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Africhange

Cut transfers from North America to Africa from 2 hours to about a minute.

  • Lead Designer
  • Research to design system
  • Mobile, web and marketing site
Jump to key decisions
Africhange web dashboard with balances and recent transfers
Africhange wallet showing balance in CAD and recent transfers
The problem
Plenty of apps send money to Africa, but few make it fast and seamless. Transfers took up to two hours, and long sign-ups pushed people back to informal options.
What I did
I led research with current and potential users in Canada and Africa, then designed a wallet-based experience, a faster onboarding, new ways to send, and a referral system, across mobile, web and a marketing site.
The result
A wallet system that cuts transfer time from roughly 2 hours to about a minute, with onboarding stripped back to the essentials.
transfers, down from ~2 hours
~1 min
users interviewed in Canada and Africa
10
ways to send money
4
surfaces: mobile app, web app, website
3
Company
Freelance, for Africhange Ltd
Role
Lead Designer (UX & UI)
Team
2 designers, PM, growth manager, 2 engineers
Platform
iOS, Android, web app, marketing site
Tools
Figma, Miro, Illustrator, Zoom

Problem & context

Sending money home shouldn’t take longer than a coffee break.

Africhange lets people in North America send money to Africa. The market is crowded, but the problem of fast, seamless transfers to and from Africa still wasn’t solved.

The brief was to redesign the experience so the product could stand out on what matters most to the people using it: speed, trust and good rates.

Role & team

I led design across research, product and the design system.

  • That’s me

    Chukwuemeka Iheonye

    Lead Designer

    Research plan, interviews, synthesis, user flows, design system, mobile and web UI, prototypes.

  • Design

    Product Designer

    Partnered on UI across the product.

  • Product & engineering

    PM, growth manager, 2 engineers

    Priorities, growth and build.

Research & insights

Speed and trust beat everything else, including the rate.

I recruited 6 current users and 4 potential users living in Canada and parts of Africa, and ran interviews and surveys with a written research plan and interview script.

  1. 01

    Speed is the product

    Waiting up to two hours for a transfer was the single biggest pain point.

  2. 02

    Sign-up friction sends people elsewhere

    Some people used informal services with no sign-up at all, just to avoid lengthy onboarding and KYC.

  3. 03

    Trust is earned by reliability

    Users trusted Africhange because their transfers always went through. That was worth protecting.

  4. 04

    Money moves on a schedule

    Many transfers are recurring, like family support, so scheduling would save real effort.

Process

From interviews to sketches to a mini design system.

  1. 01

    Synthesise

    Affinity mapping, empathy mapping, Crazy 8s, a site map and user flows.

  2. 02

    Sketch

    Collected screenshots and recordings of the old app, then sketched solutions on paper.

  3. 03

    Systemise

    A mini design system before high fidelity, so every screen stayed consistent.

Paper sketches of new Africhange screens
Early sketches on paper.
Mini design system with icons, colours and components
A mini design system to keep things consistent.

Key decisions

Four decisions that made sending money faster and growth cheaper.

  1. Decision 01

    Put a wallet at the centre

    Every transfer waited on a bank-to-bank journey that could take hours.

    What we chose
    A wallet that holds funds, so transfers settle from balance.
    Why
    Transfer time dropped from roughly 2 hours to about a minute.

  2. Decision 02

    Ask for less at sign-up

    Long onboarding drove people to informal alternatives.

    What we chose
    Collect only the minimum at sign-up and defer the rest until it’s needed.
    Why
    Lower drop-off at the very first step.

  3. Decision 03

    Send money the way people think about people

    Users send to family, friends and bank accounts, not ‘recipients’.

    What we chose
    Four ways to send: to Africhange users, saved beneficiaries, phone contacts and bank accounts.
    Why
    Fewer steps for the transfers people make most.

  4. Decision 04

    Let users grow the product

    Word of mouth was already how many users found Africhange.

    What we chose
    A referral system with codes, share links and visible referral income.
    Why
    A cheaper acquisition channel that rewards loyal users.

Mobile

A mobile app built around the wallet.

Short sign-up form
Sign-up with only the essentials.
Home screen with available balance and fund wallet button
Your balance, front and centre.
Wallet with balance and transfer history
Every transfer and its status.
Send money to a bank account with live rate conversion
Send with the rate shown up front.
Referral screen with income, code and share options
Referrals that pay.

Web

The same experience on the web, plus a marketing site to win new users.

Web dashboard with wallet balances and transactions
Web dashboard.
Web send money form
Sending money on the web.
Web withdraw funds flow
Withdrawing funds.
Web sign-in screen
Sign-in.

Outcomes

Faster transfers, an easier start, and new ways to grow.

  • Wallet system reducing transfer time from about 2 hours to about a minute
  • Fast onboarding with minimal sign-up information
  • Four ways to send: Africhange users, beneficiaries, contacts and bank accounts
  • Referral system to drive organic acquisition
  • Delivered across mobile, web app and marketing website