About Me
I am Zaina Jackline John, founder of Global Digital Business Solutions and a PhD Researcher at the University of Technology, Mauritius, where my doctoral research focuses on innovative digital technologies for MSMEs.
GDBS exists because over 600 million small businesses worldwide have no structured way to understand where they stand digitally or what to do next. Existing tools are built for large corporations in well-resourced environments — leaving market traders, shop owners, farmers, and service providers in Africa and across the developing world entirely behind.
Everything we build at GDBS is designed to change that.
Our flagship product — the MSME Digital Maturity Navigator — is a free, AI-powered assessment platform at www.globaldbs.org that assesses any small business across six digital dimensions and delivers a personalised transformation roadmap in under 10 minutes. The toolkits in this store are the practical next step — plain-language, step-by-step guides that take any MSME from wherever they are today to the next level of digital maturity.
These toolkits are written for real business owners, in real contexts, with real constraints. No jargon. No assumptions about technical knowledge. Just clear, honest guidance that works whether you are in Nairobi, Lagos, Kampala, or anywhere in between.
Every purchase supports independent research that is shaping how institutions, governments, and development organisations understand and support small business digital transformation globally.