Finca 361 Microfinance Bank
ANTHONIA OJO
Finca 361 Microfinance Bank
Designing an offline-first Android tablet platform that transformed how Client Relationship Officers onboard customers and process loans in low-connectivity environments across Malawi and East Africa.
70%
Renewal conversion (up from 20%)
≤ 2 days
Loan turnaround (down from 5–10 days)
30%
Reduction in design-to-dev cycle time
25%
Improvement in task efficiency
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
361 by FINCA is an offline-first microfinance platform built for Client Relationship Officers operating in low-connectivity environments across Malawi and East Africa. As part of the Ikigai Digital design team, I contributed to prototyping core CRO-facing workflows , from customer onboarding to loan application and document sync management, helping transform a paper-heavy operation into a scalable digital platform that reduced loan turnaround from 10 days to under 2 days and increased renewal conversion from 20% to 70%.
Role: Product Designer
Team: Finca International, Ikigai Digital
Timeline: May 2025-Nov 2025
Tools: Figma · FigJam · Jira · Miro · Confluence
01 —THE PROBLEM
Paper-based operations at scale aren't working.
FINCA International's microfinance operations across Malawi and East Africa ran entirely on paper. Customer Relationship Officers (CROs) made between 5 and 10 physical visits per customer, travelling to remote communities to pitch loans, collect documents, verify addresses, and process repayments.
This created a cascade of problems: paper records degraded over time, data couldn't be searched or audited efficiently, and loan turnaround stretched to 10 days. CROs were spending more time traveling than serving customers, and renewal conversion rates sat at just 20%.
The brief was not simply to digitize the paper process. it was to revolutionize the entire workflow while navigating a critical real-world constraint: many areas in Malawi operate with little to no reliable internet connectivity.
02 — My Role
Mid - Level Product Designer (Consultant): Finca International
As part of the Ikigai Digital team, the certified delivery partner building 361 for FINCA International, powered by Thought Machine's Vault Core, I contributed to the end-to-end prototyping of the CRO-facing Android tablet application.
I worked closely with senior design leadership, product managers, and engineers, contributing to key CRO workflows from the Steel Thread through to MVP delivery.
My Contributions
###### UX & UI research (remote and in-field insights from CROs)
###### High-level UX flows and journey mapping
###### Offline-first interaction design
###### High-fidelity prototyping (Figma)
###### Usability testing with CROs
###### Parity checks between design and implemented app
###### Accessibility considerations (contrast, touch targets, clarity)
###### Contribution to the shared design system
###### High-fidelity end to end prototyping and usability validation
03 — pROCESS
From Steel Thread to MVP
The project followed a structured progression: a Steel Thread release first, a thin end-to-end slice of core functionality to validate the system architecture in real conditions, followed by full MVP development. This allowed the team to test, learn, and iterate with real CROs in Malawi before scaling.
01
Discovery
Stakeholder interviews, research into CRO field workflows and connectivity constraints across Malawi.
02
High-Level UX
Core offline onboarding and loan flow validated with real CROs. Tested comprehension, trust, and edge cases.
03
Steel Thread
Core offline onboarding and loan flow validated with real CROs. Tested comprehension, trust, and edge cases.
04
MVP Delivery
Full platform shipped with FINCA branding, scalable component system, and live deployment across branches.
04 —EARLY WIREFRAMES
Mapping the CRO workflow before touching visuals
Before moving into high-fidelity design, the team mapped out the core CRO-facing architecture through wireframes, focusing on information hierarchy, task flow, and data visibility rather than visual polish. These early explorations helped the team align on what a CRO actually needs to see and do at each stage of their day: tracking loan targets, managing leads, monitoring customer upload statuses, and responding to flagged cases.
Key decisions made at this stage included how to surface daily tasks and action items on the dashboard without overwhelming the CRO, how to structure the customer list to show upload and application status at a glance, and how alerts and cases should be presented to support fast triage in the field. These wireframes were shared with stakeholders and informed the iterative refinements that led to the final MVP screens.
05— Key Screens
The CRO-facing platform in action
Every screen was designed with real-world field constraints in mind. Large touch targets for outdoor use, clear system status communication for offline confidence, and minimal cognitive load for CROs with varying digital literacy.
Customer List
Customer list — CROs can import existing records or add new customers, preventing data re-entry
Multi-Step Onboarding Flow
6-step onboarding — structured flow completable fully offline on an Android tablet
Loan Application
2-step flow showing loan product, FINCA score, term and amount.
Dashboard
Smart draft detection — prevents duplicate loan applications with a clear "View drafts or Create new" prompt
Offline Feature
Unsynced forms warning — protects data integrity by alerting CROs to sync before signing out.
Uploads
Upload management — real-time sync status per document with one-tap retry for failed uploads
Applications
Applications view — clear upload status per customer, distinguishing submitted and draft states
Loan Management
Loan Application — clear list of all loan applications made which can be view or edited if not completed
06 —Future Scope
Group Loans — Explored, not yet shipped
During the project, the team explored a reimagined Group Loans flow. One of FINCA's most operationally complex products. Group loan application previously required CROs to make between 5 and 10 visits per group, coordinating multiple members, documents, and approvals across separate trips.
The concept aimed to consolidate this into a single CRO visit by redesigning the group coordination flow end-to-end. A group is formed by the customers and a group leader represents the group and process on behalf of the group. A voting system is done where all the members in the group meets to vote for the realistic amount according to each members capacity and that is what is processed for loan for the individual. This feature was explored and mapped during the project but forms part of FINCA's longer-term product roadmap for scaling across markets.
DESIGN INTENT
Ensure everyone has access to loan and stay accountable within a group, also to reduce group loan CRO visits from 5–10 trips to a single visit thereby increasing reach into remote communities while cutting operational costs at scale.
07 — Impact & Outcomes
Measurable change for CROs and customers
The platform is now live, serving underserved communities across sub-Saharan Africa. The shift from paper-based to digital-first operations delivered real operational improvements at scale.
70%
Renewal conversion rate — up from 20% through streamlined, guided workflows
≤2 days
Loan turnaround time — reduced from 5–10 days after application completion
1 visit
Maximum CRO visits per customer, reduced from up to 10 physical trips.
25%
Improvement in CRO task efficiency through optimized digital workflows
30%
Reduction in design-to-development cycle time via scalable component system
Minutes
Customer onboarding time reduced from several days to a single offline session
08 — What I Learned
Designing for the real world, not the ideal one
Working on 361 taught me that the most important UX decisions in complex environments are not visual. They are structural. Designing for CROs operating in markets with unreliable connectivity, varying digital literacy, and high-pressure field conditions meant that every decision had to prioritize trust, clarity, and offline resilience over aesthetics.
I learned that revolutionary design isn't always visible. Sometimes it's the unsynced forms warning that prevents data loss, or the draft detection modal that saves a CRO from a duplicate entry error. The moments that matter most to users are often the edge cases, and designing for those with the same care as the happy path is what separates good product design from great product design.
I also learned how to contribute meaningfully within a senior-led, cross-functional team, taking clear ownership of specific flows while staying aligned with a larger design vision across multiple squads, markets, and stakeholders
09 — Additional Screens
Key Design Screens
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Posted May 13, 2026
Designed an offline-first tablet platform for microfinance, improving loan processing efficiency in low-connectivity areas.
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