We are the team organisations call when the numbers have to hold up.
Founded in Harare and working across Africa, Datalyst Africa builds the analytics, AI agents and evidence base that boards, donors and regulators accept without argument. Ten years, 250+ projects, one accountable team.
It started with reports nobody trusted.
Our founders spent years inside programmes and businesses watching good money follow bad data — surveys with broken samples, dashboards nobody opened, evaluations written to please rather than to inform.
Datalyst Africa was built to fix exactly that. We combine rigorous research method with modern data engineering and, since 2023, production AI agents. The through-line has never changed: if a decision is going to rest on a number, that number has to survive scrutiny.
Today we run satisfaction studies for banks, evaluations for UN agencies and international NGOs, dashboards for hotel groups and universities, and AI agents that answer calls and chase invoices for companies who were drowning in admin.
Our vision
To be Africa’s most trusted source of decision-grade intelligence — the organisation whose numbers end the argument rather than start it.
Our mission
To turn data into intelligence, intelligence into action, and action into measurable impact for every client we serve.
Our standard
Every method documented, every limitation disclosed, every finding traceable to source. If it will not survive an audit, we do not ship it.
Six commitments we do not negotiate on
These are the reasons clients come back, and the reasons we occasionally lose work to firms willing to promise more.
We never white-label
Every model, dashboard, agent and report is built by our own team and delivered under our own name. No subcontracted strangers.
Your data stays yours
Contractual, not aspirational. Client data is never used to train public models and never leaves agreed infrastructure.
We disclose limitations
Every deliverable states its sample, its confidence and what it cannot tell you. Uncomfortable honesty beats a pleasant surprise later.
We recommend the cheaper option
If a spreadsheet solves it, we will say so. Long-term relationships pay better than oversold projects.
We hand over the keys
Documentation, training and admin access as standard. You should never be hostage to your vendor.
We meet the date
Timelines are agreed before kickoff and tracked weekly. If something slips, you hear it from us first.
Statisticians, engineers and evaluators — in one room.
Most firms give you either research credibility or technical capability. Our teams are deliberately mixed, which is why a satisfaction survey can arrive as a live dashboard, and an AI agent can arrive with a measurement framework attached.
- Senior statisticians and M&E specialists with OECD-DAC grounding
- Data engineers fluent in SQL, Python, Power BI and Tableau
- AI engineers deploying agents into live operations
- Enumerator networks across Zimbabwe and the wider region
- Sector leads in finance, development, education, health and hospitality
Head office and analytics lab
Countries where we have delivered fieldwork
AI agents ready to deploy
Typical response to a new enquiry
Trusted by institutions that check the method
UN agencies, development banks, international NGOs, universities, banks, telecoms and hospitality groups — organisations whose auditors read the annexes.
Four steps from first call to handover
Discovery call
Free, 30 minutes. We establish the decision you need to make and whether we are the right fit.
Written proposal
Scope, method, deliverables, timeline and a fixed price. No hourly surprises.
Delivery
Weekly progress contact, draft outputs for review, no silent stretches.
Handover
Final deliverables, documentation, training and 30 days of support included.
Most engagements start with a free 30-minute consultation. You will get a straight answer on feasibility, timeline and budget before anyone signs anything.
About Datalyst Africa
Talk to the team that will actually do the work.
No account managers relaying messages. On your first call you speak to the people who will build your dashboards, run your study or deploy your agents.
No obligation · Response within one business day · NDA on request