Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

SwahiliBridge is operated by Mathayo Kapela, a sole-proprietor language services business based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, providing translation, voice-over, subtitling, localization, content creation, and Tanzania-focused research services to clients worldwide. References to "we", "us", or "our" refer to SwahiliBridge.

For all privacy questions, requests, or complaints, contact us at hello@swahilibridge.com.

2. What data we collect

We collect only the personal data needed to deliver our services:

• Account data — name, email address, optional company and phone, collected through our authentication provider when you sign up.
• Contact-form data — name, email, company, service of interest, project description, budget range, and deadline, when you request a quote or contact us.
• Order & billing data — order details, invoice records, and payment metadata (we do not store full card numbers; payment is handled by Stripe).
• Project files — source documents, audio, video, and reference materials that you upload for us to work on.
• Messages — communications you send through the client portal or via email.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited, referring URL, collected through standard server logs and analytics.

3. How we use your data

• To create and operate your account and client portal
• To deliver the language services you have requested
• To send transactional emails (quotes, receipts, delivery notifications)
• To respond to support and sales enquiries
• To process payments and issue invoices
• To monitor service performance, prevent abuse, and improve our offering
• To meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations

4. Legal bases for processing (EU/UK)

For users in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract — to deliver the services you order.
• Legitimate interests — to operate, secure, and improve our website and services, where this does not override your rights.
• Consent — for non-essential cookies and optional marketing communications.
• Legal obligation — for tax records, anti-fraud, and accounting purposes.

5. Subprocessors and data sharing

We rely on the following carefully selected service providers ("subprocessors") to operate our service. Each has its own privacy notice and data-protection commitments:

• Clerk — authentication and user management (United States).
• Stripe — payment processing and invoicing (United States; PCI-DSS Level 1).
• Neon — managed PostgreSQL database hosting (United States).
• Cloudflare R2 — secure object storage for uploaded files and deliverables.
• Resend — transactional email delivery.
• Google Analytics 4 — anonymized website analytics (loaded only after cookie consent).
• Vercel / hosting provider — infrastructure for serving the website.

We do not sell or rent personal data. We disclose data only to the subprocessors above, to law enforcement when legally compelled, or with your express consent.

6. International data transfers

Several of our subprocessors are based in the United States. Where personal data is transferred from the EU/UK to the United States we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses and, where applicable, the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. Tanzania is the country of establishment for SwahiliBridge.

7. Retention

• Account data — retained while your account is active and for 24 months after the last activity, unless you request earlier deletion.
• Project files — retained for 12 months after project delivery unless you ask us to delete them sooner. You may request immediate deletion at any time via the portal or by email.
• Invoices & financial records — retained for the period required by Tanzanian tax law (currently five years).
• Contact form submissions — retained for 18 months for follow-up and quality assurance.

8. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to access, correct, delete, port, restrict, or object to our processing of your personal data, and to withdraw consent at any time. EU/UK residents may additionally lodge a complaint with their data-protection authority. California residents have the rights provided by the CCPA/CPRA (right to know, delete, correct, and opt out of sharing — we do not sell personal information).

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@swahilibridge.com. We aim to respond within 30 days.

9. Security

We use industry-standard safeguards including TLS in transit, encrypted object storage for client files, principle-of-least- privilege access for project data, and audit logging of administrative actions. No system can guarantee absolute security; in the unlikely event of a breach affecting your personal data, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.

10. Cookies

We use a small number of cookies and similar technologies. See our Cookie Policy for the full list.

11. Children

Our services are intended for business use and are not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can remove it.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be announced on this page and, where appropriate, communicated by email. The "last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent revision.