AsantePay

Transforming African B2B payments with zero-fee cross-border transactions through the Ubuntu Network, intelligent financial insights, and enterprise-grade compliance automation.

Project overview

AsantePay is a B2B payments platform built for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. It enables businesses across 16 African nations to send and receive cross-border payments with zero transaction fees through its proprietary Ubuntu Network. The platform combines intelligent payment routing, real-time financial insights, and enterprise-grade compliance automation — replacing fragmented banking infrastructure with a unified, modern payment experience.

Team size: 4 Engineers, 2 Designers, 1 PM

Duration: 14 months

Dev hours: 18,000+

Role: Product Strategy, Design & Full-Stack Development

Services Used

Product Strategy Product Design Development

React 18TypeScriptNext.js 14NestJSNode.jsPostgreSQLRedisAWSKubernetesTerraformTailwind CSS

AsantePay platform features and capabilities

What was the problem?

Cross-border B2B payments in Southern Africa remain one of the most expensive and friction-filled processes for businesses operating in the region. Companies sending payments between SADC nations face transaction fees averaging 6-9% per transfer, with settlement times stretching from 3-7 business days. The existing banking infrastructure was built for domestic transactions, not the interconnected trade reality of modern SADC economies. A single cross-border payment can touch 4-5 intermediary banks, each adding fees and delays. Beyond cost, compliance is a significant burden — each SADC nation has its own AML/KYC requirements, sanctions screening obligations, and regulatory reporting standards. There is no unified platform that handles multi-jurisdiction compliance while simultaneously reducing payment costs.

Solution

AsantePay addresses these challenges through a purpose-built payments platform that combines zero-fee network transactions, intelligent financial insights, and automated compliance into a single dashboard experience.

Ubuntu Network — a collaborative payment ecosystem where verified businesses transact with zero fees, supporting 16 SADC currencies with real-time conversion

Rafiki — an intelligent financial assistant providing real-time payment insights, cash flow forecasting, anomaly detection, and compliance monitoring with contextual awareness

Multi-currency payment processing with native support for ZAR, NAD, BWP, ZMW, MZN, and 11 other SADC currencies with automated routing and settlement

Automated compliance engine with real-time AML screening, KYC verification, sanctions checking, and risk scoring embedded directly into payment workflows

Enterprise invoice management with full lifecycle tracking, recurring billing, payment tracking, and collection automation

Professional analytics and reporting dashboards with payment volume trends, fee savings calculations, corridor analysis, and exportable reports

Functionality

AsantePay delivers end-to-end B2B payment workflows through a professionally designed dashboard interface. Every feature was built iteratively with rigorous QA, user testing, and continuous deployment.

The results of our collaboration:

Centralized dashboard with attention alerts, stat cards showing real-time metrics, cash flow visualization, and Rafiki insights panel

Multi-step payment creation with recipient selection, amount/currency configuration, compliance verification, and confirmation review supporting single, bulk, and recurring payments

Invoice lifecycle management — create invoices with line items, tax calculations, and custom terms; track from draft through sent, viewed, paid, and overdue

Comprehensive recipient directory with KYC verification status, country/currency associations, Ubuntu Network membership badges, and inline creation

Ubuntu Network collaboration with partner discovery, invitation workflows, payment agreement management, and network analytics

Rafiki chat interface with three-panel layout, 10 interactive card types, slash commands (/forecast, /compliance, /anomalies, /risk, /report), and conversation persistence

Project results

100%

Zero fees on Ubuntu Network transactions

Instant

Near-instant settlement vs 3-7 days traditional

SADC nations and currencies supported

264+

UI components built for the platform

Tablet showing AsantePay login interface

Invoice management with overdue alerts and revenue analytics

Payment management with analytics and transaction table

Comprehensive recipient directory with KYC verification

Ubuntu Network dashboard with partner analytics

Client Success Stories

Trusted by innovators worldwide

Don't just take our word for it — hear from the founders, teams, and leaders who've built with us.

“They didn't just build us an app — they actually understood why our customers shop the way they do. The whole experience feels natural, and our operations run so much smoother now. Honestly, the platform paid for itself within the first few months.”
Pearl DumnuiCo-founder, Happy Grocers
“We needed branding that said 'modern and trustworthy' without being boring. What we got back was spot on — the designs feel fresh but also serious enough for a digital contracting platform. It gave us the confidence to go out and pitch to investors with a polished identity from day one.”
BuddySign TeamBuddySign
“Our logo needed to speak to young entrepreneurs and seasoned stakeholders at the same time. Not an easy brief. But the final design just works — it's vibrant enough to feel exciting and professional enough to put on government partnership documents. We've gotten more compliments on our branding than anything else.”
Startup Namibia TeamStartup Namibia
“We're an AI-powered platform, so our branding had to feel techy without being intimidating. The logo they designed hits that balance perfectly — clean, modern, and it scales well whether it's on a website header or a tiny app icon. Simple brief, but they executed it really well.”
MyAjarn TeamMyAjarn
“They didn't just build us an app — they actually understood why our customers shop the way they do. The whole experience feels natural, and our operations run so much smoother now. Honestly, the platform paid for itself within the first few months.”
Pearl DumnuiCo-founder, Happy Grocers
“We needed branding that said 'modern and trustworthy' without being boring. What we got back was spot on — the designs feel fresh but also serious enough for a digital contracting platform. It gave us the confidence to go out and pitch to investors with a polished identity from day one.”
BuddySign TeamBuddySign
“Our logo needed to speak to young entrepreneurs and seasoned stakeholders at the same time. Not an easy brief. But the final design just works — it's vibrant enough to feel exciting and professional enough to put on government partnership documents. We've gotten more compliments on our branding than anything else.”
Startup Namibia TeamStartup Namibia
“We're an AI-powered platform, so our branding had to feel techy without being intimidating. The logo they designed hits that balance perfectly — clean, modern, and it scales well whether it's on a website header or a tiny app icon. Simple brief, but they executed it really well.”
MyAjarn TeamMyAjarn

“We came in with a rough idea of what WealthBeeing should be, and left with something far better than we imagined. The team took the time to really learn the financial advisory space before writing a single line of code. That extra effort shows in every corner of the platform — our clients notice the difference.”
Padung SopatvorapongCo-founder & Managing Partner, WealthBeeing
“Cross-border B2B payments in Africa is not a simple problem to design for. There are compliance flows, multi-currency edge cases, and enterprise users who don't have patience for clunky UIs. The team handled all of that and delivered something our pilot clients actually enjoy using — which is rare in fintech.”
AsantePay TeamAsantePay
“The car rental space in Namibia is messy — lots of WhatsApp back-and-forth and zero transparency. I needed a platform that handles both car owners and renters without either side getting confused. They built exactly that, and the agile process meant we could test features with real users and adjust quickly.”
Allen ManaseFounder, RentedWheels
“We came in with a rough idea of what WealthBeeing should be, and left with something far better than we imagined. The team took the time to really learn the financial advisory space before writing a single line of code. That extra effort shows in every corner of the platform — our clients notice the difference.”
Padung SopatvorapongCo-founder & Managing Partner, WealthBeeing
“Cross-border B2B payments in Africa is not a simple problem to design for. There are compliance flows, multi-currency edge cases, and enterprise users who don't have patience for clunky UIs. The team handled all of that and delivered something our pilot clients actually enjoy using — which is rare in fintech.”
AsantePay TeamAsantePay
“The car rental space in Namibia is messy — lots of WhatsApp back-and-forth and zero transparency. I needed a platform that handles both car owners and renters without either side getting confused. They built exactly that, and the agile process meant we could test features with real users and adjust quickly.”
Allen ManaseFounder, RentedWheels

“Building an AI product is tricky because the tech has to feel invisible to the user. They nailed that. Our ghost job detection and warm path features are complex under the hood, but the interface makes it all feel effortless. We've had users tell us Gilji is the first job tool that actually respects their time.”
Gilji TeamGilji, Gilji
“We had a marketplace idea but no clear picture of how it should work technically. They helped us figure out the booking flow, the payment integration, everything — and built it fast. Within weeks of launching, safari operators were onboarding themselves without us having to hold their hand. That's good product design.”
GoTwende TeamGoTwende
“They really got our vibe. The logo captures everything we're about — young, energetic, but still taken seriously. And setting up our Microsoft 365 workspace on top of that? It completely changed how our team collaborates day to day. 10/10 would recommend.”
Olivia NamkombaManaging Director, Youth For Purpose
“Building an AI product is tricky because the tech has to feel invisible to the user. They nailed that. Our ghost job detection and warm path features are complex under the hood, but the interface makes it all feel effortless. We've had users tell us Gilji is the first job tool that actually respects their time.”
Gilji TeamGilji, Gilji
“We had a marketplace idea but no clear picture of how it should work technically. They helped us figure out the booking flow, the payment integration, everything — and built it fast. Within weeks of launching, safari operators were onboarding themselves without us having to hold their hand. That's good product design.”
GoTwende TeamGoTwende
“They really got our vibe. The logo captures everything we're about — young, energetic, but still taken seriously. And setting up our Microsoft 365 workspace on top of that? It completely changed how our team collaborates day to day. 10/10 would recommend.”
Olivia NamkombaManaging Director, Youth For Purpose

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