Product leader · Founder · Cape Town

Building technology that makes people better.

I shape the products, AI, and ways of working that let client services businesses scale, so their people deliver great service as they grow.

I'm David Luboya-Mushila, a product leader and founder. I lead product and AI at MakeReady Central, a US property-technology business. I also founded TeknaLabs, where we help people and organizations across South Africa use technology more effectively.

What I'm buildingGet in touch
David Luboya-Mushila

  • TIBA Top 10

    Tech Professionals nominee, 2024 & 2026

  • One Young World

    Delegate

  • UCT GSB

    Panel speaker, Gen Z and the future of work

  • TeknaLabs

    96% of learners report more digital confidence

Now · MakeReady Central

Designing technology that helps people deliver great service.

Leading product & AI

MakeReady Central is a client services business in US property, and the technology carries the operational weight so our people can give clients brilliant service. I lead product and AI, building the platform the company runs on, from a prototype to a live system serving more than 50 property companies. I also own the product vision: what we build, when, and why. Our core service, turning a unit around for a client, went from 21 days to 5.

How I work

Start with where we're going, then design everything to get there.

Technology should create opportunity, and make the people behind every business great at what they do. Good architecture is how that happens. I get very clear on where we're going, then design backwards from it, so the product, how people adopt it, the insight it creates, and the business model all fit as one system.

  1. 01The product

    Systems that scale, designed simply, so they feel obvious to the people using them.

  2. 02How people adopt it

    How teams take up technology and change how they work is designed in, not bolted on. In a people business, that's what really moves things, and it's the part most businesses forget.

  3. 03The insight it creates

    Turning operations into the data and insight that help leaders scale more efficiently, and decide more accurately.

  4. 04The business model

    Client services businesses are often marketplaces underneath: supply on one side, client demand on the other. Designing that model, and the product that makes it work, fascinates me.

Now · TeknaLabs

Opening up technology for young people.

Founder

I'm passionate about increasing people's capacity and capability with technology. At TeknaLabs we build AI and digital readiness across South Africa through workshops, hackathons, programmes, and tools like TeknaReady.

Try TeknaReady
“I picked up skills like using new software I didn't know before... It helped me feel ready for high school and life in general.”
Jenna Braaf, TeknaLabs learner
David working through an exercise with students on tablets

In the room

Workshops, hackathons, and programmes.

A few of the rooms we've worked in, with scholars, parents, and professionals.

  • David smiling with a TeknaLabs colleague at the AWS Skills Centre

    Digital literacy hackathon

    Hosting the hackathon that closed out a digital literacy programme.

  • David teaching a full classroom of parents and scholars

    Device onboarding

    Teaching better device use to scholarship parents and scholars.

  • David on stage leading a live vibe coding workshop for a full hall of scholars

    Live vibe coding

    A live AI workshop on vibe coding, for 200+ scholars.

  • David facilitating a hackathon table of students

    Building in teams

    Facilitating a hackathon as scholar teams build their ideas.

  • David speaking on a panel

    Talks and panels

    Gen Z and the future of work, UCT Graduate School of Business, hosted by SASLI, 2024.

  • David leading a practical workshop for professionals

    AI in the workplace

    A practical workshop for young professionals.

Swipe for more →

Story

Learning by building.

At 20, still studying, I joined the data team at a US market research firm serving Fortune 500 clients, building machine learning models. I'd taught myself data science to get there, and it's where I fell in love with building with it. My degree is in Information Systems, and in the five years since I've worked across data, machine learning, software, and AI, always in startups and scale-ups, often in the US.

Along the way I saw how tech-enabled businesses work when they're designed around people, and how they break when they aren't. I've developed a real taste for building those kinds of businesses.

I love solving, creating, and bringing clarity and good design to ambiguous problems. It's why venture building has always been a passion, and where I've learned to lead.

Data science Machine learning Software AI Product

  1. 2026 – now

    Product & AI · MakeReady Central

    Led change management and onboarded the internal team onto the new platform, alongside the product and AI work.

  2. 2024 – now

    Founder · TeknaLabs

    Took a digital readiness platform from discovery to MVP to pilot, and grew partnerships with schools and businesses.

  3. 2024 – 25

    Venture building

    Product and incubation roles across early-stage ventures, from first idea to go-to-market.

    Mpuma Power, AxisTrade, PropMatch
    • Mpuma Power · Head of Incubation

      Operating model and growth roadmap for a renewable energy venture.

    • AxisTrade · Head of Product

      A B2B mining marketplace with AI-enabled supplier matching.

    • PropMatch · Product Manager

      AI matching for property that cut lead churn by more than half.

  4. 2023 – 25

    Data Services & Systems · RepData

    Machine learning, ETL, and API integrations across 100+ survey pipelines for Fortune 500 research. I also led the team onto an AI data QA platform.

  5. Information Systems, University of Cape Town, on scholarship. One Young World delegate, and a TIBA Top 10 Tech Professionals nominee in 2024 and 2026.

Contact

Let's talk.

The fastest way to reach me is email. What's it about?

Or write to david@teknalabs.com directly. I'm also on LinkedIn, and the education work lives at TeknaLabs.