Web Developer & Digital Communications Specialist
View Work“I build the software, write the words, and design the visuals, usually on the same project.”
Building software, designing visuals, and writing the words that resonates.
10+
Projects Delivered
5+
Countries Served
I'm Kuol Akech Riak, a Web Developer and Digital Communications Specialist based in Kigali, Rwanda. I design and build full-stack web applications, thinking through how they're structured before I ever touch the interface, then shipping products people actually enjoy using, and I pair that work with the visuals and content that make it land: sharp graphic design, brand systems, and writing that sounds like a person, not a template. Working across South Sudan, Rwanda, and beyond, I help individuals, nonprofits, and growing organizations turn scattered ideas into tools their audiences can actually use, and turn quiet work into stories people remember. I'm currently studying Software Engineering at the African Leadership University (ALU), building the same range of skills into everything I take on next.
Blending code, design, and words to deliver a strategic communication
HTML5
CSS3
JavaScript
React
Django
PostGIS
SQL
React Native
Database & Systems Architecture
Responsive & Accessible Design
Graphic Design
Brand Identity
Investor & Pitch Decks
Presentation Design
Personal Essays
Recommendation Letters
Grant & Application Writing
Social Media Management
Communications Strategy
Mentorship & Leadership
I design the database first, then build outward: plain HTML, CSS, and JS when that's enough, React and Django when it's not. I'd rather ship something that works than wait on the perfect stack.
I start from what the material actually needs to do in the room: get funded, get remembered, get used, and design backward from there. A deck that never leaves the inbox doesn't count.
I plan and post like there's an actual person behind the account, not a brand: captions that sound human, a consistent voice across every platform, and enough restraint to post only what's worth someone's time.
01
Proof: TerraTrust Foundation, DreamReach, Campus Life Planner
02
Proof: TerraTrust brand system
03
Proof: Wong Amit Diary
Favorite Quote
“It's not where one starts. It's the final destination.”
— Zig Ziglar
I build things because building is how I make sense of chaos. Somewhere between writing code, sketching a brand, and putting down lines that started as a diary entry, I stopped treating developer, designer, and writer as separate people, they're just different tools for the same instinct: turn a mess into something that works. I was nine when I left home during the war in South Sudan, and I've been figuring things out without a manual ever since. These days that's software, mentoring, and stories, often the same week. I'm not the fastest at any one, just the one who won't stop until it's done well.
Web Developer & Digital Communications Specialist
Get In Touch
Web Design
My biggest build so far. A full data platform: Django, PostGIS, React, React Native, with a database designed so identity and location data stay separate, an app that works offline, a dashboard, and a public map. I designed the whole system myself.
↗ Visit Site
Web Design
You're looking at it. Built it myself, carrying the same visual identity I designed for TerraTrust into something personal.
↗ Visit Site
Web Design
Scholarship and internship listings are scattered across a dozen sites, so I built one that pulls them together: live jobs via the Remotive API, plus a scholarship list I curated by hand. Saves the search.
↗ Visit Site
Web Design
Plain HTML, CSS, and JS: no frameworks, no shortcuts. It saves your data locally, validates what you type, and works properly with a keyboard or screen reader. Sometimes the simple build is the harder one to get right.
↗ Visit Site
Graphic Design
Logo, colors, marketing materials, and a nine-post launch sequence that took the platform from "here's what we're building" to actually live. I ran all of it.
Writing
Some of it is about leaving home at nine during wartime. I write because it's how I hold onto the parts of a story that a resume can't say.
CV
Web Developer & Digital Communications Specialist
Web Developer and Digital Communications Specialist who ships full products, not just code – architecting databases, building interfaces, and pairing them with the brand systems and writing that make people trust what they're using. Proven across six African countries: platforms that manage real land and identity data, communications strategy for a multi-country organization, and mentorship programs that turn frameworks into results. Currently completing a Software Engineering degree at the African Leadership University while actively delivering for clients and communities across the continent.
African Leadership University | Kigali, Rwanda
September 2025 – Present
Undergraduate Student, Software Engineering
Peacepedia-Africa
April 2026 – Present
Communications Officer | Juba, South Sudan · Kigali, Rwanda · Nairobi, Kenya · Bujumbura, Burundi · Adjumani, Uganda · Banjul, Gambia
Wong Amit Diary
August 2026 – Present
Social Media Manager | Sherikat, Juba, South Sudan
Spark Foundation South Sudan
November 2025 – May 2026
Mentor | Juba Airport Road, Juba, South Sudan
TerraTrust Foundation | Full-stack land-documentation platform
Designed and built the whole system myself: Django, PostGIS, React, and React Native, with a database architected so identity and location data stay separate, an offline-capable app, a dashboard, and a public map.
DreamReach | Scholarship & internship discovery platform
Built a search tool that pulls live listings via the Remotive API alongside a hand-curated scholarship list, replacing a search that used to be scattered across a dozen sites.
Creative Writing & Poetry
Write poetry rooted in personal history, including the experience of leaving South Sudan at nine during the war.
Development
Design & Writing
Communications & Leadership
Nothing in this category yet.
Web Developer & Digital Communications Specialist
Kuol Akech Riak Kuol
Professional Profile
I build the software, design the visuals, and write the words, usually on the same project. My work spans web development, brand design, and communications across Africa.
Core Skills
Open To
Social Media Manager
Run social media end-to-end for the brand: planning what goes out and when, writing captions that sound like a person and not a brand account, and keeping the voice consistent across every post.
Communications Officer
Handle communications for an organization working across several countries at once, translating the same underlying work differently depending on who's reading it, without losing what actually matters.
Mentor
Mentored younger students through a structured leadership program, taking whatever framework the curriculum handed over and figuring out, with each person, what part of it actually applied to their week.
01
Proof: TerraTrust Foundation, DreamReach, Campus Life Planner
02
Proof: TerraTrust brand system
03
Proof: Wong Amit Diary
