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Eco-Addis Mobile — Super App for Addis Ababa
Title
Eco-Addis — A super-app for e-commerce, food delivery and ride-hailing in Addis Ababa
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Team
1 Product Manager, 1 UI Designer, 1 UX Researcher, 2 Developers
Timeline
5 Months
Project Type
Personal / Client
Tools Used
Figma, FigJam, Google Forms, Maze
Problem Statement
Addis Ababa's rapidly growing urban population faces fragmented digital commerce experiences — separate apps for shopping, food delivery, and transportation. Vendors lack affordable digital storefronts, while consumers juggle multiple platforms with inconsistent UX. Eco-Addis was designed to solve this with a single, unified super-app ecosystem tailored specifically to Addis Ababa's urban lifestyle — supporting Ethiopian Birr (ETB), Amharic context, and local business categories.
Users & Pain Points
Who are the users?
Urban Addis Ababa residents aged 18–40 — students, professionals, and small business owners who are mobile-first consumers.
What are their goals?
Shop for products, food, and services in one place|Find nearby restaurants and get food delivered quickly|Order affordable rides without switching apps|Sell products or run a vendor shop digitally|Discover local businesses through video and stories
Pain points
•
No single app serving e-commerce, food delivery, and rides in the Ethiopian market|Existing global apps (Jumia, Uber) lack local language support and local business inventory|Small vendors have no accessible digital storefront|Currency and payment flows are not localized (no ETB, no local delivery logic)|Distrust of complicated onboarding — users drop off before first purchase
•
Disputes over draw fairness — no verifiable random selection
•
No single place to view contribution history, remaining rounds, or upcoming draws
•
Organizers overwhelmed managing payments and member communications manually
•
No formal way to submit a cancellation or special request
No single app serving e-commerce, food delivery, and rides in the Ethiopian market|Existing global apps (Jumia, Uber) lack local language support and local business inventory|Small vendors have no accessible digital storefront|Currency and payment flows are not localized (no ETB, no local delivery logic)|Distrust of complicated onboarding — users drop off before first purchase
"I want to see my payment history and the draw results in one place — not scroll through a WhatsApp group."
Process & Methods
Goals
Understand how Addis Ababa residents currently shop, eat, and travel — and where digital tools fail them
Methods
•
User interviews with Addis residents across income groups|Competitor analysis: Jumia Ethiopia, ride apps, informal WhatsApp commerce|Card sorting to determine navigation structure for a multi-service app|Contextual inquiry at local markets and food spots (Bole, Saris, Merkato)
Key Findings & Insights
Users strongly prefer a single app over switching — super-app model validated|ETB pricing and Amharic map labels are trust signals, not just nice-to-haves|Flash deals and time-limited offers drive impulse purchases in food delivery|Vendors want easy onboarding — category/subcategory industry selection must be simple|Social features (stories, video Watch tab) increase time-in-app and discovery|Ride-hailing users want saved frequent destinations and trip history at a glance
Final Solution
→
A clean locally-rooted mobile super-app with five core verticals: Market Place (product discovery, vendor shops, wishlist, reviews, flash deals); Food Delivery (restaurant pages, special offers, basket, checkout, order tracking); Eco Ride (map-based ride ordering, delivery mode, trip history, Eco Miles loyalty); Watch (vertical video feed for business promotion and discovery); and Me (user profile, my products, wallet, shop management, referrals). Design uses amber/golden yellow primary, dark navy secondary, ETB currency throughout, and real Addis Ababa addresses and Amharic map context.
Impact / Results
•
Onboarding completion rate target: >80%|Time to first order target: <3 minutes|Task success rate (find and add item to cart) target: >90%|Vendor registration completion target: >70%|SUS Score target: >80
Lessons Learned
Designing a super-app requires ruthless information architecture — the hardest challenge was keeping five product verticals discoverable without overwhelming the home screen|Localization is a UX feature not an afterthought — real Addis Ababa streets, ETB pricing, and Ethiopian food context in banners built immediate trust|Social commerce is underutilized in African markets — the Watch tab and Stories features were strong discovery and retention mechanisms|Vendors are users too — the vendor registration and boost flows needed as much design care as the consumer-facing shopping experience
© 2026 Nahom Girma. Designed & Hosted with 🦾 on
Live Preview (Coming Soon)
Eco-Addis Mobile — Super App for Addis Ababa
Title
Eco-Addis — A super-app for e-commerce, food delivery and ride-hailing in Addis Ababa
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Team
1 Product Manager, 1 UI Designer, 1 UX Researcher, 2 Developers
Timeline
5 Months
Project Type
Personal / Client
Tools Used
Figma, FigJam, Google Forms, Maze
Problem Statement
Addis Ababa's rapidly growing urban population faces fragmented digital commerce experiences — separate apps for shopping, food delivery, and transportation. Vendors lack affordable digital storefronts, while consumers juggle multiple platforms with inconsistent UX. Eco-Addis was designed to solve this with a single, unified super-app ecosystem tailored specifically to Addis Ababa's urban lifestyle — supporting Ethiopian Birr (ETB), Amharic context, and local business categories.
Users & Pain Points
Who are the users?
Urban Addis Ababa residents aged 18–40 — students, professionals, and small business owners who are mobile-first consumers.
What are their goals?
Shop for products, food, and services in one place|Find nearby restaurants and get food delivered quickly|Order affordable rides without switching apps|Sell products or run a vendor shop digitally|Discover local businesses through video and stories
Pain points
•
No single app serving e-commerce, food delivery, and rides in the Ethiopian market|Existing global apps (Jumia, Uber) lack local language support and local business inventory|Small vendors have no accessible digital storefront|Currency and payment flows are not localized (no ETB, no local delivery logic)|Distrust of complicated onboarding — users drop off before first purchase
•
Disputes over draw fairness — no verifiable random selection
•
No single place to view contribution history, remaining rounds, or upcoming draws
•
Organizers overwhelmed managing payments and member communications manually
•
No formal way to submit a cancellation or special request
No single app serving e-commerce, food delivery, and rides in the Ethiopian market|Existing global apps (Jumia, Uber) lack local language support and local business inventory|Small vendors have no accessible digital storefront|Currency and payment flows are not localized (no ETB, no local delivery logic)|Distrust of complicated onboarding — users drop off before first purchase
"I want to see my payment history and the draw results in one place — not scroll through a WhatsApp group."
Process & Methods
Goals
Understand how Addis Ababa residents currently shop, eat, and travel — and where digital tools fail them
Methods
•
User interviews with Addis residents across income groups|Competitor analysis: Jumia Ethiopia, ride apps, informal WhatsApp commerce|Card sorting to determine navigation structure for a multi-service app|Contextual inquiry at local markets and food spots (Bole, Saris, Merkato)
Key Findings & Insights
Users strongly prefer a single app over switching — super-app model validated|ETB pricing and Amharic map labels are trust signals, not just nice-to-haves|Flash deals and time-limited offers drive impulse purchases in food delivery|Vendors want easy onboarding — category/subcategory industry selection must be simple|Social features (stories, video Watch tab) increase time-in-app and discovery|Ride-hailing users want saved frequent destinations and trip history at a glance
Final Solution
→
A clean locally-rooted mobile super-app with five core verticals: Market Place (product discovery, vendor shops, wishlist, reviews, flash deals); Food Delivery (restaurant pages, special offers, basket, checkout, order tracking); Eco Ride (map-based ride ordering, delivery mode, trip history, Eco Miles loyalty); Watch (vertical video feed for business promotion and discovery); and Me (user profile, my products, wallet, shop management, referrals). Design uses amber/golden yellow primary, dark navy secondary, ETB currency throughout, and real Addis Ababa addresses and Amharic map context.
Impact / Results
•
Onboarding completion rate target: >80%|Time to first order target: <3 minutes|Task success rate (find and add item to cart) target: >90%|Vendor registration completion target: >70%|SUS Score target: >80
Lessons Learned
Designing a super-app requires ruthless information architecture — the hardest challenge was keeping five product verticals discoverable without overwhelming the home screen|Localization is a UX feature not an afterthought — real Addis Ababa streets, ETB pricing, and Ethiopian food context in banners built immediate trust|Social commerce is underutilized in African markets — the Watch tab and Stories features were strong discovery and retention mechanisms|Vendors are users too — the vendor registration and boost flows needed as much design care as the consumer-facing shopping experience
© 2026 Nahom Girma. Designed & Hosted with 🦾 on
Live Preview (Coming Soon)
Mekina Equb Bot — Telegram Mini App for Digital Rotating Savings
Title
Mekina Equb Bot – A Telegram Mini App for Digital Rotating Savings
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer
Team
1 Product Manager, 1 Developer, 1 UX/UI Designer
Timeline
2 Months
Project Type
Client / Startup
Tools Used
Figma, Telegram Mini App Framework
Problem Statement
Equb is a traditional Ethiopian rotating savings system where a group of people contribute a fixed amount each month, and one member wins the full pot per round via a draw. It's deeply trusted culturally — but entirely manual. Groups are managed through phone calls, WhatsApp threads, and in-person handshakes. There's no transparency on payments, no accountability on draws, and no central record of who's owed what. When someone misses a payment or disputes a draw result, the whole group suffers. Mekina Equb Bot set out to digitalize this system inside Telegram by being transparent, accessible, and trustworthy without requiring users to download anything new.
Users & Pain Points
Who are the users?
Ethiopian adults aged 20–45 who participate in or organize Equb savings groups — including salaried workers, small business owners, and freelancers who save specifically to afford vehicles (hence 'Mekina' — Amharic for 'car').
What are their goals?
Save systematically with peers to fund a large purchase (usually a car)|Track their contributions and draw results|Trust that the process is fair and transparent|Organizers want to manage payments and member communications efficiently
Pain points
•
No transparency into who has paid and who hasn't|Disputes over draw fairness — no verifiable random selection|No single place to view contribution history, remaining rounds, or upcoming draws|Organizers overwhelmed managing payments and member communications manually|No formal way to submit a cancellation or special request
•
Disputes over draw fairness — no verifiable random selection
•
No single place to view contribution history, remaining rounds, or upcoming draws
•
Organizers overwhelmed managing payments and member communications manually
•
No formal way to submit a cancellation or special request
No transparency into who has paid and who hasn't|Disputes over draw fairness — no verifiable random selection|No single place to view contribution history, remaining rounds, or upcoming draws|Organizers overwhelmed managing payments and member communications manually|No formal way to submit a cancellation or special request
"I want to see my payment history and the draw results in one place — not scroll through a WhatsApp group."
Process & Methods
Goals
Understand how Equb members and organizers currently manage savings groups and where trust breaks down
Methods
•
User interviews with Equb participants and organizers|Competitive analysis of savings apps and ROSCA platforms|Study of Telegram Mini App ecosystem and patterns
Key Findings & Insights
Trust is the #1 design requirement — every interaction needs to feel verifiable and official|Users already live inside Telegram so reducing friction to zero means building inside Telegram not outside it|The draw (spinner) moment is highly emotional — it needs ceremony and clarity|Both the member (contributor) and the organizer (provider) have very different needs — two user types to design for|Payment status visibility (Payment Pending tags) reduces anxiety and late payments
Final Solution
→
A full-featured Telegram Mini App with 35+ screens covering: bot entry and onboarding (contact share, registration, confirmation); Explore tab (browse and filter available Equbs by vehicle, contribution, slots); provider profiles with verification badge; Equb detail with savings plan info, members list, round schedule, and payment terms; join flow; member dashboard with payment status and draw schedule; payment flow with receipt generation and payment history; live draw with animated spinner, winner announcement, and prize collection; draw history; special requests (postponement and cancellation); and profile and settings.
Impact / Results
•
Reduction in payment disputes due to transparent history tracking — to be measured|% of users who completed onboarding without support — to be measured|Average time from bot start to Equb join — to be measured|User trust/satisfaction rating after first draw experience — to be measured
Lessons Learned
Designing for trust is a first-class UX problem — in fintech every visual and flow decision either builds or erodes confidence|Platform-native design pays off — building inside Telegram meant users needed zero onboarding on the app itself|Culturally grounded design matters — respecting the ceremony of the draw and the trust of the group was key|Two user types in one product (members and providers) required careful information architecture to avoid breaking both flows
© 2026 Nahom Girma. Designed & Hosted with 🦾 on