Wedaje Neo
A full-featured neo-banking app for Ethiopians worldwide.
Overview
Wedaje Neo, branded as Novalut, is a full-featured neo-banking app commissioned by Amhara Bank, one of Ethiopia's major commercial banks. The goal was a mobile-first banking experience that works for Ethiopians everywhere: tech-savvy students in Addis Ababa, first-time bankers in rural towns, diaspora users abroad, and merchants running growing businesses.
I was the sole UX Designer and owned the full UX strategy: research, competitive analysis, and personas, through to user flows, feature architecture, and a high-fidelity design system covering 14 modules across the whole financial lifecycle.
14
Feature modules
4
User personas
7
User flow charts
4
Languages supported
The Problem
I ran a two-layer competitive audit: global fintech platforms (Wise, Revolut, Payoneer) and local Ethiopian apps (Dashen Bank, Telebirr, Michu). The finding was consistent. No product covered the full range of Ethiopian users' needs, so Novalut set out to close those gaps in one place.
The platform had to serve four very different people: a university student who refuses to set foot in a branch, a first-time rural banker who needs an Amharic interface and offline access, a diaspora engineer sending money home from Minnesota who expects Revolut-level transparency, and a boutique owner in Bahir Dar who needs QR payments, a sales dashboard, and merchant loans in one app.
“The problem was never a single missing feature. It was that no one had built banking around Ethiopians first. That idea guided every decision that followed.”
Understanding the Users
The hard part was designing one coherent system for users with genuinely different mental models, skill levels, and financial needs.
The Digital Native · 22 · Addis Ababa
University student. Wants banking that feels like social media: fast, modern, rewarding. Refuses to visit a branch.
The First-Time Banker · 39 · Debre Tabor
Farmer and informal trader. Recently got her first smartphone. Motivated by secure saving and small loans for her poultry business.
The Global Connector · 35 · Minnesota, USA
Software engineer sending money monthly to family in Dire Dawa. Values transparency, efficiency, and security. Uses Wise and Revolut.
The Hustler · 29 · Bahir Dar
Boutique owner with 2 employees. Tired of juggling payment platforms. Wants payments, sales tracking, loans, and growth in one app.
Design Process
Audited global fintech platforms (Wise, Revolut, Payoneer) and local Ethiopian apps (Dashen Bank, Telebirr, Michu). The finding: no product served the full range of Ethiopian users, so Novalut was scoped to close each gap I found.
Built four detailed personas, each with a genuinely different mental model, skill level, and financial need. Every design decision was checked against all four before it moved forward.
Designed and iterated seven flow charts in FigJam covering every core journey. The first client review surfaced four gaps, which I built in: a loan application flow, dispute handling, notifications, and QR payment paths.
Mapped the full product scope: Onboarding and KYC, Core Banking, Card Service, Neo Wallet, Payments, Lending, Foreign Exchange, Merchant Tools, AI Support, Loyalty and VIP, Offline Capability, and BaaS plus third-party APIs. Each module got its own information architecture before any UI work began.
Built the complete mobile UI in Figma, using a navy and gold palette to signal premium banking, with Amharic and English typography handled throughout. Delivered a full component library with annotated developer specs.
Design Decisions
Onboarding
Rather than asking people to sign up cold, the welcome screen leads with five clear benefits: instant credit, a Visa card, an FX account, merchant tools, and savings. People see what they get before they commit.
Authentication
The login screen shows the user's profile photo and masked phone number straight away, confirming who they are before asking for a PIN. A fingerprint button offers a one-touch alternative, signalling both personalisation and security.
Transfer UX
The transfer screen opens with recent recipients as contact bubbles for one-tap "Send again." Four transfer destinations are clearly separated, and a floating QR scan button handles the payment path added after client feedback.
Personalisation
Users can rearrange their 11 quick actions on the home screen. Personalisation is built in rather than bolted on, which speaks directly to Yared's wish for an app that feels made for him.
Multilingual
Amharic, Oromo, Somali, and English were treated as equal options, not translations layered onto an English-first product. That shaped field sizing, font choices, and the layout of text-heavy screens throughout.
Outcome
Novalut shipped as a complete, developer-ready design system: 14 modules, 7 user flow charts, and a full component library with annotated specs, covering all four persona groups.
It showed that one platform can serve people as different as a first-time rural banker and a diaspora professional abroad, as long as the information architecture follows their real mental models instead of a Western fintech default.