We engineer connected products — from the circuit board to the cloud.
CED designs electronics, firmware, field networks, cloud and apps as one system. We took our own livestock-monitoring platform, KhuselaGuard, through every layer to paying customers. Now we build yours.
Proof
- Featured in The Herald
- Field-trialled on a working Eastern Cape farm
- Paying customer: JookJoint Farm
- Six hardware revisions to field-ready
KhuselaGuard: livestock monitoring built from the bench to a working farm
Six board revisions, a public field demonstration on a working Eastern Cape farm on 20 June 2026, and now paying farm customers — hardware, firmware, network, cloud and apps, all built by CED.
Who we build for
- Hardware startups and founders — You have a device idea or a prototype that needs to become a product. We do the electronics, firmware and enclosure, and connect it to software.
- Agriculture and field operations — Monitoring, tracking and alerts where there’s no mains power and patchy signal. We’ve already solved it once, on our own product.
- Organisations with a hardware-to-software gap — Sensors, machines or devices that need to report to a dashboard, app or existing system.
One team, every layer. That’s why it works in the field.
Most products fail at the joins between hardware, firmware and software. We design the joins.
- Electronics & PCB — Solar-charged, sealed tags designed in-house, through six board revisions.
- Firmware — Low-power firmware that sleeps, wakes on motion and budgets energy off-grid.
- Field network — Tags relay data peer-to-peer to a field base station instead of each hunting for signal.
- Cloud — Telemetry checked against farm perimeters and zones, with alerts raised as they happen.
- Apps & dashboards — A mobile app for alerts and the live herd map, and a console for setting up farms and zones.
In the press
“…to develop world-class engineering solutions in South Africa that solve local challenges…” — Lihle Mayila, Founder of CED, quoted in The Herald.
How an engineering engagement works
- 01 Technical Discovery — R550 — We define the problem, constraints and risks in writing, before any build is quoted.
- 02 Written scope and staged quote — Engineering is quoted per stage, so you commit one stage at a time.
- 03 Build in short cycles — You see and test working progress, not a big reveal.
- 04 Handover and care — Ownership is agreed in writing before work starts. Ongoing support is available.
- You deal with the founders — no account managers in between.
Five co-founders. You’ll deal with them directly.
- Lihle Mayila — Founder & CEO
- Lupiwe — CTO
- Simi — CFO
- Lonwabo — CPO
- Sivuyisiwe — CMO
CED Digital
CED Digital — websites, business email and Google Business Profile for South African businesses. Fixed prices, from R2,499.
What you can hold us to.
- A written price before work starts — Fixed-price jobs are priced on the page. Everything else is quoted in writing from a scope we agree first — no work is charged before that.
- You own what we build — Your website, design and domain are yours once paid, registered in your business name. Software and hardware ownership is agreed in writing before the work starts.
- Defects fixed free for 30 days — If something we delivered isn’t right, we fix it at no charge within 30 days of launch or handover.
- No lock-in — Care plans are month to month with 30 days’ notice, and every account, domain and profile is set up in your business’s name.
- Your data stays yours — Secure, POPIA-minded forms, no advertising or tracking cookies, and we never sell your details — or your customers’.
- A registered company you can check — Cybernetics Engineering & Designs, CIPC registration 2024/109775/07, incorporated February 2024 and based in Gqeberha.
What people ask before they call us.
- What does CED build? Connected products, end to end: the electronics and PCBs, the firmware, the field network, the cloud, and the apps and dashboards — designed as one system by one team. We took our own livestock-monitoring platform, KhuselaGuard, through every layer to paying customers. We also build custom software, mobile apps and automation.
- How much does an engineering or connected-product project cost? It is quoted from a written scope, so you know the price before work starts. If the problem isn’t defined yet, we start with a Technical Discovery — R550, fixed — which sets out the problem, constraints and risks in writing. Engineering is then quoted per stage, so you commit one stage at a time.
- Can you take over or fix an existing prototype? Yes. Bring what you have — boards, firmware, code, drawings and notes. We usually start with a Technical Discovery (R550) to set out what exists, what can be reused and where the risks are, in writing, before any work on it is quoted.
- Who owns the firmware, hardware designs and code? Ownership of firmware, hardware designs and code is agreed in writing before work starts, so you know exactly what you will own at handover. Websites, designs and domains are yours once they are paid for, with the domain registered in your business name.
- Do you work outside Gqeberha? Yes. We are based in Gqeberha and work with businesses across South Africa by WhatsApp, phone, email and video call, and travel for site and field work when a project needs it.
- Do you also do websites? Yes — through CED Digital, our separate website and IT offer: websites, business email and Google Business Profile for South African businesses, at fixed prices from R2,499.