Grandz: Revolutionizing Financial Inclusion in Egypt

Grandz App

Project Overview

Grandz is a comprehensive fintech super app designed to revolutionize financial accessibility in Egypt. The platform brings banking, savings, investments, and business management tools to 19.5 million unbanked individuals and 3.4 million micro businesses facing significant barriers to financial services. As the lead UX/UI designer, I was responsible for the complete user experience strategy, from initial user research through final design system delivery.

Egypt's fintech market is experiencing rapid growth, with mobile wallet transactions reaching $27 billion in 2023 and a 112% year-over-year increase in adoption. However, fragmented services, high costs, and limited accessibility prevent millions from fully participating in the digital economy. Grandz addresses this gap by consolidating what typically requires 4-6 separate apps into a unified, accessible platform.

The core design challenge was creating a single platform that serves two distinct user personas - individual consumers seeking simplified financial management and micro-business owners needing sophisticated business tools - while maintaining an intuitive, accessible interface suitable for users with varying levels of financial and digital literacy.

The Design Challenge

Through extensive market research and user studies, I identified three critical problems facing Egyptian users: limited banking access forcing cash dependency, high costs from fragmented financial management across multiple platforms, and severely limited wealth-building opportunities for the middle class.

Limited Access & Cash Dependency: Traditional banking requires extensive documentation and physical branch visits, creating barriers for unbanked populations. This constraint forces reliance on cash transactions, limiting financial security and economic participation.

High Costs & Fragmented Management: Users juggle multiple apps for different financial needs - one for transfers, another for bill payments, a third for merchant transactions - each with its own fees and learning curve. This fragmentation creates inefficiencies and increases transaction costs by up to 50% compared to integrated solutions.

Limited Growth Opportunities: Few accessible savings and investment options exist for middle-class Egyptians, with traditional banks offering minimal returns and alternative investments requiring significant capital or expertise. This limits wealth-building opportunities for millions.

Research & User Insights

I conducted comprehensive user research combining market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and user behavior studies. This included analyzing Central Bank of Egypt data, studying regional fintech adoption patterns, and examining successful models across emerging markets.

The research revealed two primary user segments with distinct needs: Individual users seeking simplified banking and wealth-building tools, and micro-business owners requiring integrated business operations alongside personal finance management. Understanding these personas was critical to designing an interface that serves both without compromising either experience.

Several critical insights emerged: users experienced decision fatigue managing multiple financial apps, trust remained a significant barrier for the unbanked, micro-businesses lacked accessible analytics despite strong demand, and culturally familiar mechanisms like rotating savings circles (ROSCAs) could bridge traditional and digital finance. These findings directly informed our information architecture and feature prioritization.

Competitive analysis revealed a fragmented market: Telda and Halan focus on personal banking, Paymob and Fawry serve merchant needs, while platforms like Yalla and Money Fellows address specific niches. No existing solution unified personal and business financial management, creating a strategic opportunity for differentiation through comprehensive design.

Design Strategy & Information Architecture

Based on research insights, I developed a four-pillar information architecture organizing features around user mental models: Savings (wealth building), Transfers/Payments (daily transactions), Business (merchant tools), and Growth (investments and rewards). This structure aligned with how users naturally categorize financial activities.

Addressing the dual-persona challenge required designing separate yet integrated Personal and Business home screens. Each interface highlights relevant features while maintaining consistent navigation patterns and visual language. Users can seamlessly switch contexts based on their current needs without relearning the interface.

Given the platform's extensive feature set (20+ integrated capabilities), I implemented a three-tier progressive disclosure system: Quick Access for frequent tasks, Feature Modules organized by category, and Advanced Settings for detailed control. This approach prevents overwhelming users while maintaining feature discoverability.

The navigation architecture uses bottom tab bars for primary sections, Quick Access buttons for high-frequency tasks, and contextual navigation within features. This pattern reduces navigation depth, enabling users to complete 80% of common journeys within 2-3 taps.

Design Process

The discovery phase focused on understanding Egypt's unique fintech landscape. I analyzed market data showing 39.4 million mobile wallet users and $27 billion in transaction value, validated the serviceable market of 19.5 million unbanked individuals, and mapped the competitive landscape across personal and business fintech solutions.

I synthesized research findings into design principles: simplicity in complexity, transparency over hidden costs, and financial empowerment through education. User journey mapping revealed critical moments requiring design attention: account opening flow, first transfer experience, investment product discovery, and business dashboard comprehension.

Using Figma, I developed high-fidelity interactive prototypes spanning 50+ screens across Personal and Business flows. I established a comprehensive component library ensuring consistency and built a scalable design system to support current features and future expansion. Key screens included the unified Personal Home, Expenses Analytics with visual breakdowns, streamlined Transfers interface, Card Management controls, and Business Dashboard with merchant tools.

Iterative usability testing with target users revealed important refinements: simplified Money Circle feature discovery, enhanced transaction confirmation patterns for trust-building, streamlined business dashboard reducing cognitive load, and improved onboarding reducing completion time. Each iteration was validated against user needs and business objectives.

I documented the complete design system including component specifications, interaction patterns, accessibility guidelines, and localization considerations. This documentation ensured development fidelity and provided a foundation for ongoing feature development and platform expansion.

Key Design Decisions

  • Dual Home Screens: Designed separate Personal and Business home experiences rather than a unified dashboard. User research showed distinct mental models - business owners need separated financial contexts and different feature priorities. Implementation includes contextual feature sets and seamless mode switching.
  • Quick Access Panel: Created prominent card-based feature shortcuts on home screens. Behavioral analysis revealed 70% of daily usage centers on 4-6 core features (Money Circle, Expenses Analytics, Hassalla investment fund, Bill payments). Implementation prioritizes high-frequency tasks while maintaining discoverability of all features.
  • Visual Financial Analytics: Implemented colorful donut charts and category-based expense breakdowns. Building financial literacy requires clear visualization - tested multiple chart types with users having limited financial management experience. Interactive charts enable drill-down exploration.
  • Money Circle (Cultural Adaptation): Digitized ROSCA (rotating savings and credit association), a trusted community lending mechanism familiar to Egyptian users. This cultural bridge brings traditional financial practices into digital space, reducing trust barriers. Shows available circles, transparent terms, and participation incentives.
  • Phone-Based Transfers: Enabled transfers to recipients without bank accounts or smartphones using phone numbers as identifiers. Addresses major Egyptian market pain point and enables gradual fintech adoption. Designed with clear recipient verification to prevent errors.
  • Real-Time Card Controls: Provided instant lock/unlock, roundup savings, and nearest ATM locator within card management. Users need immediate control over card security, and micro-savings features build wealth incrementally. Toggle controls offer immediate visual feedback.
  • Transparent Fee Structure: Displayed all fees upfront before transaction confirmation. Research revealed trust issues from hidden costs in existing platforms. Design emphasizes cost transparency as competitive advantage.

Designed Features

The platform integrates 20+ features across four core categories, each designed to address specific user pain points identified through research. Below are the key feature areas and their UX considerations:

Financial Management & Control

  • Unified dashboard: Account balance, transaction history, and activity overview in single view
  • Expenses Analytics: Category-based spending breakdown with visual charts enabling financial awareness
  • Multi-account support: Separate personal, business, and savings accounts with clear context switching

Seamless Transactions

  • P2P Transfers: Send money to banked and unbanked recipients with phone number simplicity
  • Bill Payments: Streamlined utility, services, and subscription management
  • Money Split: Group expense sharing with automatic calculation and settlement
  • Business Tools: QR code generation and payment link creation for merchant transactions

Wealth Building & Investment

  • Hassalla Investment Fund: High-return investment access with educational onboarding
  • Goal-Based Savings: Visual progress tracking with automated savings rules
  • Buy Now Pay Later: Flexible purchasing with clear repayment visibility
  • Money Circle: Peer-to-peer lending platform based on community trust models

Business Operations

  • Business Dashboard: Revenue visibility, transaction tracking, and financial insights
  • Payroll Management: Simplified salary payments and employee financial records
  • Invoice Creation: Quick invoicing with payment collection tracking
  • POS Integration: Point-of-sale service for physical merchant locations
  • Business Analytics: Data-driven insights for growth and optimization

Rewards & Engagement

  • Cashback rewards for transactions and Money Circle participation
  • Exclusive merchant discounts and promotional offers
  • Gamified financial education and achievement milestones

Tools & Methodologies

The design process utilized Figma for comprehensive design system development, component library creation, and high-fidelity interactive prototyping. User research employed qualitative interview methodologies, competitive analysis frameworks, and market validation research. Usability testing was conducted iteratively with target user segments, while accessibility audits ensured inclusive design. Cross-functional collaboration involved product strategy alignment, engineering feasibility discussions, and business model validation.

Outcomes & Impact

The design successfully unified fragmented financial services into an intuitive platform serving both individual and business users. The dual-interface approach accommodates diverse user needs without cognitive overload, while progressive disclosure makes complex financial products accessible to users with varying expertise levels.

Developed a scalable design system with 40+ reusable components supporting the current 20+ features while enabling future expansion. The systematic approach reduced design inconsistencies and accelerated development velocity through clear documentation and component specifications.

The design addresses a $1.8 billion serviceable market and positions Grandz as the only platform serving both personal and business financial needs in Egypt. The interface enables significant cost advantages - merchants save up to 50% on transaction fees compared to competitors - while providing accessible wealth-building tools previously unavailable to the middle class.

The design foundation supports geographic expansion across Africa (South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana) and accommodates planned features including AI financial consulting, NFC payments, and gold investment products. The flexible architecture and comprehensive design system enable rapid feature iteration and market adaptation.

Reflections & Key Learnings

Designing Grandz reinforced the importance of managing complexity through clear information architecture and progressive disclosure. With 20+ features spanning multiple financial categories, every design decision required careful consideration of cognitive load and feature discoverability. The challenge taught me to balance comprehensive functionality with interface simplicity.

This project highlighted how cultural understanding shapes effective design. Features like Money Circle (digitizing traditional ROSCA lending) and transparent fee structures addressed specifically Egyptian trust patterns and financial behaviors. Successful fintech design requires more than adapting Western models - it demands deep cultural intelligence.

Learning to design for both individual consumers and business users within a single platform expanded my strategic thinking. Rather than creating two separate apps, the integrated approach required thoughtful context switching, shared components with different emphasis, and mental model alignment across personas. This experience strengthened my ability to design scalable, multi-audience products.