Pay. Send. Save. Earn. Two apps, one ecosystem.
InstaPay brings financial tools to both sides of a transaction. Gini, the consumer app, lets people pay at stores, send money instantly, earn cashback, top up airtime and electricity, and earn interest on their balance. InstaPay Merchant lets businesses accept payments in-store, online, via QR and payment links — and manage sales, inventory and analytics in one place.
There are no monthly fees and you don’t need a bank account to use it — which means many users are doing digital payments for the very first time.
Payments processed on the platform every year.
Transactions flowing through the apps each year.
Platform figures as published on instapay.co.za
Money is the highest-stakes interface there is.
When a screen confuses someone here, it doesn’t just cost a click — it costs their money, or their trust in the product. And the people most likely to be confused are exactly the people InstaPay was built for.
- Novice users. Many customers are new to digital payments, or don’t have a bank account at all.
- Regulation everywhere. Compliance and technical requirements shape onboarding, verification and every money movement.
- Two audiences, one product. Consumers and merchants need very different tools that still feel like one trusted brand.
- Many surfaces. Consumer app, merchant app and web — consistency had to scale without slowing squads down.
How do we make regulated finance feel as simple as sending a message?
Owning design across the full product lifecycle.
Four principles that guided every screen.
Novice-first, mobile-first
Every flow was designed for someone doing it for the first time, on a phone. Plain language over financial jargon; one primary action per screen.
Compliance, translated
Regulatory requirements became short, guided steps with visible progress — rather than walls of fine print that people abandon.
Show the money, always
Balances, fees and outcomes stay visible before and after every action, so nobody is surprised by what just happened.
Accessible by default
WCAG contrast, generous touch targets and scalable text — built into the components, not patched on later.
One system for payments, merchants and B2B tools.
I architected and maintained a scalable design system that kept UI consistent across B2C payment gateways and B2B strategy tools. A shared foundation meant squads could ship faster — and users met the same, familiar patterns wherever money moved.
Component specimens recreated for this case study.
Less friction for first-timers. Faster, consistent delivery.
- Measurably reduced friction for novice users across compliance-heavy flows.
- One design system keeping consumer, merchant and B2B surfaces consistent.
- Accessibility standardised — WCAG and inclusive design built into squad delivery.
- Team Player award at Kuya Technologies, 2024.
What fintech taught me.
Clarity is a security feature
When people understand exactly what’s happening to their money, they make fewer mistakes — and trust the product more.
Systems are a team sport
A design system only works if engineers and product owners co-own it. Shared language beats a perfect Figma library.