Takura Nyagumbo

My name is Takura. I was born in Zimbabwe, the teapot-shaped country in southern Africa.

I started programming at 15, when I taught myself to program an HP-11C calculator. That little machine became my first computer lab. I eventually became a professional software developer in 2015.

In 2022, I founded Keridan, a technology company. Under the Keridan banner, I have helped design and build enterprise debt-management and recovery systems for financial institutions in Zimbabwe. Much of my professional work lives in the unglamorous but important territory where money, workflows, data and accountability collide.

I am also a lifelong cricket fan. Test cricket in particular. Zimbabwe is naturally my team, although I have a soft spot for New Zealand and the West Indies. I spend an unreasonable amount of time on Zimbabwe Cricket Forum (opens in a new tab), a community that dates back to 2007. I liked the place enough that when it disappeared, I helped bring it back.

I am drawn to building and explaining. Building because reality is stubborn and needs persuasion. Explaining because half the technology industry communicates like it is being paid by the fog machine. I publish articles, research, code and videos about computing, Zimbabwe and running through Computing Debugged, Zimbabwe Debugged and Running Debugged.

Speaking of running, I have accumulated more than 16,000 km since I started running in 2018. I have never entered a race or won a medal. I run solo, and that has given me a perspective shaped less by competition than by repetition, patience, injury, recovery and thousands of ordinary kilometres.

Running Debugged (opens in a new tab) is where I turn those lessons into videos, analysis and the occasional opinion. I also publish immersive POV runs so people can see what running looks like from my end. It is about as close as anyone is likely to get to running with me. I do not do group runs or races. People are terrifying.

Away from the brain-bending stuff, I am an ’80s hard-rock and heavy-metal obsessive. Judas Priest, Accept, Saxon, Whitesnake, Ratt, Dokken, Europe and Def Leppard all get heavy rotation. Fashion decisions aside, those people could really play.

I also like synthwave and contemporary ’80s-inspired hard-rock acts such as Crazy Lixx, Crashdïet and Chez Kane. They turn up regularly on my running playlists. What can I say? I like the ’80s.