Rex Mercury

Table of Contents

Introduction

In Kenya, many residents use a unique form of digital currency called M-Pesa. This currency was born from people trading cell phone minutes to pay for goods and services. Eventually, a technology was created to transform that trading of minutes into a formal currency.

While M-Pesa has allowed Kenyans to easily send and receive money for years, most of the world doesn’t understand this unique economy. Because of this, money struggles to flow freely from the global economy into M-Pesa.

Rex Mercury wanted to change the narrative and create an app to allow money to easily exchange into M-Pesa. They decided to start with US nationals working in Africa, and they approached Simple Connections to help them make it a reality.

The Problem

The biggest challenge facing Simple Connections in this project was security. When dealing with thousands of financial transactions, having air-tight security is a necessity. Client data needed to be locked-down and each transaction had to be secured and accounted for. The team here at Simple Connections designed and implemented several security features to make sure Rex Mercury’s clients have peace-of-mind about the security of their money.

Reliability was another challenge the team at Simple Connections had to tackle. Rex Mercury’s clients expected to manage their money any time, any where. We needed to build a system that would allow clients to access their money at any time, with no down-time. From the start, we used the most current and reliable technologies to ensure Rex Mercury clients would always be able to access their money.


The Solution

After sitting down for an initial project meeting with Rex Mercury, we created a development plan and wireframes for the project. Before any code was written, Rex Mercury was able to see how the app would work, what it would look like, and what the result would be.

This style of development allowed us to accelerate the development process and ensure Rex Mercury received exactly what they needed. Because of our unique development process, we were able to produce a prototype for the app in just 8 days.

Our solution was to develop an app that allows US nationals working in Africa to transfer their US currency to M-Pesa currency. The app accomplishes this by utilizing secured next-day payouts from US banks.

This ensures that Rex Mercury’s clients are never stuck waiting weeks to convert and transfer their US currency to their M-Pesa account. The app checks exchange rates the moment a client makes the transaction and uses that up-to-date exchange rate for the transfer. Not only does this enable Rex Mercury’s clients to easily manage their M-Pesa, it allows money to flow freely through the African economy.

The Technology

After sitting down for an initial project meeting with Rex Mercury, we created a development plan and wireframes for the project. Before any code was written, Rex Mercury was able to see how the app would work, what it would look like, and what the result would be.

This style of development allowed us to accelerate the development process and ensure Rex Mercury received exactly what they needed. Because of our unique development process, we were able to produce a prototype for the app in just 8 days.

Our solution was to develop an app that allows US nationals working in Africa to transfer their US currency to M-Pesa currency. The app accomplishes this by utilizing secured next-day payouts from US banks.

This ensures that Rex Mercury’s clients are never stuck waiting weeks to convert and transfer their US currency to their M-Pesa account. The app checks exchange rates the moment a client makes the transaction and uses that up-to-date exchange rate for the transfer. Not only does this enable Rex Mercury’s clients to easily manage their M-Pesa, it allows money to flow freely through the African economy.

Methods

Project Highlights

The Result

The result was a completely custom Content Management System, database migration, web framework, and secure web app.

By combining tried-and-true technologies with cutting-edge advancements like blockchain, the Simple Connections team was able to deliver a bullet-proof app that has reliably transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars. More importantly, it’s helped open the M-Pesa economy and allow money to flow from Africa to the US banking system.

Rex Mercury’s clients have been happily using the app for 5 years to make reliable, fast, and easy transfers from M-Pesa to US currency at US banks.

eKitabu

Table of Contents

Introduction

In Kenya, teachers struggle under a crippling lack of reading material and educational tools. Students are eager to learn, but there aren’t enough textbooks to go around. Even worse, students that suffer from visual impairments can’t use traditional textbooks and often get left behind.

eKitabu is an organization that provides digital textbooks to schools across Kenya and beyond. Digital textbooks cost 98% less than traditional textbooks and support text-to-speech so visually impaired students can learn. To eKitabu, it was clear that digital textbooks were the solution.

However, while the government of Kenya had supplied 1.1 million tablets and laptops to schools, there wasn’t an e-reader software available to them. So, eKitabu approached Simple Connections to develop a free-to-use e-reader software that works on the devices distributed by the Kenyan government.

By partnering with international teams at the Readium Foundation and UNICEF, the Simple Connections team created an e-reader software that has given thousands of children a brighter future through learning and literacy.

The Problem

The government of Kenya had done an excellent job in providing 1.1 million tablets and laptops to schools as part of a digital literacy initiative. Unfortunately, there was a lack of e-reader software that could meet the needs of Kenyan teachers and students.

Students needed to easily access digital textbooks, track their progress, and use text-to-speech so students with visual impairments could join their classmates in learning.

Additionally, teachers needed a dashboard that would let them track students’ progress and identify students that may need extra help.

Finally, the software needed to be completely open-source and free-to-use so teachers wouldn’t be constrained by complex license agreements or expensive software.


The Solution

Like all our projects, the Simple Connections team started by sitting down with eKitabu and learning about their business, their mission, and their needs. By carefully listening to eKitabu’s requirements, we were able to put together wireframes and prototypes that allowed eKitabu to make real-time feedback. This hands-on method allowed our team to quickly implement changes and expedite the development process.

Our solution was to create a world-class, open-source e-reader that could be installed onto tablets and enable students and teachers to easily access and manage digital textbooks. During the project we worked with an international team at the Readium Foundation to build off their e-reader technology and make it accessible to thousands of students.

The e-reader software allows students to access the right textbooks for their classes, in an interface that’s simple to navigate and use. Text-to-speech technology can read the textbook out-loud, so students with visual impairments are never left behind.

The Technology

Putting together an e-reader software that was easy-to-use, reliable, and allowed teachers to track progress was a challenging task. Making this project even more challenging was the unstable internet connections in some parts of Kenya.

Our team knew that students would not always have access to the internet. So, when it came to keeping track of student progress, we designed an off-line system that would track progress inside the e-reader software. Once the student connected to the internet again, the e-reader syncs that information to a database. This allows teachers to reliably track student progress, even when students use their e-readers offline.

The Simple Connections team also built a custom analytic and tracking engine into the e-reader software. These analytics help teachers understand how their students are using the textbooks and enables them to identify the best way to help students learn.

Ease of use was a crucial consideration. Students and teachers needed to be able to intuitively understand how to use the e-reader. The Simple Connections team used expert user experience designers to make certain that even students and teachers unfamiliar with tablets could simply pick up the e-reader and learn how to use it in minutes.

Finally, the entire app was built to be open-source so there would be zero cost to download and use it. The e-reader is not tied to any subscriptions or cloud services, so every student can equip themselves for learning.

Methods

Project Highlights

The Result

The result was an e-reader app that enables students of all abilities to learn. Students can access their digital textbooks anytime, any where, and in any way they need.

Teachers can now see valuable data and analytics that helps them plan lessons, help students learn, and track progress across their entire classroom.

With over 1 million tablets supplied to all 23,000 public primary schools in Kenya, the e-reader app is equipping countless students to improve their future. The next generation of Kenyans now has unrivaled access to learning opportunities and literacy through technology.


Testimonial

Matt Utterback Co-Founder at eKitabu

“We’ve relied on Simple Connections as our go-to source for application development for over five years. We know we can rely on them to get the job done on time and on (often under) budget, with a result that looks great. The Simple Connections team understands the needs of startups and teams spread out internationally, and have helped us to organize and refine our processes, and helped define clear requirements. They always keep the end user in mind when creating software, and it shows in the final product.”

Town of Drayton Valley

Table of Contents

Introduction

For small towns, the municipal website is a crucial source of information for residents. From updating residents on events to giving them important information on businesses or services, having a clear municipal website is a must.

Drayton Valley came to Simple Connections with a request for a brand-new website for the town. They needed to communicate a wide range of information to residents with a design that was clean, modern, and easy to navigate.

The Simple Connections team sat down with Drayton Valley to learn more about their town and their needs. In the end, we delivered and hosted a fresh website that keeps residents connected to the important information and events in their community.

Drayton Valley Case Study

The Problem

Like many smaller towns, the town of Drayton Valley had not updated their website in many years. The design was outdated and difficult to navigate. Residents were finding it challenging to find the information they were after. Since their website contains a wide range of information, a new design was needed to make the site a snap to navigate.

Their website also lacked a content management system (CMS), which made updating the site time-consuming and awkward. The town needed a CMS that would allow them to manage, update, and add new content to their site in minutes.

At the same time the town of Drayton Valley approached Simple Connections for a new website, they were rebranding the town logos and other visuals. So, it was critical that the new website fit their fresh branding and show Drayton Valley as the vibrant, thriving community it is.


The Solution

The team at Simple Connections began the project by meeting with the town of Drayton Valley and learning about the town and their needs.

Once the team understood the unique demands of a municipal website, we worked up designs and wireframes that showed how the site would look and function. This allowed the town of Drayton Valley to collaborate on the design and ensured the result matched their needs exactly.

Our solution was to design a website from the ground-up that would present a large amount of information in a way that’s intuitive to navigate. The town had over 100 different pages of content, and it was vital for our team to create a design that could present this information without overwhelming residents.

Drayton Valley also needed a content management system that would equip them to efficiently update the website with new information. We chose to use WordPress as the content management system for its reliability, security, and ease of use.

In a smaller town, there are countless community events that residents can enjoy. To help residents stay up-to-date on community events, our team created a full-featured community events calendar for the website. It allows the community to self-manage their events by posting upcoming gatherings and happenings in the town. Residents can even purchase tickets for events online through the events calendar.

Transparency in government was important to the town council, and they wanted their new website to feature videos of town council meetings. The Simple Connections team created a full-featured council videos page where residents can view and download videos and access the council agendas.

We also set up nightly backups for the website, so the town of Drayton Valley will always have an up-to-date copy of their website in the rare event of a failure.

Methods

Project Highlights

The Result

The town of Drayton Valley now has a modern, clean, intuitive website that helps connect residents to the important goings-on in their community. From event calendars to accountability in council video, residents of Drayton Valley are now more connected than ever to their town.

Leaving behind awkward, arduous content management and using WordPress as the framework means that information can be updated or changed on the website in minutes. And, with our reliable hosting services, residents never have to deal with website downtime or slow load times.

Now, the town of Drayton Valley can connect residents to what’s most important to them, and offer world-class services to both permanent residents and visitors.