Pandastarz

Why B3N is involved

Small and medium businesses in Kenya want to work with musicians and online creators, and creators want steady paid work. Both sides were agreeing deals in direct messages, with no shared brief, no record of what was delivered and no protection if a payment or a post never arrived.

The answer had to be a marketplace and a payments system at the same time, because the hardest problem was trust.

What we built

One app for two kinds of customer. Brands get a campaign builder, creator discovery, invitations and applications, negotiation threads, review of deliverables and reporting. Creators get a feed of paid work, a public profile, applications and a wallet for their earnings.

Money that follows the work. Payment for a campaign is held until the brand approves the deliverables, then paid out to the creator. It runs on Payd's wallets, holds and payouts.

Operations from the first day. An admin console with a work queue, campaigns, people, finance and support, and a record of every change staff make.

Launch. A marketing site with separate journeys for brands and creators, onboarding for each role, and a creator-first mobile app that is now in build.

What it taught us

• In a marketplace, the rules for when money moves shape the product more than any screen.
• Creators and brands judge the product on different screens. We designed and tested their journeys separately.