About
Two headquarters, one team
Fortlyn was founded on the idea that European engineering practice and African market knowledge belong in the same company, with neither treated as the junior partner.
Our story
How we got here
Fortlyn started in 2019 with four engineers in Prague and a single consulting contract. The work was unglamorous — integration and modernisation for mid-size companies whose systems had stopped keeping up with them.
What became clear quickly was that the same problems appeared in Lusaka and Prague, but the solutions available differed enormously. Software built for European assumptions about connectivity, payment rails and regulatory context did not survive deployment in Zambia, and the reverse was equally true.
So we built in both places. The Lusaka office opened in 2020 as a peer engineering base with its own product mandate, not an outsourcing arm. StrataERP shipped in 2021, Mainza in 2023, MyAura entered beta in 2024. All three carry design decisions that only make sense if you have worked in both markets.
Today we are a product company that still does consulting, because staying close to delivery is what keeps the products honest.
How we work
Four things we hold to
These are load-bearing. We have turned down work over each of them.
Ship it, then talk about it
We would rather show working software than present a plan for it. Every engagement is structured to put something real in front of users early.
Boring technology, on purpose
We choose proven tools for the parts that must not fail, and spend our innovation budget where it actually differentiates the customer.
Two homes, one team
Prague and Lusaka are peers. Work follows capability rather than geography, and both offices own products end to end.
Make ourselves unnecessary
The goal of every engagement is a customer who no longer needs us for it. We write that into the statement of work.
Leadership
Who runs Fortlyn
Split across both headquarters, because the company genuinely is.
Leaf Saviour Siawela
Chief Executive Officer
Prague
Spent fifteen years building payment and telecom infrastructure across Southern Africa before founding Fortlyn to close the gap between what the region needs and what the market ships.
Tom Nelson Tembo
Chief Technology Officer
Prague
Former principal engineer on large-scale distributed systems in Prague. Owns the architecture across all three product lines and has strong opinions about boring technology.
Fred Mwale
Chief Financial Officer
Prague
Twenty years in finance leadership across European software and manufacturing groups. Ran the multi-entity consolidation that became the reference model for StrataERP.
Offices
Where you will find us
We are hiring in Prague, Lusaka and remote
0 open roles across engineering, delivery and design. Both offices own products end to end, so the work is the same wherever you sit.