Case study
Pesa
Sending money home shouldn’t be a gamble.
- Client
- Pesa
- Timeline
- 2025 – 2026
- Industry
- Fintech, Payments
- Role
- Mobile app UI and visual design lead, with the Head of UX
- Rating
- 4.6 (1.6K ratings)
Pesa lets people send, receive and convert money across borders, with no transfer fees. I led UI and visual design on the mobile app, working with the Head of UX. Together we rebuilt onboarding so people get in within minutes, locked the exchange rate while you confirm a transfer, and designed group savings around the way people already save together.
The short version
From 60 screens to a few minutes.
Sign-up asked for everything at once, rates could change mid-transfer, and some flows broke halfway.
Led UI and visual design on the mobile app as we split onboarding into “get in” and “verify later”, locked the exchange rate while you send, and designed savings jars based on Ajo, Susu and Chama.
People got through onboarding, support took fewer onboarding calls, and the App Store rating climbed.
The problem
Waiting and surprises kill trust.
Pesa users live all over the world and send money between countries for rent, school fees, family and business.
The old app made people wait and surprised them. You couldn’t see your account until you’d been through around 60 screens of checks. Rates could move between typing an amount and confirming it. And some flows broke halfway, so people couldn’t tell if their money had moved.
You download Pesa and start signing up.
Mídé.Before you see anything, it asks for your BVN, an ID check, occupation, email, phone, favourite countries and a username.
Mídé.Around 60 screens later, you finally see your account. If you made it that far.
Mídé.
What was going wrong
Three moments where people lost confidence.
Every check happened before people could see the app, so many gave up before they started.
The rate you saw wasn’t always the rate you got.
Half-finished states left people guessing whether a transfer had gone through.
The user journey
One transfer, from sign-up to done.
The map follows one person through a single transfer and compares the old app with the redesign at each stage.
Swipe to see all four stages, pinch to zoom in
Stage
01Sign up
02Verify
03Send
04Done
Feeling
Higher feels better
- After
- Before
Doing
Downloads Pesa to send money abroad.
Proves who they are.
Types an amount and reviews it.
Checks the money went through.
Before
Asked for BVN, an ID check, occupation, email, phone, favourite countries and a username before seeing anything. Around 60 screens.
Every check had to be done at the door, even just to look around.
The rate could change between typing the amount and confirming it.
Some flows broke halfway, leaving people unsure whether their money had moved.
After
Country, phone, email, address and a Pesa tag. In within minutes.
A “Complete your profile” checklist on home. Each item says why it’s needed and what it unlocks.
Rate guaranteed for 4 minutes, with a countdown and a clear “Get a new exchange rate” if it runs out.
Every money task ends on a clear result screen, with a prompt to rate the transfer.
Decision 01
Let people in first. Verify when it matters.
Compliance can’t be skipped, but it doesn’t all have to happen at the door. Sign-up now takes a few minutes. Everything else (identity, nationality, work and earnings, biometrics) lives in a “Complete your profile” checklist on home, and each item says what it unlocks.
Tradeoff
Some people reach the home screen unverified, so a few features stay locked until they finish the checklist.
Swipe to follow the whole flow, pinch to zoom in
Decision 02
A rate you can trust.
Pesa locks your exchange rate for 4 minutes. Near the end, a countdown offers “Send money now” or “Change amount”. If it runs out, you get a fresh rate.
Tradeoff
A countdown adds a little pressure, so it only appears in the last minute.
Decision 03
Savings built around how people already save.
Across Africa and its diaspora, people save together: Ajo in Nigeria, Susu in Ghana, Chama in Kenya. A group pays in regularly and takes turns receiving the pot. Pesa Jars brings that into the app with personal and group jars, fixed or rotating payouts, and invite links: over 200 screens, including admin and member settings.
Outcome
People finished sign-up, and support got quieter.
The redesign shipped with the new onboarding, guaranteed rates, savings jars and cards. People could finish onboarding and knew when their profile was ready. Support took fewer onboarding calls, and the App Store rating climbed steadily.
A rating prompt on the completion screen let people rate their experience right after a transfer. After handoff I kept reviewing builds with engineering to catch broken states before users did. At the end of the year we launched Pesa Wrapped: each user’s year with Pesa, ready to share.
What I’d do differently
Measure the before and after.
Cutting sign-up from around 60 screens to a few minutes is hard to prove without numbers. Next time I’d track onboarding completion before and after the redesign.
Credits
- Akinsola Ogunware · Head of UX & Design
- Ogunsanya Damilola · UX Designer, web
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