Lafont Innovation LLC

Thank you for this opportunity, Tara! Lafont Innovations LLC is a company registered in the Republic of Kenya and focuses on providing Software, Website, and Mobile Application based solutions to individuals and companies. Further, as a company, we generate ideas that need to be developed into working innovations that can be commercialized or licensed to third-parties.

Lafont Innovations LLC is a medium-sized company; thus, the level of interaction among colleagues is relatively high regardless of our distinct roles. Besides reviewing or drafting documents, developing concepts, and walking through clients or prospects on how we work, I take great concern towards developing useful research and development of the projects that we are assigned to provide a client the best experience when the prototyping commences through UI/UX design.

It might interest you to note that my story is similar to what you have heard before but with a twist. I trace my interest in computers and software-based solutions when my dad allowed me to use his office computer in 2000 or 2001. Progressively, with inconsistent breaks, I kept on trying to learn a few tricks – software and hardware-based. However, for some reason, I did not go-ahead to pursue a career within those lines.

In 2012, I enrolled for a Bachelor of Laws degree at Mount Kenya University School of Law, which I accomplished and joined the Kenya School of Law, where I attained a Post Graduate Diploma in Law. As a result, I was admitted to the Bar as an Attorney of the High Court of Kenya.

While at Law School, I still tried doing a few tasks within website development and learning more about system security. In the year 2017, while I was undertaking my Pupillage Program, a statutory requirement, I registered Lafont Innovations Limited, which was dormant until late 2018 when I officially got a team to work with on possible projects.

I manage both Lafont Innovations Limited and Ong’anya Ombo Advocates, where I am a Partner and co-founder. Lafont Innovations Limited collaborates with the Law Firm, whereby the Client through Lafont Innovations Limited can get complimentary services that will help a client reduce costs.

Initially, the purpose of the company was to focus on developing its products and commercialize through licensing since we have our ideas that we are working on; however, since we noticed a gap in quality to price services as compared to the typical price to quality, we decided to venture into offering the services we are offering at the moment.

We tend to focus on setting impeccable standards for the services we offer and understanding the team; thus, we are an in-house team. The only instance we might engage a third-party is when we want to do an independent Quality Assurance.

Further, we are very sensitive on matters touching Intellectual Property since most of our Client would like to have access to the source codes and register the final output as copyright and, in unique circumstances, as a patent or utility model. Owing to that fact, we focus on ensuring that the production meets all those statuses save for codes that might be open-source or licensed from third-parties.

Businesses are taking different dimensions that require more than talent; further, the modern-day Client or Prospect has a different approach on how they need to be served. In that regard, we focus on allowing the Client to exhaustively express what s/he needs by making the conversation more client-focused.

A deep Client-focused conversation enables an understanding of what the client needs and how such a Client must be engaged. In doing so, we avoid making assumptions of what the Client needs instead, we provide what exactly the Client has been envisioning, and that can be scalable.

We focus on eCommerce, eSports, Education, Insurance, FinTech, Media & Entertainment, SaaS Solutions, Medical & Healthcare while incorporating various technologies. Also, we provide Quality Assurance and Pentesting Services as well.
Our repetitive customers are more into upgrading or updating the product that we had already developed. I believe the relationship to be satisfactory at the delivery level and engagement as well.

We have noticed that most of the clients or prospects are interested in having eCommerce platforms developed. The eCommerce is either multivendor or someone who own shop. The other industries that are more promising are FinTech and eSports.

We adopt an approval model of service with active client input as the process goes on from point A-Z. In doing so, we enable the Client to confirm whether what is in place is what s/he is looking forward to. However, there is a grey line as to how this model works so that as a service provider, one has to consider a Client’s interest and what is viable to the target market. Besides developing the product, we focus on creating a product that enables a Client to have a chance to compete or penetrate the market swiftly.

To do this, we heavily focus on Research & Development, which we share with the Client to enable the Client to understand the dynamics of what is about to be developed. Once we have an understanding, we pick what will and will not be considered before creating the user interface and experience design.
If the above is achievable, the rest will be relatively easy to tackle since the meeting of minds already happened before developing the user interface and experience design.

We have three models of support:
a)    Value-Added Services: transfer of knowledge to the Client's team. It is always essential for the Client to understand the product and also be able to manage it most of the time.
b)    3- or 6-months post-service support: we offer a free limited post-development maintenance service as the Client organizes a team to take over. This service is provided immediately upon completing the development, and the Client approves the product.
c)    Paid maintenance: after 3- or 6-months, the Client can secure our retainer to maintain the product.

We provide a Fixed Fee for the Service, which is then paid per milestone. Our Research & Development and UI/UX Design fee is paid in a lump sum while the development costs are paid in per milestones ratio 60:20:20.

Our minimum budget for Research & Development and UI/UX Design is US$ 2,500, exclusive of VAT, while the minimum budget for development is US$ 6,000 exclusive of VAT.

The project feature determines whether we can take a project that falls within the minimum budget. We have at least two that we are yet to sign contracts based on the minimum budget mentioned above.

Other than the company's internal operations, we separate the R&D and UI/UX design; and Development billing is because some Clients would prefer us to handle their R&D and UI/UX Design and have another entity handle the development.

We have signed a contract with a minimum of US$ 8,500 and a maximum of US$ 41,000.

In 10 years, we will be focusing on curated solutions whereby we develop our products, commercialize them for a given period through subsidiaries and sell them to Venture Capitalists or companies that would like to scale them up further.
We already have some ideas we are looking into, some already being worked on by our team.