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Yabbi

5 days to 5 minutes, Yabbi transforms bank onboarding with Digital ID and instant Core Banking integration. Mobile first and offline ready. Opening Africa's digital doors to financial inclusion.

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Inspiration

The inspiration for Yabbi emerged from a deeply personal frustration: watching people in Rwanda spend days opening bank accounts through manual, paper-based processes. Having previously worked on digital onboarding solutions for banks in Uganda and Kenya, I witnessed firsthand how archaic systems create barriers to financial inclusion. When 350 million Africans remain unbanked, not because they lack identity, but because the account opening process requires identity verification that's a duplication of the information already available on their National IDs, we knew something had to change. Yabbi was born from the belief that the first 15 minutes of a customer's banking journey shouldn't be their last.

What it does

Yabbi transforms bank onboarding from a multi-day ordeal into a 5 minute seamless experience. Our platform:

  • Verifies identities instantly through direct integration with government Digital ID infrastructure.
  • Captures and validates documents using AI-powered computer vision and OCR technology
  • Performs biometric authentication with liveness detection and facial recognition
  • Activates accounts in real-time through direct Core Banking System (CBS) integration
  • Works offline with hybrid sync capability for low-connectivity environments
  • Sends instant notifications via SMS to newly onboarded customers The result. Banks reduce operational costs by 85%, eliminate manual data entry errors, and open accounts at the moment customers walk through the door, not days later.

How we built it

Yabbi is a full-stack digital onboarding platform built for African markets with three core components:

1. Mobile & Web Interface

  • Native Android app
  • Web dashboard for bank staff
  • Offline-first architecture using IndexedDB and Service Workers to work in low-connectivity areas

2. AI-Powered Verification Engine

  • Computer vision with custom TensorFlow models to capture and verify ID documents in varied lighting
  • OCR technology to extract data from national IDs, passports, and licenses
  • Facial recognition with liveness detection.
  • Anti-spoofing using real-time tracking to prevent fraud

3. Integration & Security Layer

  • Government database connector
  • Core Banking System bridge
  • End-to-end encryption with tokenization and audit logging for compliance
  • Backend

Challenges we ran into

Regulatory & Compliance Hurdles

Navigating the complex web of financial regulations across East Africa proved more challenging than anticipated. Each country has different requirements for: -Data residency. Some regulators require customer data to remain in-country -Government database access -Banking partnerships. Convincing risk-averse banks to integrate with a new platform meant demonstrating bulletproof security and regulatory adherence.

Technical Challenges

  • Facial Recognition Accuracy. African faces are underrepresented in most training datasets. -Low Connectivity Environments. Building offline-first architecture that gracefully handles intermittent networks required extensive field testing
  • Integration with Banking Systems. Many African banks run Core Banking Systems with limited API documentation or integration options.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Building a pilot due to be tested in Cameroon

What we learned

Technical Lessons

  • Offline first isn't optional in Africa. Connectivity cannot be assumed. Every feature must degrade gracefully.
  • Regulatory compliance is a feature, not a barrier. Banks buy security and compliance as much as they buy functionality

Business Lessons

  • Don't stop pushing: Persistence and relationship building are critical
  • Pilots prove concepts: No amount of pitch decks replaces a working pilot with real customers
  • Partner with champions: Finding internal advocates at banks who "get it" accelerates adoption
  • Under promise, over deliver: Setting realistic timelines builds trust in a skeptical industry

Market Insights

  • Identity verification is table stakes: Banks don't just want KYC. They want fraud prevention, AML screening, and audit trails
  • Cost savings sell, but compliance closes: CFOs care about ROI; Chief Risk Officers care about regulatory penalties
  • Refugee/displaced populations are underserved: There's a massive opportunity (and social impact) in serving non-citizens with alternative ID documents

What's next for Yabbi

Immediate Priorities (Q1-Q2 2026)

  1. Launch Cameroon Pilot: Complete testing with partner bank and refine French language support
  2. Refugee ID Support: Partner with UNHCR to enable account opening for East Africa's 4+ million refugees using alternative identity documents (asylum seeker certificates, refugee IDs)

Short-Term Goals (2026)

  1. Complete East Africa Coverage: Expand from Rwanda into Uganda and Kenya
  2. **Consolidate presence in West Africa improving the feature offering for customers in Cameroon
  3. Enhanced Fraud Detection: Implement AI-powered anomaly detection to combat deepfake attacks (up 450% annually)
  4. API Marketplace: Open platform to fintech developers building on top of Yabbi's verification infrastructure
  5. Series A Fundraising: Secure $5-8M to accelerate regional expansion

Medium-Term Vision (2027-2028)

  1. West Africa Expansion: Seek out new opportunities in Francophone West Africa building on the experience in Cameroon.
  2. Beyond Banking: Expand to insurance, telcos, government services, and gig economy platforms
  3. Regional Licensing Hub: Become the go-to compliance partner for fintechs entering African markets

Long-Term Mission

Our ultimate goal is to become the digital identity infrastructure for Africa, the platform that every bank, fintech, and service provider uses to onboard customers securely and instantly. We envision a future where:

  • Opening any financial account takes < 5 minutes anywhere in Africa
  • Refugees and displaced persons have equal access to financial services
  • Identity verification is affordable, accurate, and accessible to all
  • 350 million unbanked Africans have digital doors open to them

Yabbi isn't just a product, it's a movement toward financial inclusion, one 5 minute Digital onboarding process at a time.

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