David-Harold E. Koffi-Essiben
Software engineer and builder based in Kigali. Working at the intersection of code, financial systems, and African digital infrastructure.
Things I've built
Central Bank Liquidity System
Originated the concept and led a 6-person team to build a Python/MySQL simulation of a central bank's weekly refinancing operation — modeling eligibility rules, collateral haircuts, and a 7-day settlement cycle with automated interest calculation.
View project →Metamorph
AI-powered idea visualization tool. Input any concept for a product or service and Metamorph makes it tangible — turning abstract thinking into structured, actionable form.
View project →Eureka
Mental health assessment tool for institutions. Equips HR and Wellness departments with what they need to track the overall atmosphere and wellbeing of students and employees.
View project →Eagle Eye
A native LLM built from scratch — an experiment in understanding how large language models work under the hood. Built for learning, built for curiosity.
View project →builtbykoffi.com
This website. Designed and built from scratch using Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and TypeScript. Deployed on Vercel. Open source.
View project →Deploy Agent
Bash automation script for project workspace setup with interrupt recovery — if execution is cut short, it archives in-progress work to a .tar.gz before exiting cleanly.
View project →Code is the easy part.
Before I wrote software, I studied how economies work — how money moves through institutions, how risk is priced, how policy shapes the financial fabric of a continent. That foundation doesn't disappear when I open a code editor. It sharpens it.
Research & Quantitative Analysis
Research Intern at the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), Directorate of Financial Stability. Authored "Sovereign Risk vs. Décote: Effects on Banking Risk" — analyzing how sovereign risk perception drives collateral haircuts across CEMAC's six member states. Built a quantitative model computing Basel III CET1 ratios, risk-weighted assets, and probability of default under varying haircut scenarios. Presented findings to the Director of Financial Stability and Director of Financial Inclusion & Innovation.
Infrastructure & Digital Systems
Long-term focus on the digital infrastructure that connects and formalizes African economies. Interested in the systems — financial, institutional, technical — that create real leverage for the next generation of builders and policymakers on the continent. Building toward that intersection, one project at a time.
Where Code Meets Context
Engineering training on top of an economics and financial-analysis foundation. Build software with an understanding of the institutional context it operates in — not just what a system does, but why it exists, who it serves, and what breaks when it fails.
What I work with.
Technical Skills
Certifications & Education
BSc Software Engineering
TGPA 4.70 / 5.0
Google AI Professional
Not a straight line.
I started in Economics. Geopolitics. Finance. IB Diploma, then a degree in Economics and Management at PKFOKAM Institute — GPA 4.11. I thought that was the path. Then I realized the real leverage was in the systems underneath all of it.
I transferred to African Leadership University in Kigali to study Software Engineering. TGPA 4.70/5.0. Before that I spent a summer at the Bank of Central African States, building quantitative risk models and writing research that ended up on the Director of Financial Stability's desk.
Now I build software. Led the Central Bank Liquidity System. Built AI-powered tools during my Google AI Professional certification. Run the @builtbykoffi brand — dark, minimal, serious.
I'm Cameroonian. I operate under @builtbykoffi — a brand built around tech, media, and what it means to build seriously from Africa.
Let's work together →Let's build something.
Open to freelance projects, collaborations, and conversations. If you have something worth building, reach out.