THE FOUNDER'S NOTE

I didn’t always know what I was building.
But I knew what I was listening for —
a rhythm that echoed between the places that shaped me:
Kenya, Los Angeles, and Chile.
Three worlds. Three contrasts. One pulse.
Each place revealed a different kind of silence.
Each called for something to be made.

Zurura means to wander in Swahili — but we wander with intention:
to build for the Global South,
to connect overlooked markets,
and to create tools that are soulful, smart, and scalable.

Zurura was never just a company.
It was a compass —
pointing toward the spaces where potential lives,
but tools are missing.

And so we began, not with code or capital,
but with sound.

Step One: Afrika Guitars

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We launched with Afrika Guitars —
a handmade guitar line crafted from African hardwoods,
designed for dreamers in quiet villages and loud cities alike.
These aren’t luxury items.
They’re instruments of possibility —
a bridge between raw talent and real tools.

For children who hum melodies into the wind.
For musicians who carry rhythm in their bones.
For anyone who has ever felt music
but never held it in their hands.

This was our first offering:
not just a product,
but an invitation to create.

Step Two: The Porter Chair

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Step two is deeply personal.
The Porter Chair was inspired by my grandfather,
a kind, strong man who spent his final years confined to bed—
his body weakened by nerve damage in his spine.
We created the chair for people like him—
people who deserved mobility, dignity, and ease.

But the hardest part of this journey was timing.
Just as the prototype was completed in early 2025,
my grandfather passed away.
He never got to try the very chair he inspired.

And so now, every Porter Chair we build
carries a piece of that unfinished goodbye.
It’s not just for patients.
It’s for families, for caregivers, for memory itself.

Crafted between Chile and Los Angeles,
the Porter is a compact, portable lift chair
designed for those who move through life with effort,
or rely on others to rise.

Its creation was also shaped by my real-world experience:

As co-founder of Elite Home Health Services, I’ve seen firsthand what patients and caregivers truly need in the home.

• As previous co-owner of ModBarn, I’ve worked with artisans to design custom furniture that’s beautiful, functional, and built to last.  

The Porter lives at that intersection —  clinical utility, dignified aesthetics, and everyday usability.

Smart design. Love made functional.

Step Three: Zurura Kids

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Then came our most foundational vision:
Zurura Kids — a digital platform for early childhood learning and care,
built for the unique rhythms of schools in Kenya and Chile.
In much of Kenya, unlike the West, early education lacks the tools to match its importance.

So we took inspiration from proven systems,

and reimagined it for where it’s needed most.

Here, teachers can focus on children, not paperwork.
Parents stay connected, even from far away.
And the child remains at the center —
seen, tracked, celebrated.

This is our way of strengthening the village
with the clarity of data,
and the warmth of local insight.

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What ties all this together?
A lived truth:
I was born in Kenya,
raised in Los Angeles,
and built a life with my wife in Chile.
Three systems. Three lenses. Three paths into the same question:

What would happen if the Global South built for itself—and then invited the world to join?

This is Zurura —
A movement of memory and invention,
of sound, care, and code.
We start with guitars.
We move to health.
We scale through children.

And at every step,
we create not for what already exists—
but for what has been waiting to be born.

Chief Wanderer,

Alphus Imani.