Designing the MVP for Makeba Money, a cross-border mobile payment platform.
Context
Makeba Money is a fintech platform that enables fast, low-cost money transfers between the USA and Cape Verde. The MVP was built to validate the core product experience, allowing users to send and receive funds securely through a simple mobile interface.
Role
Lead designer
Goal
Create an intuitive, trustworthy MVP that meets compliance requirements and provides a seamless experience for both senders and recipients.
Challenge
The goal was to design a digital remittance experience that felt effortless for users on both sides of the transaction. The product needed to balance simplicity with strict KYC and regulatory processes, ensuring users could onboard, verify their identity and send money with confidence. On the receiving end, recipients needed clear, reliable options for cashing out at agents or banks. (The Makeba agent portal can be found as a separate project)
Approach
I led the end-to-end design of the MVP using Figma and FigJam to prototype and map the user experience.
Designed a mobile onboarding flow that uses phone number sign-up and quick KYC verification.
Created simple, high-contrast interfaces for sending, tracking and confirming transfers.
Focused on clear feedback at every step to build user confidence and trust.
Mapped and visualised user journeys for both sender and receiver to ensure a coherent, cross-border flow.
Collaborated closely with engineers and compliance stakeholders to align design and functionality for launch.
Outcome
A functional MVP is now live on both iOS and Android stores.
A seamless onboarding and transfer experience that reduces friction for first-time users.
Early user adoption validates the design approach and product-market fit.
A strong design foundation ready to scale for additional markets and features.
