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A digital studio built on doing the work ourselves

The Baobab Collective is a Nairobi-based design and software studio. We handle websites, desktop applications, and brand identities from strategy to launch. No outsourcing, no middlemen, no surprises.

Work with Us
FOUNDED
2021
Nairobi, Kenya
DELIVERED
130+
projects and deliverables
PRODUCTS
1
commercial desktop app shipped
APPROACH
100%
built in-house, never outsourced
Our Story

Fifteen years of practice. Five years as a studio.

Most Kenyan businesses end up with a designer for their logo, a different freelancer for their website, an agency for their campaigns, and no one who actually owns the result.

We started Baobab Collective to be the studio that does. Your brand, your website, and your campaigns, coming from the same team.

2010
Started building websites in Nairobi
2021
Baobab Collective Ltd founded
2023
First desktop app in development
2026
ChatXport ships, 130+ deliverables
The person behind it
Fat-hi, founder of The Baobab Collective
Fat-hi · Nairobi

Fat-hi

Founder · Creative Director · Lead Developer

Fat-hi founded Baobab Collective in 2021. The studio has shipped 130+ brand and web projects for Kenyan businesses, and builds its own software — including ChatXport, a privacy-first WhatsApp export viewer on the Microsoft Store.

Before Baobab, he spent a decade moving between design and development. Creative Director at a Canadian talent agency. Lead Designer at a Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company, where he produced two consecutive annual reports recognised at the FiRe Awards.

He leads every engagement personally. Based in Nairobi, open to international work when the fit is right.

15yrs
In practiceDesign and development since 2010
2×
FiRe Award-recognised reportsFor a Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company
1app
ChatXport on Microsoft StoreTauri v2 + Rust desktop app
130+
Deliverables shippedWebsites, brands, reports, campaigns
SELECTED WORK

A few projects we are proud of

Three from the portfolio that show what the studio actually ships. Full case studies and the rest of the work live on the work page.

See all 7 case studies →
OUR PRODUCTS

We build software, not just websites.

ChatXport is our first commercial product, currently live on the Microsoft Store. It is a privacy-first desktop tool for analysing exported WhatsApp archives, built for lawyers, HR teams, and journalists who need to work with chat evidence offline.

Building our own software keeps the practice honest. It forces us to ship, to support real users, and to own every technical decision. The lessons feed back into the client work we do.

ChatXport

Live on the Microsoft Store

Tauri v2 + Rust

Native desktop, not a web wrapper

100% offline

Files never leave the user's machine

1 shipped, 1 in development

PesaLens is up next

ChatXport product screenshot

What we believe in

Not corporate values on a wall. The decisions we make every day.

Privacy is not a feature

Our desktop apps work offline. We do not collect data. Your data stays on your machine.

Built by hand, not drag-and-drop

Every project is hand-coded. When something breaks, we know exactly where to look.

Ship and support

Every client gets training, documentation, and ongoing support. We stand behind what we build.

Long-term clients

Most of our clients come back. That is the metric that matters most to us.

Our tech stack

HTML / CSS / JSReactTauri v2RustWordPressWebflowPHP / MySQLCloudflareFigmaAdobe Suite

Want to work with us?

Whether it is a website, a desktop app, or a brand refresh, we are ready.

Start a Project View Our Services