Tales the Gods Keep hardcover standing at an angle, showing the title, the subtitle and the author's name.
A crowd gathered around the Tribe exhibition stand during a demonstration.
Screenshot of the usetribeapp.com homepage showing the Tribe logo, the headline 'Your AI companion for money, work, and business' and a phone screen with a Tia conversation.
Emmanuel Cobbi standing beside a Tribe roll-up banner at a business exhibition.

Emmanuel Cobbi

I build useful things.And write about what moves us.

Software developer, designer, and author. Currently building Tribe at the intersection of AI, finance, and commerce.

Explore my work Let's talk

Currently building Tribe.

Emmanuel Cobbi — Cameroon

Emmanuel Cobbi photographed from the chest up in a black Tribe cap and a black shirt carrying the yellow Tribe mark.

About

I work where technology, creativity, and human behaviour meet.

My experience runs across software development, visual design, marketing, and writing. Different disciplines, one recurring question: how does a good idea become something people can actually use?

Today I am building Tribe as founder and software developer, and working as CTO, software developer, and writer at Bonteh Magazine. I also write fiction and essays about business, technology, wealth, responsibility, and the systems shaping everyday life.

I am Cameroonian, and I build for people whose everyday reality is closer to mine than to the assumptions most products are written for. That shows up in how I design: start from the constraint, then make the thing feel effortless.

Portrait of Emmanuel Cobbi wearing a black Tribe cap and a black shirt with the yellow Tribe mark.
  • Software
  • Product
  • Design
  • Writing
  • AI & automation

Based

Cameroon

Building

Tribe — AI, commerce and business tools

Working

Bonteh Magazine — CTO, software developer and writer

Also

Fiction, essays and teaching

Currently building

Currently building Tribe.

Helping people run business with less friction.

Tribe logo lockup: the yellow app icon beside the black tribe wordmark.

Founder / software developer

Tribe is an AI-powered platform bringing business tools, commerce, and payments into one connected experience, with Tia, an AI assistant, available through the web and WhatsApp.

The longer direction is an AI layer across finance and commerce: making everyday transactions and business operations easier to manage.

  • Business tools, connected

    Products and services, inventory, orders, payment links, invoices, receipts, and customer follow-ups sit in one place instead of five.

  • An assistant that acts

    Tia works through conversation: ask what needs attention, draft an invoice or a customer message, and follow the task through from chat.

  • Commerce and money alongside

    Payments, escrow-protected marketplace orders, and opt-in affiliate commissions live next to the rest of the business rather than in a separate app.

Screenshot of the usetribeapp.com homepage showing the Tribe logo, the headline 'Your AI companion for money, work, and business' and a phone screen with a Tia conversation.
The live Tribe site. Real screenshots of the product are used rather than mock-ups of features that do not exist.
Tribe mobile app interface design showing a vendor dashboard with total sales, orders, new customers, quick actions and recent orders.
Tribe app interface design — product design work, with placeholder figures.
Visit Tribe Inside the project

Selected work

Projects I have built, shaped, or written into.

Two things take most of my time now: Tribe, and the technology and editorial work behind Bonteh Magazine. Everything else here is real work from the years before.

Bonteh Magazine

CTO, Software Developer & Writer

I work across the technology and editorial sides of Bonteh Magazine, contributing to its digital platform and writing about the forces shaping business, technology, and society.

Visit the publication Inside the project
Screenshot of the Bonteh Magazine homepage showing the masthead, section navigation and the current lead story.

Tribe

Founder / Software Developer

An AI-powered platform for business tools, commerce, and payments, with Tia available on WhatsApp and the web. Tribe is the project I am building now.

Visit Tribe Inside the project
Screenshot of the usetribeapp.com homepage showing the Tribe logo, the headline 'Your AI companion for money, work, and business' and a phone screen with a Tia conversation.

AI Automation Blueprint

Creator and instructor

A course on putting AI to practical use in design, video, websites, apps, and automation — built for people who want to turn an idea into working output.

Earlier and archived work

Some of these sites are no longer online and their domains have expired. They are listed as real past work, without links that would send you somewhere unrelated.

  • InsideAfrika.store Remote graphic design and content creation for a Germany-based store; started 2022.
  • BOQER Technologies — Affiliate Lifestyle Client website development and digital campaigns. The original site is no longer online.
  • BOQER Technologies — PDV Leadex Client website development and digital campaigns. The original site is no longer online.
  • hopeforallcultures.org Past client website work. Domain no longer resolves; scope unconfirmed, so no link is offered.
  • ciase.se Past client website work. Domain no longer resolves; scope unconfirmed, so no link is offered.

Teaching

I also teach people how to turn ideas into practical work with AI.

The AI Automation Blueprint covers practical AI use in design, video, websites, apps, and automation. It is built for people who want to ship something rather than collect tools.

Ask about the course

Out in the field

Emmanuel Cobbi standing beside a Tribe roll-up banner at a business exhibition.
Emmanuel Cobbi talking with a visitor across a Tribe exhibitor table at an event.
Emmanuel Cobbi speaking into a microphone to a seated audience at an event.
Emmanuel Cobbi at the Tribe exhibition stand, showing branded bags and printed material on the table.
Emmanuel Cobbi standing in front of an event backdrop wearing an exhibitor badge.
A crowd gathered around the Tribe exhibition stand during a demonstration.

Writing

Essays about the systems shaping everyday life.

I write for Bonteh Magazine about business, technology, and policy — usually starting from something concrete happening in Cameroon or across Africa.

Is “Building for Africa” Becoming a Trap?

On local problems, purchasing power, and building a business that can survive.

Bonteh Magazine · by Emmanuel Cobbi

Waspito Is Winning Abroad. But Do Cameroonians Know What It Can Do?

A look at the gap between a product's achievements and its visibility at home.

Bonteh Magazine · by Emmanuel Cobbi

Africa’s Biggest Tech Problem May Not Be Innovation, but Distribution

Why building the product is only part of the challenge.

Bonteh Magazine · by Emmanuel Cobbi
See all published writing
Tales the Gods Keep hardcover standing at an angle, showing the title, the subtitle and the author's name.

Author

Some ideas become products.Others become stories.

Tales the Gods Keep

A Coming-of-Age Journey into Forbidden Realities of Money, Systems, and Power

A novel about power, hierarchy, and the ladders people climb — a coming-of-age story set against the realities of money, systems, and who gets to decide.

Ask about the book

No purchase link is published yet. Ask directly and I will point you to the right place.

Experience

A decade of building, designing, and writing.

  • Founder / Software Developer Tribe

    Building an AI-powered platform for business tools, commerce, and payments, with Tia on WhatsApp and the web.

    Present

  • CTO, Software Developer & Writer Bonteh Magazine

    Working across the publication's digital platform and its editorial output on business, technology, and policy.

    Present

  • Graphic Designer & Content Creator InsideAfrika.store, Germany — remote

    Digital marketing visuals and social content strategy, working with the development team to keep product pages visually consistent.

    Started 2022

  • Freelance Developer & Digital Marketer BOQER Technologies, Bamenda

    Website builds and redesigns, CMS work, SEO and paid campaigns, graphic design, tutoring, and AI-assisted marketing for client projects.

    Started 2020

  • Graphic Designer Luster Graphics, Bamenda

    Print and marketing design — brochures, banners, signage — plus product mockups and day-to-day client relationships, worked alongside full-time study.

    Jul 2016 – Oct 2020

  • Field Sales Representative MTN, Bafoussam

    Field sales, SIM registration, mobile money account support, customer assistance, and reporting.

    Jul 2015 – Sep 2015

Education

Bachelor's degree, Computer Science Catholic University of Cameroon, Bamenda

Oct 2016 – Aug 2020

Capabilities

Software & web

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, responsive design, WordPress and CMS platforms, UX, Android development.

Design

Product and interface design, brand and marketing visuals, Adobe Creative Suite, mockups and print.

Marketing & business

SEO, paid campaigns, content and social strategy, email marketing, research, sales, client relationships.

Writing & media

Essays, journalism, copywriting, content creation, and video production.

AI & automation

Practical AI tooling, AI-assisted workflows, and automation applied to real design and marketing work.

Contact

Have something worth building?

A product, a story, or a useful problem. Let's talk.

Start a conversation Email me