Kenya runs on Mpesa, not cash; but for tourists, that gap feels like a wall. I decided to build a bridge.
Observation
Growing up in Kenya, cash was never really a thing. Honestly, I could go weeks, even months, without touching a single note. Kenya is basically a cashless society, all thanks to Mpesa.
Every local merchant, from the guy selling roasted maize on the street to the Maasai market vendor, has a till number. But here’s the thing: Kenya isn’t really a card society. You’ll hardly find PDQ machines unless you’re in a fancy hotel or a big supermarket. So while locals just whip out their phones and pay by Mpesa, tourists are stuck.
They’ve got their shiny cards but no way to swipe, which means they’re either carrying risky piles of cash or doing endless currency conversions in their heads just to buy a shuka.
Idea
Having lived in different countries, I know how exhausting that mental math can be. So I thought: why not bridge the gap? I designed an app that lets tourists take a picture of a till number (or type it in), enter the amount, then simply tap their card on their NFC-enabled phone.
The payment goes straight to the merchant’s Mpesa, no cash, no PDQ, no stress. Locals get paid the way they know best, tourists get to pay the way they know best, and everyone walks away smiling.
Screens
A Lesson in Cultural Accessibility
In Kenya, Mpesa is everywhere - over half of our GDP ~USD 49.2 billion runs through it. But here’s the irony: while Mpesa works perfectly for locals, it leaves out tourists, who spend about USD 5 billion annually in Kenya. Merchants use till numbers, tourists use cards, and outside hotels there are barely any PDQ machines. That gap is real money left on the table, a direct revenue loss for Mpesa.
This project reminded me that innovation isn’t always about new tech. Sometimes it’s about cultural accessibility: building simple bridges between how locals live and how visitors pay. My NFC-to-Mpesa app was just that bridge.
Other Experiments/Designs
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