Diagnose
We clarify the business problem, the users, the risks, and the constraints. We say no when the diagnosis points elsewhere.
About Wouessi
Founded 2021 in Toronto. We compound a year of leverage every quarter · for the businesses that decide to grow.
Our convictions
Three things we will not negotiate.
Sovereign by construction
Customer data does not leave the customer's perimeter. Self-hosted is the default, not the upgrade.
Audit-ready by design
Decisions a system makes are designed to be replayable beyond launch, with the context the model had at the time.
Bilingual from day one
EN+FR parity is not a translation pass. It is the architecture and it is enforced in the build.
Leadership
The humans behind the systems.
Rodrigue Fouafou
Founder & CEO
Founder of Wouessi (Toronto, 2021), with United States operations from Arlington, Virginia. Five years delivering AI, digital transformation and IT services to enterprise customers across Canada and the United States. Stanford GSB executive education. CAMSC-certified diverse supplier. The accountable name on every engagement.
Senior advisors
People who hold us to our principles.
Senior advisors who challenge our scope, our pricing, and our promises before our clients ever do.
Dan Matalon
Senior Advisor
Long-time advisor and friend of the firm. Brings perspective on enterprise sales motions, partnership structuring, and the discipline of saying no to engagements that do not fit the principles.
David Smith
Senior Advisor
Senior advisor on operations, capital strategy, and the long-horizon decisions that shape how Wouessi grows responsibly across two countries.
Eligibility and credentials
For funders, partners, and procurement teams.
Everything a grant reviewer, procurement officer, or partner organization needs to verify us, in one place.
Corporate
- Federally incorporated in Canada, April 8, 2021
- Wouessi LLC formed in Delaware, June 26, 2025; sole member of Wouessi Inc.
- Black-led, founder-operated
- CRA Business Number 766682942RC0001
- DLA Piper LLP legal counsel both jurisdictions
- Toronto Region Board of Trade · World Trade Centre Toronto Trade Accelerator Program (TAP Tech) alumnus, 2024
Federal procurement readiness
- SAM.gov ACTIVE · CAGE 1Z1Z9 · UEI RMU6LK3W6NZ5
- EIN 36-5144558 · SBA 8(a) application package ready
- CAMSC certified A-11298 · BEBC · CBCC
- CanExport SMEs Project 1036339 closed (NRC IRAP)
- Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency engaged (Project Tundra)
Insurance and risk
- Tokio Marine HCC + CFC, two million dollars aggregate (E and O, GL, Cyber)
- Zensurance Brokers, Policy ZMC44019
- Upgrade plan to five million in motion for federal and enterprise pursuits
Delivery profile
- Bilingual delivery, English and French, parity at the asset level
- Regulated-sector clients: banks, ministries, healthcare, education
- Wouessi University: more than 1,000 trainees served since 2021
- Riipen network: 200+ post-secondary institution partnerships
- Post-revenue, scaling, founder-controlled cap table
Where we operate
Three offices, three jurisdictions, one bench.
Wouessi Inc.
Toronto, Ontario · Canada
CAMSC A-11298 · CRA HST
Arlington, Virginia
United States operations
SAM.gov registered
Two jurisdictions, one bench
Toronto and Arlington VA
Senior bench, two passports
Industries
Where we have shipped real systems, not just slides.
Banking · OSFI Schedule I & II
Insurance · provincial regulators
Healthcare · HIPAA & PHIPA
Public sector · Protected B
Education · Ministry-level
Retail · DTC + omnichannel
Aerospace · Tier-1 supplier
Manufacturing · Industry 4.0
How we work
01
02
03
04
05
Five steps. The same five every time.
No surprise rituals, no rebadged Agile theatre. The same five-step shape, sized to your scope.
Design
We map the workflow, architecture, data model, and delivery path before writing the first line of production code.
Build
We ship in focused increments with senior technical oversight. Every increment is observable, accessible, and reversible.
Transfer
We document, train, and hand over systems your team can operate without us. We are not optimizing for our own retention.
Compound
We improve the platform with evidence, not guesswork. The platform compounds in a year of leverage every quarter.
What you receive
Every engagement comes with a hand-back package.
Yours to keep. Yours to share with auditors, regulators, or the next team. We design for your independence from us.
Discovery notes
The interview log, the constraints map, and the risks identified before scope was signed.
Architecture diagram
A current-state and target-state architecture your engineers can read, evolve, and present to procurement.
Risk register
Top risks, owners, and the mitigation we plan to ship for each. Updated weekly, kept after handover.
Security and data-handling notes
Threat model, data flows, secrets handling, and the residency boundary we promised your auditor.
Handoff package
A single, signed deliverable that says: you can run this without us, and here is exactly how.
What we do not do
The list of mandates we walk away from.
Saying yes to one of these would erode the work we say yes to. We have walked away from real revenue to keep this list short.
- We do not sell AI where a workflow fix is enough.
- We do not build platforms your team cannot maintain.
- We do not hide junior delivery behind senior sales.
- We do not treat accessibility, privacy, or security as afterthoughts.
- We do not staff a project we cannot deliver senior.
- We do not promise outcomes we have not engineered the evidence for.