africa's local Market Intelligence layer—carefully.
Our ambition is to help make local economic activity more visible and useful to the people, businesses and institutions that participate in it. We are pursuing that ambition through phased product development, controlled pilots and evidence-led commercialisation.
Strengthen current capability
Deliver digital, commercial, launch, research and programme services that solve immediate client needs.
Advance Mzunguko
Validate trader registration, workflows, field adoption, data quality and partner use cases through controlled development.
Expand the intelligence layer
Develop future financial and geospatial concepts such as Watu / MitaaCash and Mwono only as validated market needs and partnerships justify them.
Our Direction
From local activity to practical intelligence.
Mitaa is building for African markets as they are—dynamic, distributed and full of value that better systems can help reveal.