01 — SEAFARER SERVICES

Putting the seafarer’s file, health and rights online

The context

A seafarer cannot work without a documented record of training, medical fitness and standing. In Senegal, that record lived on paper, in one building, in Dakar.

The problem

Verifying a single training certificate meant writing to the agency, waiting for the Director General to assign the request, waiting again for the responsible directorate to check its own files, then waiting for a written reply. Two to three weeks was normal. Files were lost or duplicated. Medical data sat in cabinets, with confidentiality enforced by a lock rather than by design. And a seafarer with a grievance had no channel through which to raise it and no way to know it had been received.

What I did

Delivered three connected systems on a shared identity layer:

• Training certification — centralised issuance and lifecycle tracking of the certificates and endorsements held by seafarers, with a single record per seafarer replacing scattered paper files and automated expiry alerts
• Medical records — secure management of medical examinations and fitness decisions, with strict separation between medical and administrative access, and a full audit trail on every consultation of a record
• Gaalgui — a grievance channel through which seafarers submit complaints to the agency and follow their resolution, giving a documented status to every claim

The outcome

3,187 seafarer files digitised, and growing daily. 64 certificate and endorsement types under digital management. Verification reduced from up to three weeks of inter-departmental correspondence to an instant lookup. 188 grievances handled through a tracked process rather than informally. First consolidated view of the national seafarer workforce available to decision makers.

02 — MARITIME REGULATION & PORT SAFETY

Certification, pilotage and ISPS compliance in one estate

The context

The maritime safety directorate issues the certificates and approvals that authorise a vessel to sail under the national flag, oversees pilotage operations in the ports, and is accountable for port facility security under the ISPS Code.

The problem

Three regulatory functions, three sets of spreadsheets and paper registers. No consolidated view of what had been issued, what was expiring, or whether security controls were actually operating — and evidence for external review assembled by hand each time it was requested.

What I did

Delivered three systems covering the regulatory chain:

• Vessel certification and approvals — issuance and lifecycle tracking of every certificate and approval granted to vessels under the national flag, with automated expiry alerts and a live register of fleet compliance status
• Port pilotage management — management of pilotage operations across the national ports, replacing manual coordination
• Security management — monitoring of port facility security compliance under the ISPS Code, consolidating assessments, controls and evidence in one auditable system

The outcome

Flag State certification for the national fleet brought under a single live register. 15 port facilities covered by continuous ISPS compliance monitoring. Compliance status available on demand instead of reconstructed by hand on request.

03 — STEERING THE INSTITUTION

Giving the leadership a live picture of its own organisation

The context

An executive team steers on information it receives late, in slide decks, once a quarter. By the time a figure reaches the Director General, it describes a situation that has already moved.

The problem

Everything ran on paper, and performance was only reported once a quarter. Figures were collected by hand from each directorate, consolidated into spreadsheets, then presented in a meeting — by the time a number reached the executive team, it described a quarter that had already closed.

What I did

Delivered a performance monitoring platform covering the whole organisation: indicators defined with each directorate and department, fed continuously rather than collected quarterly, and rendered as dashboards the executive team reads directly. The definitions live in the system, so a figure means the same thing in every meeting and can be traced back to what produced it.

The outcome

28 indicators tracked in real time across 13 directorates and departments, replacing quarterly reporting cycles. The executive team opens the dashboard instead of commissioning a report, and arbitration happens on figures nobody disputes.

04 — PRIVATE SECTOR ADVISORY

Acting as the IT department for companies that do not have one

The context

Most mid-sized Senegalese companies carry real IT risk without carrying an IT function. Systems are assembled over years by whoever was available, nobody owns them, and the exposure only becomes visible on the day something fails.

The problem

No architecture, no inventory of what runs where, no backup that anyone has ever tested, and no plan for the day the person who set it all up moves on. Hiring a full IT department is disproportionate; doing nothing is not an option.

What I did

Through my consulting practice, I digitise a company’s information system end to end: mapping what exists, closing the security gaps that matter first, and building the management platform the business actually runs on — designed around its own processes rather than bent to fit a package. My clients include an electrical engineering company working on power generation, transmission and distribution.

The outcome

Companies get the judgement of an IT director without the payroll of one — and I keep my practice grounded in environments where the constraint is cost and continuity rather than regulation.