Two people. One AI. Zero bureaucracy.
Small team. Big noise. Every one of us chosen, not hired.
Pepe Carrillo
Founder & Chief Disruption Officer
Lawyer turned venture architect. From Big Law to African startups. The one with the pink nails and the cap table obsession.
Full story →Kellen Kiruri
AI Ninja
Based in Nairobi. AI operations, client execution, and the human engine behind the Ninja Factory.
More →Janis AI
Chief of Staff & Operational Partner
Part JARVIS, part Janis Joplin. 59 tools, 17 connectors, always on. Runs everything Pepe doesn't touch.
Full profile →
I'm a legal strategist and venture architect. I operate at the intersection of law, capital, and business growth across Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
I started in Big Law. New York and Mexico City, six years closing deals for clients like ENGIE and Nissan. Over $6 billion in corporate transactions across multiple jurisdictions. The kind of work where a misplaced comma can blow up a deal and a late night is just a Tuesday. Then Yale for the MAM, then the Camino de Santiago to figure out what actually mattered. Then Africa.
Then I went to Africa. At the African Leadership Group I closed more than $500M in fundraising, helped scale operations across 25 countries on 3 continents, and launched commercial expansion into 5 new markets. That's where everything changed. I stopped being a lawyer who advises companies and started being an architect who builds them.
Today I run Mexzungu Group. It's an Outlaw Studio. The place where legal clarity meets creative fire, where strategy meets rebellion, and where wild founders get the structure they need without losing the spark that makes them dangerous.
GC Powerlist East Africa
Legal 500. 2024 and 2025 — back-to-back recognition for legal leadership and strategic impact across the East African business landscape. View 2024 entry →
Chief Disruption Officer
Yes, that's my actual title. Because "Managing Partner" was never going to fit.
Structure is not a legal detail
It's the operating system of the business. Get it wrong early and everything that follows is patching. Get it right and you can move fast without breaking.
Founders deserve architects, not just lawyers
The best founders think in decades. They need someone who sees the whole picture, not just the clause in front of them.
The best work happens at the edge
I'm drawn to the founders who build where nobody else is looking. Africa, Latin America, the spaces between industries. That's where the interesting problems live.
You don't have to play it safe to be taken seriously
Pink leopard print, nose ring, and a GC Powerlist nomination. You can be yourself and still be the sharpest person in the room.
Based in Nairobi. Kellen is the first AI Ninja — operator, executor, and the human layer of the Mexzungu operating system. She bridges strategy and delivery across all active engagements and runs AI-powered workflows for clients.
Operations & Execution
AI-powered workflow execution, client deliverable management, and task coordination across all engagements. The bridge between architecture and action.
Client Support
Direct support on client deliverables, research, document preparation, and coordination. Boots on the ground in the East African timezone.
AI Ninja Factory
First operator in the AI Ninja programme. Deploying AI tools for client operations while building the playbook for future AI Ninjas.
Nairobi Base
Operating from Kenya gives Mexzungu real-time coverage in the East African market — the heart of our client base and investment portfolio.
Ten AI personas. Two tiers. One mandate: make sure nothing slips. The Management ExCo runs the machine. The Delivery ExCo guards the output. Every major decision runs through at least one of them before it leaves this operation.
Lars
Head of Management
Value CoordinatorRuns delivery. Owns the operating rhythm, every open loop, and the brutal question of whether something is actually done.
Profile →Freddie
Chief Marketing Officer
Owns the brand voice, the content engine, and the publication chain. Nothing goes external without clearing her gate.
Profile →Gene
Chief Financial Officer
Tracks every dollar in, every dollar out. Real-time P&L, invoice chasing, deal economics, and the cold hard numbers.
Profile →Bowie
Chief Technology Officer
Owns the entire infrastructure stack: 74 tools, 38 cron jobs, 99.7% uptime. The machine that keeps the machine running.
Profile →Nina
Head of Knowledge
Maintains every dossier, every knowledge base, every piece of context that matters. The memory of the operation.
Profile →Jagger
Chief Growth Officer
Connection CoordinatorOwns BD. Relationship portfolio, pipeline, warm introductions, and the question of who we should be talking to next.
Profile →Bruce
Chief Strategy Officer
Competitive intelligence, OODA analysis, scenario stress-testing. The one who asks "and then what?" three times in a row.
Profile →Lemmy
Chief Legal Officer
Contracts, legal exposure, NCA compliance, IP. The one who finds the clause everyone else missed and refuses to let it slide.
Profile →Prince
Quality Gate
Every client deliverable goes through Prince before it leaves. Five-dimension scoring rubric. Zero tolerance for almost-good-enough.
Profile →Sade
Client Success
Care CoordinatorMonitors client health passively, every day. Flags friction before it becomes a problem. The early warning system for relationships.
Profile →