The Problem We Were Actually Solving
What we were trying to solve was a problem of economic freedom, but what we got was a problem of censorship. In a country where even basic financial services are hard to come by, we were trying to build a platform that would make creators prosperous. But the platforms we used were designed for countries with established financial infrastructure, and we were stuck with the limitations that came with them. We had to think outside the box, but every box we opened revealed a new restriction.
What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)
My first attempt was to use a combination of PayPal and a local payment gateway. But what happened when a creator wanted to buy a product from themselves? The two services ended up fighting over the transaction, resulting in a 20-second delay and a 2% transaction fee. But the worst part was when the platform got blocked by our country's central bank due to 'suspicious activity'. It was a mess, and the cost of switching to a new payment processor was higher than the revenue we were generating.
The Architecture Decision
We finally decided to go with M-Pesa, a mobile payment service that's ubiquitous in East Africa. It's not as seamless as using PayPal or Stripe, but it's the only option that doesn't involve censorship. We also had to write our own middleware to handle currency conversions and foreign exchange rates, but the result is a platform that's truly local - and truly profitable for our creators.
What The Numbers Said After
After switching to M-Pesa, our transaction latency dropped to 5 seconds, and our transaction fee went down to 1%. More importantly, we saw a 300% increase in sales, and our creators were able to keep 95% of their revenue instead of 85%. It was a major turning point for the platform, and it's a testament to what happens when you focus on the actual problem you're trying to solve.
What I Would Do Differently
If I had to do it again, I would build the payment processor from the ground up, integrating it with our platform in a way that's more seamless and secure. I would also invest more in our risk management and compliance team, to avoid getting blocked by regulatory bodies in the future. And I would invest less in customer support, because our creators are now empowered to take care of their own transactions. In the end, it's not about the platform you use, it's about the platform you build that works for the people you're trying to serve.
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