CARDBOARD PROTOCOL / PROJECT DOSSIER
AFRICAN BUSINESS NETWORK
Shared operational infrastructure for African businesses.
Chapter 01
The Trigger
Business operations existed across disconnected tools with no common identity or context.
The business remained one entity. Its operations had been divided across unrelated systems.
A fragmented desk
spreadsheet invoice tool chat
banking inventory government form
payment logistics documentsFIELD OBSERVATION
The problem was not the absence of software. Every operational action lived in a different system, with a different identity and data model.
An African business should not rebuild its digital identity whenever it enters another workflow, partner network or country.
Chapter 02
The Hidden Assumption
Business software is designed as isolated products while the business remains one continuous entity.
ASSUMPTION
Software fragments the business
ERP, CRM, payments and marketplaces each solve one area.
The architectural question became: what must remain common across every operation?
- Organization identity
- Memberships, roles and permissions
- Trust and documents
- Events and audit
- Integrations
- Country and financial context
Chapter 03
The First Model
The first implementation needed foundational boundaries, not the surface area of the final vision.
REJECTED — TOO MUCH SURFACE AREA
- CRM
- Invoices
- Inventory
- Payments
- Marketplace
- Documents
- Automation
- AI
- Logistics
REWORKED
Foundation first
Identity, Organization, Membership, roles and permissions became the initial boundary.
Common contracts, events, data and API definitions establish what future modules will depend on.
Chapter 04
The Friction
The vision spans countries and providers, but implementing that future immediately would destroy clarity.
Long-term pressure
- Countries and fiscal regimes
- Currencies, languages and time zones
- Banks, governments and telecoms
- Logistics, insurance and global platforms
- Unstable connectivity
The danger was not thinking too small.
The danger was implementing the 15-year architecture in the first release.
- Premature microservices
- Distributed consistency
- Fragmented deployments
- Unclear ownership
- Infrastructure without validated use cases
Chapter 05
The Breakthrough
Start as a well-partitioned modular monolith and extract only under measurable pressure.
SYSTEM BOUNDARY
Modular monolith first
Transactional simplicity stays intact while domains and contracts remain isolated.
Microservices should emerge through controlled extraction, not ideology.
NEXT EXTRACTION
- Independent scale
- Dedicated team
- Regulatory or security isolation
- Different SLA
- Special computational workload
- Critical third-party integration
Chapter 06
The System
A layered platform with bounded contexts based on business capabilities.
Platform layers
- 01Experience
- 02API
- 03Application
- 04Domain
- 05Infrastructure
- 06Platform
Monorepo
apps/ api (NestJS) web (Next.js)
packages/ domain events permissions validation
docs/ journeys model contracts ADRs diagrams
infra/ Docker Kubernetes Helm TerraformSelective patterns
Events describe facts after successful state changes, not disguised commands.
CQRS and event sourcing remain selective: only where divergent models or complete historical truth justify the complexity.
Chapter 07
Trade-offs
The design protects the long-term model while constraining the implementation surface.
Broad vision / narrow MVP
Preserve the long-term model in documentation; restrict implementation to foundational domains.
Documentation before expansion
Define journeys, domain, permissions, events and contracts before multiplying features.
Multi-country and AI readiness
Model extension points without pretending regulatory coverage or forcing AI into every operation.
Chapter 08
Current Limits
Implemented foundation and future modules remain visibly separated.
VERIFIED
Implemented
- pnpm monorepo and Turborepo
- Next.js web bootstrap
- NestJS API bootstrap
- PostgreSQL and Redis
- Enterprise MVP documentation
- Initial Identity and Organization foundation
CURRENT LIMIT
Not implemented
- Invoices and payments
- Inventory and contacts
- Documents and automation
- Production AI workflows
- External integrations
Chapter 09
What I Would Change
Evolution remains tied to observable architecture pressure.
NEXT EXTRACTION
- Executable architecture tests
- Outbox and event contract versioning
- Tenant isolation tests and policy simulation
- Country capability registry
- Offline-tolerant workflows
- Regional and ledger boundaries
- Integration sandbox and public SDK
- Module extraction only after measurable pressure
Chapter 10
Technical File
The current platform foundation and its explicit boundaries.
VERIFIED
web: Next.js + TypeScript
api: NestJS
data: PostgreSQL + Redis
workspace: pnpm + Turborepo
architecture: modular monolith
domains: Identity + Organization foundation
evidence: requirements, journeys, contracts, ADRsAfrican Business Network was designed as a foundation from which operational systems could emerge without fragmenting the business underneath them.
Back cover
Many operational systems can emerge without fragmenting the business underneath them.