In today’s fast-evolving world, access to essential services remains a significant challenge, especially in rural and underserved areas. Consolve was born to address this challenge, aiming to bridge the digital divide by providing an AI-powered platform that connects users with essential local services such as healthcare, education, agriculture, and finance. Our mission is to empower communities in Africa by streamlining access to services and sustaining a digital community that enhances engagement and connectivity.
Team Members and Roles:
Our team was composed of myself, Henry (Developer) and I built the app solo. We built this project over six intense days as part of a hackathon, where we combined our skills to deliver an app that’s intuitive, scalable, and reliable. Jane focused on creating the seamless, user-friendly interface, while John and I worked together on the backend, ensuring that our Appwrite-based architecture provided a fast, secure experience.
Purpose:
Consolve is designed to help users easily connect with nearby service providers across multiple industries. Whether it’s finding a local midwife, accessing affordable financial services, or getting agricultural advice, Consolve aims to be the one-stop platform for all essential services. We’ve created this platform with the end user in mind, with an interface that caters to both tech-savvy users and those new to technology.
Target Audience:
Our app was built for individuals and families in Africa who often face barriers to accessing key services due to geographic, technological, or financial limitations. Whether someone is looking for healthcare services in a remote town or financial assistance for a student, Consolve provides a solution.
My Role:
My personal focus was on developing the backend infrastructure using Appwrite to handle user authentication, real-time notifications, and integration with AI tools that provide service recommendations. I also collaborated closely with Jane to ensure that the frontend reflected the seamless experience we aimed to deliver.
Why I Chose to Build Consolve
Growing up in a small community in Africa, I witnessed firsthand the struggles my family and neighbors faced when trying to access services. Healthcare, in particular, was always a challenge. My mother had to travel long distances just to consult with a doctor, and simple services, such as education and finance, were difficult to obtain. Fast forward to today, technology has revolutionized many aspects of life, but the digital divide still exists, particularly in rural areas. I’ve always been driven by the potential of technology to change lives, and when the opportunity to build Consolve came up, I immediately knew that this was the kind of project that could make a real difference.
Developing Consolve was personal. It gave me the chance to solve problems that my family and many others continue to face. This project has allowed me to work on something that blends my passion for technology with my desire to improve access to essential services for underserved populations.
Accomplishments with Consolve
Consolve is a fully functional MERN stack application, and I’m proud to say that we’ve built something capable of impacting thousands of lives. Below is the architecture of the Consolve app, which illustrates how data flows from users interacting with the frontend to the backend services supported by Appwrite:
Technologies Used:
- Frontend: React with Tailwind CSS for rapid, responsive UI development. We chose Tailwind to ensure a modern, clean design without over-complicating the styling.
- Backend: Appwrite for authentication, user profiles, and real-time database handling. We chose Appwrite because it allowed us to quickly scaffold our backend with essential features like login, notifications, and database integration, which was critical given our tight hackathon timeline.
- AI Integration: We used OpenAI’s API to provide users with personalized service recommendations based on their location, preferences, and prior interactions.
Key Features:
- Provider Search & Filters: Users can easily search for providers and filter by location, ratings, and type of service. AI-based suggestions are also provided based on user data.
- Real-Time Notifications: Users receive real-time updates on their service requests and appointments.
- Responsive Design: Consolve works seamlessly on both web and mobile devices, ensuring accessibility across a variety of platforms.
The Most Difficult Technical Challenge
One of the most challenging aspects of developing Consolve was integrating the real-time notification system. The challenge arose when we decided to use Appwrite for backend services, which required secure, real-time data updates for users without refreshing the app.
Situation:
The problem was that we needed to notify users instantly about changes in their service requests (such as a booking confirmation or provider response), but we also wanted to ensure that the notifications wouldn’t overload the server or client.
Task:
The goal was to implement real-time notifications that would efficiently scale as the number of users grew while ensuring minimal impact on server performance.
Action:
I started by diving into Appwrite’s documentation on real-time databases. Although Appwrite supports real-time functionality out of the box, I realized that integrating it with our specific React frontend required custom hooks to properly manage the state and subscription lifecycle. I wrote a custom useNotifications hook that listens to updates and automatically displays new notifications on the UI. However, the performance bottleneck occurred when users subscribed to multiple services. To solve this, I implemented a throttling system that limited the frequency of API calls and used local caching to store previous notifications.
Result:
After several iterations, the real-time notifications feature worked perfectly. Users are now notified instantly when there’s an update, and the system remains efficient, even when handling hundreds of concurrent users.
Lessons Learned
Working on Consolve has been an enlightening experience in many ways. Here are my key takeaways:
- Technical: This project solidified my knowledge of real-time database handling and gave me a deeper understanding of performance optimization, particularly with managing server-client interactions in real-time.
- Collaboration: Building this app with a team reinforced the importance of good communication, especially under tight deadlines like those in a hackathon setting. Collaborating with Jane and John taught me to balance speed with quality, knowing when to ask for help and when to take initiative.
- What I’d Do Differently: Given more time, I’d implement more user-centric features such as offline capabilities, and expand the AI-based recommendation system to offer more personalized suggestions.
Looking forward, I plan to continue improving Consolve and exploring ways to integrate additional services such as transportation and logistics, which would be hugely beneficial for communities in remote areas.
About Me
Hi, I’m Henry, a software developer passionate about creating solutions that impact people’s lives. I’m currently working on Consolve, a platform aimed at improving access to essential services in Africa. You can find the project on GitHub, or check out the live demo. Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
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