In Africa’s fast-evolving tech ecosystem, knowledge workers, from founders and developers to creators and professionals, are overwhelmed by app fragmentation.
Many use over 10 different tools daily, Gmail, Slack, Notion, Twitter, GitHub, constantly switching contexts, copying and pasting, and manually coordinating tasks. This not only consumes hours each week but also interrupts focus and slows productivity.
In this edition of Techparley’s Drive100, we spotlight Orceum, a conversation-driven productivity platform designed to unify fragmented workflows into a single, AI-powered workspace.
Co-founded by Peter Akande, Orceum allows users to execute complex tasks across multiple apps directly from a single interface.
“Teams today are stretched thin between too many apps. Orceum isn’t just another platform, it’s a movement to unify how modern work happens,” Akande says.
What You Should Know About Orceum
Orceum is an all-in-one platform that replaces app-switching with conversation-based execution.
Instead of opening Gmail to send a draft email generated by AI, or checking Slack to post updates, users can simply type a command in Orceum, for example, “schedule meeting with Sarah and send her the deck”, and the platform executes the task across all connected apps automatically.
Key features include integration with Gmail, Calendar, Slack, Notion, Twitter, GitHub, Linear, and Spotify, plus AI-powered task execution and workflow automation.
The platform saves users over 3 hours per week, reduces context-switching, and ensures that AI works for them rather than requiring manual follow-through.
The benefits are substantial, from unbroken focus, faster execution of tasks, to seamless coordination across apps.
Orceum’s design philosophy prioritizes simplicity, adaptability, and cultural relevance for African teams, allowing it to fit naturally into existing work patterns.
Solving App Fragmentation with Orceum
Orceum’s main innovation is addressing the wasted time and cognitive load caused by app overload.
Knowledge workers frequently spend hours manually transferring information between tools, losing both efficiency and mental clarity. Orceum bridges this gap by turning conversation into action.
Users can create tasks, send emails, update project boards, and schedule meetings, all without leaving Orceum. AI handles repetitive or multi-step processes, ensuring productivity isn’t interrupted.
“Every action in a workflow, sending emails, posting updates, or scheduling events, can now be done in 8 seconds from a single command,” Akande explains.
This approach ensures higher efficiency, less human error, and more focus on strategic work.
Orceum’s Progress and Traction So Far
Orceum has made significant strides since its inception. Its beta users currently execute 800+ cross-app actions weekly, with growth rates of 45% week-over-week.
The platform’s early traction demonstrates that teams are eager for a single workspace that integrates communication, task management, and AI-driven automation.
Key milestones include:
- Launch of the core product with 8 app integrations (Gmail, Calendar, Slack, Notion, Twitter, GitHub, Linear, Spotify)
- 30+ daily active beta users, primarily founders, developers, and creators
- Steady expansion of workflows tailored to team operations, from scheduling meetings to content management
These figures illustrate Orceum’s ability to scale efficiently while maintaining a focus on usability and workflow cohesion.
Meet the Team Behind Orceum
The driving force behind Orceum is a technically adept and operationally experienced team.
Peter Akande (CEO): Award-winning engineer (Best Tech Entrepreneur, FUTA 2024), with previous experience building Authivate and Frenbox, and working at MTN Nigeria. He leads product vision and engineering.
Daniel Akande (Co-Founder): Experienced entrepreneur managing operations and growth for an international software company.
The team’s personal experience with app overload informs the product’s design philosophy, ensuring it directly addresses real-world challenges.
Their combined expertise in engineering, product management, and operational execution positions Orceum to deliver a practical, scalable solution for knowledge workers.
Challenges and How They’re Tackling Them
Orceum faces three major challenges typical of early-stage tech startups:
Building reliable cross-app orchestration: The team focuses on perfecting three key workflows before expanding to ensure high reliability.
User trust: Many users hesitate to grant AI control over their workflows. Orceum addresses this with preview-confirm flows, so users see actions before execution.
Competition from global giants: Orceum differentiates itself by speed and agility, releasing new workflow categories every two weeks while larger players move more slowly.
By confronting these issues head-on, Orceum continues to refine its product while building user confidence and adoption momentum.
Vision for the Future, and Plans for Market Expansion
Orceum aims to become the default operating system for personal AI. Its 6–12 month plan includes launching 10 category-specific workflows, growing to 2,000 paying users, and reaching a $300K MRR.
In 2–3 years, the startup targets 100,000+ users and $10M+ ARR. By 5 years, Orceum intends to open its platform to developers worldwide, powering millions of users and becoming the foundational infrastructure for AI-driven personal productivity.
Peter Akande emphasizes, “We’re building a platform that doesn’t just organize work, it transforms how work happens across Africa and globally.”
Talking Points
Orceum stands out as a clever and highly practical solution to one of the most overlooked productivity challenges in modern knowledge work which is app fragmentation.
By turning AI from a drafting tool into a fully executable assistant across multiple platforms, it addresses not just time loss but cognitive overload, a pain point that affects founders, developers, and creators alike.
Its conversation-first design is particularly compelling because it aligns with how humans naturally communicate and think, reducing friction and improving workflow efficiency.
However, Orceum’s reliance on cross-app integrations means its success will depend heavily on maintaining seamless connections with third-party platforms, and user trust will remain a critical hurdle as teams gradually allow AI to execute important tasks autonomously.
Compared to global productivity tools, Orceum’s African-led perspective brings agility, cultural relevance, and problem-driven design to the table, positioning it as not just a productivity app, but a potential foundation for a new standard in AI-assisted workspaces.
Its bold vision is promising, though execution, scalability, and adoption will ultimately determine if it can truly redefine personal AI for professionals.
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