Delivered a full digital payments ecosystem for leading Fintech firm in Sierra Leone

Smart Systems is a financial technology company based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The company facilitates digital financial transactions for consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, and government entities across the country.

Smart Systems set out to build integrated digital financial infrastructure to increase financial inclusion in Sierra Leone, providing secure and accessible payment, billing, and e-commerce services to all segments of the population.

• No integrated digital payments infrastructure existed across consumers, merchants, and institutions.
• Businesses lacked tools to manage invoicing, billing, and payment collection digitally.
• Limited access to card and mobile payment products restricted financial participation.
• No local e-commerce marketplace existed to connect businesses with consumers online.
• Point-of-sale payment acceptance was unavailable to most merchants operating in Sierra Leone.

1. Take full ownership of the product roadmap

Classic Informatics embedded an experienced delivery manager to work alongside the Smart Systems team, taking responsibility for planning, sequencing, and driving the full product development roadmap from the outset.

2. Build a cross-functional team around the product

A dedicated team covering full-stack development, QA automation, business analysis, and DevOps was assembled — with the flexibility to bring in specialist skills on demand as the product scope evolved.

3. Develop the ecosystem as connected product lines

Rather than building each product in isolation, Classic Informatics designed SmartPay, SmartBill, and Baibai as an integrated ecosystem — sharing infrastructure, payment rails, and user data across products.

4. Design for inclusion from the ground up

Every product decision was made with financial inclusion in mind — supporting mobile money, bank transfers, prepaid cards, and POS systems to ensure the platform could serve users regardless of their access to traditional banking.

Payment & Billing Products

• SmartPay mobile payment platform for goods, services, money transfers, and airtime top-up
• SmartBill online billing platform for invoice creation, payment tracking, and financial management
• Online payment processing supporting credit cards, debit cards, mobile money, and bank transfers

E-Commerce & Marketplace

• Baibai e-commerce marketplace for businesses to sell products and services to consumers
• Merchant-facing tools for product listing, order management, and payment collection

Card Products & Point of Sale

• Prepaid, debit, and credit card product suite
• Point of Sale (POS) solutions enabling in-person payment acceptance for merchants
• CRM platform for customer relationship management
• Fraud detection platform for transaction monitoring and risk management

Smart Systems now operates a full-stack digital financial ecosystem in Sierra Leone, covering payments, billing, e-commerce, and point-of-sale in a single connected platform. The product suite serves consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities — extending digital financial access to populations previously excluded from formal financial services.

Business Impact

• End-to-end digital payments infrastructure deployed across Sierra Leone
• Three distinct product lines launched: SmartPay, SmartBill, and Baibai
• Merchants enabled to accept card, mobile money, and POS payments
• Financial inclusion extended through multi-channel payment access
• Government and institutional payment processing supported at scale