AfriBook
AfriBook
AfriBook
2024-2025
Turning Pen-and-Paper Chaos into Seamless Bookings for for West African SMBs:
A Cultural Design Story
Turning Pen-and-Paper Chaos into Seamless Bookings for for West African SMBs: A Cultural Design Story
Turning Pen-and-Paper Chaos into Seamless Bookings for for West African SMBs: A Cultural Design Story
MY ROLE
Lead Designer - Team of 3
Team Lead
TIMELINE
3 Months
PRODUCT
Web App
TOOLS
Figma, FigJam, Asana
Figma, FigJam, Jira
Disclaimer: Company name, branding elements, and certain visual details have been modified to comply with NDA requirements. The core problem-solving approach, design process, and impact metrics remain authentic to the original project.
Disclaimer: Company name, branding elements, and certain visual details have been modified to comply with NDA requirements. The core problem-solving approach, design process, and impact metrics remain authentic to the original project.
The Opportunity
The Opportunity
While leading the design team of 4 including me, I found a gap in booking tools for local services in Benin. Nail salons and yoga instructors managed 500+ appointments monthly but faced a 35% churn rate. The issue wasn't a lack of tools; existing ones like Booksy were designed for Western markets.
In West Africa, customers prefer calling for appointments. This cultural difference made booking platforms unsuitable, forcing manual scheduling with conflicts.
While leading the design team of 4 including me, I found a gap in booking tools for local services in Benin. Nail salons and yoga instructors managed 500+ appointments monthly but faced a 35% churn rate. The issue wasn't a lack of tools; existing ones like Booksy were designed for Western markets.
In West Africa, customers prefer calling for appointments. This cultural difference made booking platforms unsuitable, forcing manual scheduling with conflicts.
The impact
The impact
Leading Through Cultural Insight
Leading Through Cultural Insight
First thing I did was to guided my team understand and properly reframe the problem.
“Instead of asking how to get customers to book online, we asked how to help business owners process phone bookings efficiently.”
This shift required extensive research into West African service businesses.
We interviewed 12 service business owners in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. These business owners spend 6-8 hours weekly managing bookings via WhatsApp and calls. The key here opportunity is to enable a faster appointment capture during calls while keeping the personal touch.
First thing I did was to guided my team understand and properly reframe the problem.
“Instead of asking how to get customers to book online, we asked how to help business owners process phone bookings efficiently.”
This shift required extensive research into West African service businesses.
We interviewed 12 service business owners in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. These business owners spend 6-8 hours weekly managing bookings via WhatsApp and calls. The key here opportunity is to enable a faster appointment capture during calls while keeping the personal touch.
"How do we help business owners process phone bookings efficiently?"
"How do we help business owners process phone bookings efficiently?"
Strategic Design Decisions
Strategic Design Decisions
Quick Booking Flow
Quick Booking Flow
I prioritized speed above all else for our appointment entry interface. When a customer calls, every second matters. I coached the team to design a flow that could capture an appointment in under 30 seconds customer name, phone number, service selection, and time slot confirmation. We eliminated unnecessary fields and used smart defaults based on the business's most common services.
I prioritized speed above all else for our appointment entry interface. When a customer calls, every second matters. I coached the team to design a flow that could capture an appointment in under 30 seconds customer name, phone number, service selection, and time slot confirmation. We eliminated unnecessary fields and used smart defaults based on the business's most common services.
Dashboard as Command Center
Dashboard as Command Center
Rather than designing for customer self-service, we built a dashboard optimized for the business owner's daily reality. The home screen shows today's schedule at a glance with color-coded appointments,and quick access to customer details. This addressed the overlapping schedules problem by making conflicts visually obvious before they happened.
Rather than designing for customer self-service, we built a dashboard optimized for the business owner's daily reality. The home screen shows today's schedule at a glance with color-coded appointments,and quick access to customer details. This addressed the overlapping schedules problem by making conflicts visually obvious before they happened.
Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management
I advocated for building light CRM functionality directly into the product. In a market where personal relationships drive repeat business, tracking customer history total appointments, spending patterns, preferred services became a competitive advantage. This feature alone helped reduce the 35% churn rate by enabling more personalized service.
I advocated for building light CRM functionality directly into the product. In a market where personal relationships drive repeat business, tracking customer history total appointments, spending patterns, preferred services became a competitive advantage. This feature alone helped reduce the 35% churn rate by enabling more personalized service.
Team Leadership and Collaboration
Team Leadership and Collaboration
Managing a lean team of three required strategic delegation and clear decision-making frameworks. I assigned one designer to own the quick booking flow and another to focus on the dashboard and customer management systems, while I maintained oversight of the overall experience and design system coherence.
Weekly critique sessions became crucial for maintaining quality while moving quickly. I established a principle: "Design for the interruption."
Every flow needed to accommodate the chaotic reality of a busy salon customers walking in, phones ringing, multiple services happening simultaneously. This principle guided hundreds of micro-decisions and kept the team aligned on what mattered most.
Managing a lean team of three required strategic delegation and clear decision-making frameworks. I assigned one designer to own the quick booking flow and another to focus on the dashboard and customer management systems, while I maintained oversight of the overall experience and design system coherence.
Weekly critique sessions became crucial for maintaining quality while moving quickly. I established a principle: "Design for the interruption."
Every flow needed to accommodate the chaotic reality of a busy salon customers walking in, phones ringing, multiple services happening simultaneously. This principle guided hundreds of micro-decisions and kept the team aligned on what mattered most.
"Design for interruption"
"Design for interruption"
Final solution
Final solution
The resulting product fundamentally reimagined booking software for a market ignored by Western tools. By designing for phone-based booking rather than against it, we created a solution that fit naturally into existing business workflows. Early prototype testing with five salon owners showed a 70% reduction in time spent managing bookings and eliminated double-booking conflicts entirely.
The resulting product fundamentally reimagined booking software for a market ignored by Western tools. By designing for phone-based booking rather than against it, we created a solution that fit naturally into existing business workflows. Early prototype testing with five salon owners showed a 70% reduction in time spent managing bookings and eliminated double-booking conflicts entirely.
Qualitative Feedback
Qualitative Feedback
"Before AfriBook, I was drowning. Now I can actually focus on making my customers beautiful instead of managing chaos."
— Aminata, Salon Owner, Cotonou
"I hired two more stylists because I can actually manage their schedules now. My business has grown 40% in three months."
— Jean-Claude, Salon Owner, Porto-Novo
This project demonstrated the value of leading with cultural context rather than importing Western UX patterns. AfriBook proved that effective design requires understanding not just what users do, but why they do it and sometimes the best innovation is designing for behavior as it exists, not as we think it should be.
This project demonstrated the value of leading with cultural context rather than importing Western UX patterns. AfriBook proved that effective design requires understanding not just what users do, but why they do it and sometimes the best innovation is designing for behavior as it exists, not as we think it should be.