Traditionally, design within African tech ecosystems has been an afterthought, a veneer that is layered on once functionality has been established.
However, the most significant products coming out today are those where design fuels adoption, trust, and sustainable growth.
Designing for impact means treating user experience not as surface polish, but as infrastructure: a core system that determines whether technology truly works in people’s lives.
Boluwatife Sokunbi, a product designer who is revolutionizing the way African businesses approach user experience, has been spearheading this change.
His portfolio demonstrates that great design starts with empathy but moves to quantifiable results, adoption, retention, and ecosystem health.
A characteristic aspect of his design is how he re-positions design as a tool of inclusion and scale, not aesthetics.
For instance, when designing for early-stage startups, Boluwatife doesn’t just ask “Is this usable?” but also “Does this cut barriers to entry for under-served users?” That lens guides product decisions that make services accessible to first-time internet users, possible on low-spec hardware, and culturally acceptable to various user groups.
Another principle is designing beyond single screens. Boluwatife often works in environments where a product is not just an app, but part of a larger ecosystem, government portals linked to offline workflows, fintech products tied to regulatory reporting, or EdTech systems used by both students and administrators.
Designing for impact here means building interfaces that anticipate complexity, reduce friction across user types, and make invisible processes transparent.
His philosophy also challenges the myth that African design should simply localize Western patterns. Instead, he draws from on-the-ground context: bandwidth limitations, device diversity, literacy differences, and collaborative usage (e.g., families sharing one phone).
The result is design solutions that are both globally competitive and uniquely resilient to local constraints.
Boluwatife’s work reminds the industry that impactful design in Africa is not about imitation, it is about invention.
It is about creating frameworks that expand access, strengthen adoption, and demonstrate that design is not an optional layer, but a driver of transformation.
