KEY POINTS

• With 60% of Africans lacking internet access and low digital literacy, products must be lightweight, affordable, and intuitive, incorporating features like audio cues, simplified navigation, and localization to cater to diverse languages and cultural nuances.
• Adeniyi Fagbemi, a senior product designer at M-KOPA, transitioned from environmental biology to product design, driven by a passion for solving real-world problems.
• As Africa’s youth population grows and internet access improves, the future of UX design will hinge on empathy and innovation.

Technology products can be transformative, but only when they are built correctly and optimally. User experience, ease of use, and the efficiency of a digital product have been key focuses for technology companies and businesses worldwide, as these factors directly influence customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Particularly when developing products for Africa, it is essential to consider the subtleties in consumer behaviour, culture, and context to create offerings that are not only useful but also intuitive. Africa’s technology industry has attracted approximately $12 billion in the past three years from global investors to develop products and services for and from the continent, and the skills and expertise of those involved have improved significantly over time. Despite these impressive figures, around a billion Africans still lack access to the internet, highlighting a gap in the largest untapped market in the world for technology-enabled products.

Adeniyi Fagbemi is an experienced product designer who has dedicated the last four years to crafting optimal user experiences for digital products, collaborating with companies such as Softcom and contributing to products like Eyowo and Kwiksell.

Currently, he is part of the global design team at one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech M-KOPA as a senior product designer, where he designs experiences for over 5 million users across five countries. Adeniyi shared valuable lessons he learnt over the years designing for the average African consumer with us for anyone interested in building products for Africa.

How did you get into product design?

I studied environmental biology for my first degree, meaning that, I don’t have a formal design or technology background. However, I was intrigued by computers and the ability to create something that would solve problems. I also had a very keen interest in art and I started drawing and sketching comics when I was 12 years old.

When I was in university, I got my first laptop and for the first time, I seemed to have unlimited access to the world of computing and digital design. I promptly installed Adobe Photoshop and CorelDraw and began to learn graphic design. I also learned some basic HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Joomla to build websites and web applications. I did that for a while and offered free design services as well as coaching on campus.

After my first degree, I worked as a freelance graphic designer and an in-house designer for a couple of years until I began to realise how transient the impact of just graphic design could be. You can create a stunning billboard design, but after a couple of months, it becomes irrelevant. I was designing marketing materials and slide decks that had a lifespan of between a few hours to a few months. I wanted to change the world and to do that, I needed to find a way to create more value for both businesses and users. I prayed about it, thought deeply about it and eventually discovered product design was the answer to my question.

That’s impressive. How would describe your journey as a product designer so far?

I have loved every bit of solving real problems for businesses and users through design. I have had the privilege of seeing my design solutions transform people’s lives and that is very rewarding. It’s a journey of continuous learning and I am constantly applying myself and learning better and more efficient ways to solve design challenges. In my current role, I get to solve some hard problems for some of the world’s most financially excluded, with some of the smartest engineers, product managers, and designers in the world. It has been remarkable and exciting!

Speaking of building for the world’s most financially excluded, majority of which are in Africa. Why is it important to build products with the African user in mind?

At the core of user experience design is the user; every endeavour must culminate in solving a problem for someone somewhere. Who the user is, is often inseparable from the context within which they use a product. Users in Africa are very similar to users worldwide in the sense that human beings are alike in many ways. However, Africa is highly nuanced, and these nuances, however subtle they may be, largely determine what constitutes a successful user experience.

As I travel across different cities in East, West, and Southern Africa, I have observed that the needs and motivations of the average African and the jobs to be done when it comes to digital products sometimes differ from convention. It is fine to want to elevate the experiences of African users to match those of the West and to introduce some of the “best practices” as seen in modern society. However, in practice, what we call “best practice” is often a product of research and validation that largely excludes the African context. It is important, to begin to have conversations that help bridge the gap between the experience we desire and the experience that is contextually appropriate.

Beyond tailoring products to users’ needs and motivation, what else should builders consider when designing products in Africa?

As of recent data, internet penetration in Africa stands at around 40%, meaning roughly four out of ten people in Africa have access to the internet, which is significantly below the global average; while the continent is experiencing rapid growth in internet users, it still has the lowest penetration rate worldwide.

A healthy assumption to make is that the customers you are designing and building for are a part of the 60% who have minimal or no access to the internet. This generally means that regardless of how amazing your digital product is, your highest priority would be to solve this barrier to access. This could mean ensuring your app is lightweight and under 10MB. This also requires that unnecessary assets such as images should be excluded and lightweight assets such as Lottie and SVGs become standard. However, beyond just the design, the thinking around caching and generally when it is important to make requests to the server, and background operations are critical.

As of 2023, the average mobile internet cost in Africa is approximately $4.47 per gigabyte, this adds considerable friction to the use of apps that require data. I understand that a growing youth population exists in Africa and there is a significant percentage of this segment who are not as price sensitive and also have access to higher income. However, this is representative of just a small percentage of Africa’s population size. At M-KOPA, we constantly keep these realities in mind when we design and develop solutions for our customers across different markets.

I’m curious, how do you think literacy levels should shape the designs of digital products?

Almost 90% of people in Africa cannot read with comprehension by age 10. This then makes digital literacy a huge challenge. It is important to almost assume that all users are not well educated and are first-time smartphone users. In-app interactions and communications should be simplified as much as possible. Design considerations to enable audio, clear navigation, and visual guidance should also be prioritized. I also appreciate the need to create multiple entry points to key features and I have seen how this caters to the mental models of different users. With low literacy users, some of the expected interaction patterns that are conventional with modern apps are not generally known and as such, it is common to see deviations and new usage patterns from users. A Yoruba adage says “Ona kan o woja” which translates to “Markets have more than one entrance”, paints a picture of a design approach without dead-ends. Find ways to connect the journeys for customers with an assumption that they would always need to be told what to do next. This can be informed by continuous onboarding, visual/audio cues, and very obvious interaction patterns.

What role does culture play in the design process?

Africa is home to over 1.4 billion people with more than 2,000 languages spoken. This means that beyond simply translating to local languages, there have to be very intentional localization initiatives. Cultural nuances and associations have to be carefully studied like color associations, and how certain concepts are best understood. In my own experience, I have seen how different terminologies mean different things in different countries. This is because the use of language sometimes slightly differs. It will be of really great value to thoroughly understand the cultural undertones to design the best user experiences.

Africa’s youth population is growing rapidly and this means that in the next couple of years, we will have more and more access to the internet, be more digitally literate, and be more educated as the barriers to education are surmounted and innovative ways to scale access to education are continuously proliferated. The future indeed looks very promising, and until then, we must never lose sight of the current realities.

 What do you think would be the future of UX in Africa in the next 5 years?

I believe that Africa will continue to make progress in terms of access to high-speed internet at cheaper price points and improved digital literacy. However, the nuances will remain and the best competitive advantage the companies of the future must have is the ability to deeply empathize and understand the African context. The future is very bright for Africa and the companies that will innovate with empathy.