PaySmile
Turn everyday spare change into transparent community impact through automatic round-up donations on Celo blockchain.
Videos
Description
š The Problem
East Africa processes 30M+ daily mobile money transactions, generating 50-200 RWF in spare change per transactionāthat's $2.8B annually that vanishes unused. Meanwhile, communities desperately need funding for water wells, schools, and healthcare. Traditional donation systems fail with zero transparency, 5-10% fees, exclude feature phone users (60% of Rwandans), and offer donors no recognition or control. The result? Wasted billions and broken trust in charitable giving.
š” Our Solution
PaySmile is a blockchain-powered donation platform on Celo that turns spare change into real impact. Built with love for ABF Hackathon Rwanda
ā Multiple access points - Web app (PWA) + USSD (*384*400004#) for feature phones
ā 100% transparent - Every donation tracked on-chain in real-time
ā NFT gamification - Earn collectible badges (Bronze ā Diamond) with animated celebrations
ā Multi-payment - Crypto (CELO), mobile money (MTN/Airtel), or cards via Flutterwave
ā AI-powered - Google Gemini chatbot for 24/7 donor support
ā Voter control - Donors decide which projects get funded
Impact: We're accessible to 100% of Rwandans (smartphones + basic phones), charging only 1.5% vs 5-10% competitors, and making giving transparent, rewarding, and fun.
Progress During Hackathon
ā Smart Contracts: 5 deployed on Celo Sepolia (DonationPool, BadgeNFT, ProjectRegistry, VotingSystem, RewardDistributor) ā Frontend: Next.js 15 PWA - 10 pages, offline support, <2s load time ā USSD Integration: Full Africa's Talking backend (1,201-line Node.js server) Shortcode: *384*400004# Multi-language (English, French, Kiswahili) SMS confirmations & notifications Works on any phone (no smartphone needed) ā Payment Integration: Flutterwave (crypto + mobile money + cards) ā AI Chatbot: Google Gemini for 24/7 donor support ā Gamification: NFT badge minting with animated celebrations (confetti effects) ā UX Polish: 13 custom loading skeletons, smooth navigation, mobile-first design ā Performance: 92/100 Lighthouse score, optimized with prefetching ā Testing: 50+ beta users | $500+ testnet donations | 4.8/5 satisfaction š§ In Progress: Mobile apps (React Native), mainnet deployment, smart contract audit
Tech Stack
Fundraising Status
Seeking: $30K Seed $15K - Security audit + mainnet deployment $10K - Marketing & NGO partnerships $5K - Operations & legal Revenue: 1.5% transaction fee per donation Premium NGO features ($99/mo) Mobile money partnership fees (MTN/Airtel) Traction: Self-funded MVP | 50+ users | $500+ processed Prize Use: 100% for smart contract audit & mainnet launch