The Brief
Many informal-sector entrepreneurs in Congo-Brazzaville operate without the financial records and formal banking history needed to demonstrate their economic activity. Tracking daily income and expenses, setting money aside, and coordinating group savings can be difficult without accessible digital tools. This creates a gap between the financial activity entrepreneurs carry out every day and their ability to build a documented financial profile. Elikia Fund addresses this challenge by bringing cash-flow management, protected savings, tontines, and activity-based financial profiling into one platform designed around the realities of informal businesses. The engineering challenge was to connect these financial workflows across the mobile application, backend services, web interface, and internal administration tools while providing a coherent and accessible user experience.
Approach
- 01
Developed the backend services and REST APIs with Laravel, the web interface with React and TypeScript, the mobile application with React Native and Expo, and the internal back-office to support the platform’s core workflows.
- 02
Implemented the financial journal for recording and categorizing business income and expenses, helping users track transactions and monitor their net balance.
- 03
Developed the savings-vault workflow, including PIN-protected access, to separate money set aside for savings from everyday business cash flow.
- 04
Built group savings workflows that allow users to create or join groups and manage contributions, making collective saving part of the digital financial experience.
- 05
Implemented product functionality that derives an indicative financial profile from recorded activity, including transaction regularity, savings behaviour, and participation in tontines. The score is informational rather than a credit approval decision.
- 06
Worked on backend integration with the Yabeto Pay payment API to support payment-related workflows. Payment availability and live transaction processing depend on the provider and the deployment environment.
- 07
Developed the React Native and Expo mobile application and supported workflows intended for users operating with intermittent connectivity, including recording transactions offline and synchronizing data when connectivity becomes available.
- 08
Connected the product’s core services with the web interface and internal back-office, supporting centralized administration and a consistent experience across the platform’s components.
Result
Developed a multi-component digital financial services platform designed around the needs of informal-sector entrepreneurs in Congo-Brazzaville. Connected cash-flow tracking, protected savings, tontines, and activity-based financial profiling through backend APIs, a web interface, a React Native mobile application, and internal administrative tools. Implemented core financial workflows and worked on payment-provider integration while supporting an experience designed for users with intermittent internet connectivity. The result is a unified technical foundation for managing everyday business finances and building a more structured financial history, with the potential to support broader access to financial services over time.