GoTwende

Africa's Premier Tourism Experiences Marketplace — Connecting Travelers with Authentic Adventures Across the Continent

Project overview

GoTwende ("Let's Go" in Swahili) is a full-stack tourism experiences marketplace connecting travelers with verified activity providers across Africa. The platform enables customers to discover, book, and pay for safaris, cultural tours, food experiences, and adventure activities across multiple African destinations. It features a complete ecosystem with five integrated modules — a customer-facing booking platform, partner dashboard for activity providers, comprehensive admin panel, vendor management system, and affiliate referral network — all powered by real-time Supabase data, Stripe Connect payments, and enterprise-grade security.

Team size: 1 Developer

Duration: 3 months

Dev hours: 500+

Role: Full-Stack Developer & Product Designer

Services Used

Product Strategy Product Design Development

Next.js 15React 19TypeScriptFastify 5SupabaseStripe ConnectTailwind CSSRecharts

Mac Pro showing GoTwende booking checkout flow

What was the problem?

Africa's tourism industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world, yet the digital infrastructure connecting travelers with local experience providers remains severely fragmented. Independent safari operators in Kenya, food tour guides in Cape Town, cultural experience hosts in Zanzibar, and adventure outfitters in Victoria Falls each rely on a patchwork of WhatsApp messages, email chains, manual bank transfers, and paper-based booking systems. There is no unified marketplace that aggregates African tourism experiences the way platforms like Viator or GetYourGuide serve European and North American markets. For travelers, this fragmentation means hours of research across scattered websites, inability to compare experiences side-by-side, no standardized reviews or trust signals, and risky payment processes that often require international wire transfers or cash on arrival. For activity providers — especially small and medium operators who make up the backbone of African tourism — the barrier to reaching international customers is prohibitively high. They lack the technical infrastructure for online booking, payment processing in multiple currencies, and the digital marketing presence needed to compete for visibility. Cross-border payments compound the problem. A tourist booking a Kenyan safari faces currency conversion fees, payment processing uncertainty, and no guarantee of refund protection. The activity provider faces settlement delays of 5-7 business days through traditional banking, commission rates exceeding 20% on existing platforms, and no automated tools for managing bookings, availability, or customer communication.

Solution

GoTwende addresses these challenges through a purpose-built marketplace platform that combines modern booking UX, Stripe Connect payments for instant partner settlements, real-time availability management, and multi-role dashboards that serve every stakeholder in the tourism value chain.

Unified Discovery & Booking Experience — a consumer-grade marketplace where travelers search, filter, compare, and book experiences across African destinations with rich media galleries, verified reviews, instant confirmation, and multi-currency pricing

Stripe Connect Marketplace Payments — fully integrated destination charges where customers pay through PCI-compliant Stripe Elements, the platform takes its commission, and the remainder is instantly routed to the partner's Stripe Express account

Partner Dashboard — a complete business-in-a-box for activity providers to create listings, manage availability calendars, track bookings, view revenue analytics, handle customer messages, and manage payouts with automated KYC onboarding

Enterprise Admin Panel — a 19-page platform control center with user management, partner approval workflows, booking oversight, revenue tracking, content management, dispute resolution, audit logging, and encrypted Stripe key management

Affiliate Referral Network — a built-in system where influencers and travel bloggers generate tracked referral links, monitor conversion performance, view earnings dashboards, and request commission payouts

Multi-Currency & Internationalization — native support for 9 currencies with live exchange rates, 9 language options, and localized pricing with automatic conversion handled transparently

Functionality

GoTwende delivers end-to-end tourism marketplace workflows across five integrated platform modules, each with dedicated navigation, role-based access, and real-time data. The platform spans 107 pages, 150+ API endpoints, and 30+ database tables — all connected through a typed API client and shared TypeScript definitions.

The results of our collaboration:

Full discovery-to-confirmation customer booking flow: browse activities with price range/category/destination filters, view detailed listings with photo galleries and tabbed content, add to cart, proceed through 3-step checkout with Stripe Elements payment, and manage bookings with cancellation and refund support

Partners create rich activity listings with multi-image upload, structured pricing, availability calendars with time slots, inclusion/exclusion lists, meeting point details, and cancellation policies. Listings go through draft-to-published review workflow with real-time booking notifications

Server-side PaymentIntent creation with booking capacity validation, promo code application, and destination charge routing. Webhook handlers provide reliable payment confirmation with idempotent processing. Encrypted API key storage (AES-256-GCM) protects Stripe credentials at rest

Supabase Realtime-powered messaging between customers and partners with conversation threading, unread counts, and instant delivery. Platform-wide notification system with type-based categorization and priority levels

Admin revenue & analytics dashboard with commission tracking across all bookings, configurable rates per partner, revenue trend visualization, top-performing partner rankings, payout scheduling, and exportable CSV reports

Content management system for blog posts, travel guides, press releases, help articles, and job postings with draft/published workflows, author attribution, view tracking, and SEO-friendly slug-based URLs

Project results

107

Pages across 5 integrated modules

150+

RESTful API endpoints

126

UI components (57 shadcn/ui + 69 custom)

30+

Supabase tables with Row-Level Security

GoTwende sign-in page with African sunset

User management with sortable user table

GoTwende admin dashboard with platform analytics

Activity browse page with filters and activity cards

Client Success Stories

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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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