Booking Q1 2027 Independent software development firm · Nairobi

Built for any signal.

Senior product engineering. We design and ship mobile and web products with M-Pesa and USSD integrations, offline sync and multilingual interfaces — built for 2G and shared devices.

Start a project See how we build

Strategy, design and engineering in one senior team
English · Kiswahili · Soomaali

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What we do

The whole product. Not a handoff.

One senior team from the first question to the last deploy. Less translation loss, fewer gaps, better products.

01 / Strategy

Find the edge.

We pressure-test the problem before writing code — so you build the thing that matters, not just the thing on the brief.

02 / Experience

Make it feel inevitable.

Interfaces that are clear at a glance, in any language, on any phone. Designed with real people, not personas.

03 / Engineering

Build it to last.

Production-grade web, mobile and platform engineering — fast on weak signal, secure by default, documented for handover.

04 / Intelligence

Connect the moving parts.

Mobile money, messaging, data and AI that earn their place in the workflow — not innovation theatre.

Also in the roomCloud & DevOps · security reviews · localisation QA · analytics & experimentation

Where we work

Built for Africa's real economy.

Different sectors. One standard: useful on day one, fast on the phones people own, trusted with what matters.

Money that moves with trust.

Wallets, collections, payouts and identity flows that survive patchy signal — and stand up to compliance review.

Mobile-money rails and bank integrations
KYC, roles and granular permissions
Reconciliation and audit-ready reporting

The hard part

A transaction that succeeds on the phone but never reaches the ledger.

M-PesaAirtel MoneyEVC PlusPesaLink

Service pattern

WalletM-Pesa · Airtel

IdentityKYC · OTP

LedgerDouble-entry

PayoutConfirmed in 2.4s

Ledger reconciled99.98%

Illustrative service pattern — not client data.

Have a project in mind? Start with a 60-second blueprint.

Start a project

The Hanan standard

Real conditions aren't an edge case. They're the brief.

We design for the networks, devices and payment habits your users actually have — not the polished version in the pitch deck.

Fast on a weak signal

Sub-2.5s LCP target on a mid-range Android over 3G. Performance is a budget in every sprint, not a final cleanup.

Useful offline

Critical flows queue, sync and recover. A dropped connection should never mean lost work.

Fluent by default

English, Kiswahili and Soomaali — authored and reviewed by native speakers, not run through a machine.

Mobile money native

M-Pesa, Airtel Money, EVC Plus and bank rails designed into the journey, not bolted on.

Accessible by default

WCAG 2.2 AA, 44px touch targets, keyboard paths and contrast that survives direct sunlight.

Yours to keep

Source code, infrastructure and documentation. No lock-in, no hostage engineering.

LCP target on 3G≤ 2.5s

Critical path budget≤ 200KB

Accessibility targetWCAG 2.2 AA

Source ownership100%

Every project gets a written performance and accessibility budget before design starts.

Ask us how we test it

How we work

Small team. Short loops. No black boxes.

A clear path from uncertainty to a product in people's hands.

The path · 1 / 4

Find the edge

We interrogate the problem, the people and the constraints. You leave with a sharp brief, success measures and a plan you can act on.

Working principles

Fixed scope, written quote
Weekly working demos
You own the code
One senior team

Weeks 1–2

Find the edge

We interrogate the problem, the people and the constraints. You leave with a sharp brief, success measures and a plan you can act on.
- Discovery brief
- Scope & architecture
- Success metrics
Weeks 2–5

Make it real

A clickable prototype and tested interface — not a deck. We put it in front of real users early, while changing direction is still cheap.
- Working prototype
- Design system
- User test findings
Weeks 5–14

Build the core

Senior engineers ship in weekly increments. Every Friday you see working software, not a status email.
- Production build
- QA & accessibility
- Weekly demos
Ongoing

Launch & learn

We harden, measure and improve — or hand over cleanly with documentation, training and no strings.
- Launch support
- Analytics & measurement
- Handover or retainer

Not sure where you fit? A 20-minute conversation is usually enough to find the first move.

Book a 20-minute fit call

Proof, not promises

This page is our first case study.

We're a new software development firm with a simple answer to “show us your work”: inspect this one. Then ask for references, code samples and a technical walkthrough.

Code shipped —KB

HTML, CSS and JS · this page load

Languages 3

English, Kiswahili, Soomaali

Third-party trackers 0

No cookies. No analytics scripts.

Accessibility target AA

WCAG 2.2, tested with a keyboard

Measured in your browser on page load. No vanity metrics.

Founding partners · 2027

Build with us from the start.

We take on a small number of founding partners each year. You get senior product attention and a direct line to the people doing the work. We get a case study we're proud to show.

Product strategy included
Senior team, no handoffs
Launch-ready in weeks
Founding-partner terms

Apply as a founding partner

Three active builds at a time. By design.
NDA available. References, code walkthroughs and security docs on request.

The firm

Hanan means compassion. Labs means proof.

An independent software development firm in Nairobi, built for teams who refuse to lower their ambitions for this market.

HananLabs is an independent software development firm in Nairobi. We started it because African teams deserve software built with the same care, rigour and ambition as anything shipping in New York, Berlin or Tokyo — designed for here, from the start.

We're deliberately small. The people in the room are the people doing the work. We work across East Africa and the wider continent, in English, Kiswahili and Soomaali.

In the room

Strategy Product Design Engineering Data

Hanancompassion, tenderness

Labsrigour, iteration

Clarity over cleverness

The best interface is the one nobody has to think about.

Local by default

Language, payments and network conditions are design inputs, not afterthoughts.

Proof over theatre

Working software, measured outcomes, no innovation theatre.

Home base Nairobi, Kenya EAT · UTC+3 · --:--

Built for any signal.

The whole product. Not a handoff.

Find the edge.

Make it feel inevitable.

Build it to last.

Connect the moving parts.

Built for Africa's real economy.

Money that moves with trust.

From field to market, without the paperwork.

Care that follows the patient.

Proof from pickup to delivery.

Learning that reaches beyond class.

Public services people can actually use.

Real conditions aren't an edge case. They're the brief.

Fast on a weak signal

Useful offline

Fluent by default

Mobile money native

Accessible by default

Yours to keep

Small team. Short loops. No black boxes.

Find the edge

Find the edge

Make it real

Build the core

Launch & learn

This page is our first case study.

Build with us from the start.

Hanan means compassion. Labs means proof.

Clarity over cleverness

Local by default

Proof over theatre

Tell us what you're building.

Shape your brief in 60 seconds.

A focused discovery sprint.