Fractional CTO · Cape Town · Johannesburg · Durban · since 2010Fractional CTO · South Africa · since 2010

Hi, I’m Henry. I’ll be your senior tech lead, without the full‑time hire.

I work as a fractional CTO and technical director for businesses that need someone senior to own the technology: the strategy, the architecture, the vendors and the people building it. Sixteen years of production systems, and you always know who to call.

Book an Ideas sessionor just talk to me

South African time (SAST, UTC+2). I reply to every message myself, within 24 hours.

Henry Shepherdson, smiling

that’s me, the person you’ll actually talk to

Two ways to work with me

Start with a plan. Stay for the leadership.

  1. Step 1 · the entry point

    Ideas

    A paid session that turns an idea or a problem into a clear plan you can act on, with someone senior and technical in the room.

    1-hour session · R850 · remote, or in person on request

    How an Ideas session works

  2. Step 2 · the core

    Fractional CTO / Technical Director

    An ongoing retainer as your senior tech lead. I cover strategy, architecture, vendors, your development team and security, and I sit with your leadership when technology decisions are made.

    From R2,500 to R25,000+ per month · month to month, no lock-in

    What I can lead or deliver for you

    What a fractional CTO does

CTO partnerships

Who I lead technology for today

  • Screenshot of the Mabili homepage: ‘Know your skills. Close your gaps.’

    Mabili Skills

    Mabili sources, develops and maps digital skills, helping international organisations build verified, SFIA-aligned remote teams.

    My role: Fractional CTO / Technical Director. I lead the Mabili platform: Next.js and Sanity CMS, SEO architecture and structured data, and multi-course discovery.

    [PLACEHOLDER] Testimonial from Mabili Skills

  • Screenshot of the Growth Predictor homepage: ‘The Alpha Initiative’

    Growth Predictor

    Growth Predictor’s technology measures a company’s capacity to grow, predicting its future revenue and growth rate for investors, lenders and exchanges.

    My role: Fractional CTO / Technical Director. [PLACEHOLDER] What I lead day to day.

    [PLACEHOLDER] Testimonial from Growth Predictor

  • Thumbnail of Nicole Barlow’s author website, nicole-barlow.com, on desktop: the ‘No compromise.’ homepage
    Nicole Barlow’s book Hani’s Assassin open in the e-reader on a phone, at the start of chapter 1

    Nicole Barlow

    Nicole Barlow is an independent South African journalist and podcaster, publishing investigative articles, videos, the NicoleB Show and books.

    My role: Fractional CTO / Technical Director. I lead Nicole Barlow’s digital platform, which I built: her author website and a full mobile e-reader for her books.

    [PLACEHOLDER] Testimonial from Nicole Barlow

Also: project case studiesAccordium, an IoT food-safety compliance platform I designed and built end to end.All 10 projects

How it works

One step at a time, from first conversation to partnership.

most clients are still here, years after step one

  1. A conversation

    You tell me what you’re building or what’s stuck. I reply myself within 24 hours, and we have a free call to understand your situation.

  2. An Ideas session

    A paid, 1-hour working session (R850) that turns the idea or problem into a clear plan, so we both know what good looks like before anything is built.

  3. Your fractional CTO

    I join as your Fractional CTO / Technical Director on a monthly retainer, month to month with no lock-in. Monthly delivery cycles and transparent time tracking, and we review scope together whenever it suits you.

  4. A long partnership

    I stay accountable for how your technology performs over years, not just on launch day. Most retainer clients have been with me for more than two years.

About

Is this a fit?

Erzo is me, Henry Shepherdson: a fractional CTO and technical director, systems architect and founder, working hands-on across web platforms, embedded hardware, IoT and AI-assisted development since 2010. I work with a small number of clients at a time, and for bigger builds I bring in collaborators I trust, under my direct oversight.

I’m a good match if you want someone to learn how your business actually works and take care of the technology for years. If you need a quick one-off site at the lowest price, I’ll happily point you to someone who does that well.

I hold my own work to WCAG 2.2 AA: this site has zero automated accessibility violations.

More about me

Tell me what you’re working on.

Every conversation starts with understanding your business. No pitch, no pressure.

Book an Ideas session

1-hour session · R850 · remote, or in person on request

or email henry@erzo.co.za

South African time (SAST, UTC+2). I reply to every message myself, within 24 hours.