By Evans Mutinda
Kenyan tech expert Brian Nyaga is turning his experience in real estate into a technology-driven solution aimed at making property management easier, faster and more efficient for landlords and tenants.
Based in Nairobi, Nyaga has spent much of 2026 in Sweden, where he says exposure to international technology markets has broadened his perspective and helped his work attract an international audience.
Nyaga, who specialises in cybersecurity and systems development, is the founder of Makao, a property management system designed to streamline interactions between landlords and tenants while simplifying the management of rental properties.
His journey into technology, however, was not planned.
“I didn’t want to do tech at all,” Nyaga says, explaining that his university ambitions were initially focused on business. His transition into technology began in 2021, when he started developing systems.
His entry into property technology was driven by both opportunity and personal experience.
Nyaga had already been involved in real estate through apartments in Imara Daima and Utawala. That experience exposed him to challenges faced by property owners and tenants, creating the need for a system that could simplify and streamline property management.
“That need is what brought me to make this solution,” he says.
Despite the growing adoption of technology, Nyaga says one of the biggest challenges facing innovators in Kenya is the slow transition from traditional systems to digital platforms.
He points to bureaucratic processes, documentation requirements and policies as some of the obstacles affecting technology adoption.
Nyaga also says landlords can be reluctant to completely abandon physical paperwork and move their operations online.
His experience in Sweden, he says, has highlighted the difference in attitudes towards technology and digital systems.
“There has to be a slight mindset shift,” he says, calling for policies that can reduce bureaucratic barriers and encourage greater adoption of technology a message to young innovators.
For young people looking to venture into technology and entrepreneurship, Nyaga’s message is simple: believe in the idea and pursue it.
He says many young innovators struggle with imposter syndrome, constantly comparing their ideas and abilities with those of others.
“Whatever you want to do is important,” he says, urging young people not to dismiss their ideas simply because they doubt themselves.
Nyaga’s own journey, he says, is proof that an idea that initially appears uncertain can grow into a viable business.
“I didn’t think I’d make it, but then it’s a full-on company right now,” he says.
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to pursue their ideas, believe in them and remain committed to developing them.
For Nyaga, what began as an unexpected journey into technology is increasingly becoming a business with ambitions beyond Kenya—using innovation to address everyday challenges in the property sector.
