Fintech · Kenya

Girls First Finance

Girls First Finance, a pilot initiative funded by the U.S. government set out to empower women and girls in Kenya by providing access to financial and educational opportunities.

Fintech
Education
Ecosystem

700education loans issued in 2024

5–7Kactive users

10partner schools and 50–60 educational programs

The client

Context

Acting as the project’s CTO, Mobian developed a comprehensive financial-educational platform from scratch. This ecosystem integrates credit scoring, budget planning, a social network, and educational tools, offering an innovative alternative to traditional banking for underserved communities.

The challenge

What stood in the way

Lack of Financial InfrastructureWomen in Kenya had no access to traditional banking or credit bureaus for financial assessments.
Regulatory ComplianceThe platform had to comply with GDPR, KDPA (Kenya Data Protection Act), and U.S. financial regulations.
Cultural and Educational BarriersBuilding trust and tailoring tools to fit the local context and audience.
Complex Product EcosystemDeveloping and maintaining a system with 10+ interconnected modules while adapting to ongoing changes in product requirements and regulations.

What we built

The solution

Mobian built a multi-functional platform designed to address the unique needs of women in Kenya:

Key Features

Credit Scoring SystemUses behavioral data to assess creditworthiness and determine loan eligibility.
Budget Planning ModuleTracks income and expenses, providing insights to avoid overspending.
Social NetworkIncludes chat functionality, blogs, and articles on financial and social topics.
Educational IntegrationPartners with schools to calculate tuition fees and repayment schedules while providing APIs for real-time data.
Psychological Support ModuleOffers counseling services for mental well-being.

Project Scope

First platform version launched in six months.
Continuous enhancements in 2023, including advanced credit scoring and administrative tools for credit officers.
Local on-the-ground support enabled efficient adaptation to regulatory and cultural requirements.

Technologies & architecture

Native Mobile Apps: Android: Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, MVVM, Coroutines
iOS: Swift, SwiftUI, MVVM
Backend: Node.js, Express
Cloud Infrastructure: AWS, RDS

Industry

Fintech

Lending and credit scoring, mobile wallets, in-app payments and card platforms.

Our Fintech expertise

More work

Related case studies

Logistics · Saudi Post

1M+active users across Saudi Arabia

National delivery app

Grew from a parcel tracker into full delivery management with payments, in Arabic and English.

6+ yearsof iterative scaling

5★client rating on Upwork

Mobility · Mexico

100+buses with smart ticket validators

Smart city ticketing

A passenger app and onboard NFC/QR validators that keep working offline.

2.5 yearsof development

3countries in one delivery

Healthcare · HUMA

$500Mraised by the client for the project

Clinical trials & telemedicine platform

Real-time patient vitals for doctors and trial data for pharma, co-built with HUMA's in-house team.

5 yearsof continuous development

80%unit test coverage

Free estimate · no obligation

Have a similar project?

Tell us what you're building. No pitch deck: you get an honest estimate and a clear next step, even if it isn't us.

1We review your product, stack and roadmap
2We point out the risks we've seen in similar projects
3You get a team shape and rough timeline within 48 hours