The challenge
In Kenya, a medical bill is a family fundraiser.
Most care is paid for at a hospital counter, often for someone else, often with less on M-Pesa than the invoice says.
The gap is covered by phone calls to family and by borrowing on terms nobody has time to read. Jireh turns that informal support into structure; my job was to make it feel as simple as sending money on M-Pesa, the bar every Kenyan user compares us to.
Research
The research that shaped my decisions.
I started with what had been written, then spent my first week at partner facilities and ran focus groups with the people we were designing for.
Read what exists
- Healthcare financing, health records and Kenya's demographic data
- Human-centred design in Kenyan healthcare
- How community groups buy together
Visit partner facilities
- My first week, at the counter where bills are paid
- Tried the app while actually sick, and the selfie check failed
Run focus groups
- With the people we were designing for
- Who pays for whom, and what makes a PIN feel safe
Boil it down
- One question the product answers
- Four findings that shaped every screen
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How might we reward caregivers for being proactive?
Key findings
- 01
Paying for someone else is the default.
Parents for their children, adults for their elderly parents. The bill is rarely your own.Led to rule 1: Pay for others as easily as for yourself.
- 02
Payment happens under pressure, on 3G and a low-end phone.
At a counter, often when someone is unwell. Heavy screens and dropped connections cost trust before it is earned.Led to rule 2: One decision per screen, from one shared system.
- 03
Money questions come before everything else.
Where can we use Jireh next time? What can I do with the cashback I've earned? The long Home screen answers these up front.Led to rule 3: Every shilling is visible.
- 04
People share an ID, selfie or PIN only when they know why.
Every request has to explain itself, and nothing is switched on until the person chooses it.Led to rule 4: Earn every request, and never lose progress.
Principles
Four rules, one for each finding
What we learned became what every screen answers to.
Pay for others as easily as for yourself
A Circle of family and friends backs a small interest-free credit line
The hard part was explaining shared responsibility without sounding like a debt collector.
One decision per screen
One bill can be split across several sources.
At the counter, a payer enters the facility's payment number and the bill, then chooses where the money comes from: cashback, a 0% interest loan, M-Pesa or any mix.
Every shilling is visible
A simplified overview of your benefits.
Users hold two kinds of money with Jireh: cashback they've earned and credit they can borrow.
Earn every request
People share an ID or a PIN once they know why.
Identity checks come only when they're needed. The app routes by what's missing, not a fixed order, so leaving halfway always brings you back to the right step.
One shared system
Adapting an open-source icon system to fit our brand
Starting from CRED's open-source NeoPop, I set a grid of my own and a foundation of base shapes, so every new icon starts from the same place.
Outcome
Results
These numbers belong to a team. I was its designer, working from the acceptance criteria that Athman Gude, our product manager, defined, through to handoff to engineering, with Sheila Sharon as the engineer and Terach Franchi as CEO.
Reaching 1,800+ users across 4 facilities took business development and marketing as much as design: Gloria Kerubo helped bring in users and new partners, and Helina Mbuthia Muhia worked in marketing.
1,800+ users
Served across 4 facilities
5.2 → 2.1 min
Median completion time after the onboarding redesign, down 59%
80+ each
Monthly active users on Discovery/Explore and the Profile Hub within four months of launch
396 → 770
Monthly active users over the same four months
The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.Phil Jackson
