Richard is the founder of Open Cities Lab, a civic technology lab with a focus on the development of open data for application to urban challenges operating within cities in Africa. He is also the CEO and co-founder of Tenji, a data science startup with a focus on building data products and tools that aid socio-economic development and planning.

Open Cities Lab is a non-profit civic technology lab that uses open data and civic technology in initiatives that work to build inclusive and responsive cities in order to put citizens at the centre and enable participative democracy. It implements and advocates for active citizens, open data, future inclusive cities, open government and civic technology. Open Cities Lab believes in co-design that is centred around people and that lets those in the centre of the issue set the frame, context, and measurement and verification of the results. 

Prior to founding Open Cities Lab, Richard worked as an economist, based in Durban, South Africa, for eight years where he interacted with both private clients and all tiers of South African government on a range of projects in various sectors. He is an entrepreneur with a dedication to the advancement of African communities through dynamic solutions and tools, hoping to empower socio-economic development and to affect social change. He has a deep interest in openness and transparency in society. When he finds spare time he grows his beard, brews beer, appreciates good coffee and likes to tell people he listens to vinyl.