JobSpotta
A trust-first marketplace for local work. Households in Bonny Island and Port Harcourt hire verified artisans, agree the price in chat and pay only when the job is done. I designed it, built it end to end, and run it.
Live, taking real jobs, and still shipping every week.
This page was last updated on 25 September 2026. The July version of this case study described a prototype. Almost every part of it has since been rebuilt against real users, real money and real compliance rules.
Live on the web
app.jobspotta.com, installable as an app, open to everyone in Bonny Island and Port Harcourt.
Payments live
Paystack split payments, with the flat 5% fee back on since 17 September after a zero-fee launch window.
Android in testing
In closed testing on Google Play, working through the tester period Google requires before production.
iOS builds ready
The native shell, haptics and push registration build on CI. The App Store listing follows Apple enrolment.
Hiring runs on WhatsApp and word of mouth.
In Nigeria, finding a plumber, electrician or cleaner still runs on referrals and group chats. That breaks in two directions at once: clients can't tell who is real, and good workers can't prove it.
Clients can't verify who's real
of clients said finding a reliable worker takes more than a day, and most had been scammed or received poor work at least once.
Workers can't prove they're trustworthy
of workers rely entirely on referrals. None had a professional profile, a portfolio, or a safe way to get paid.
I studied the market before I opened Figma.
Interviews with workers and clients across Port Harcourt and Bonny Island, a survey, and a close read of Bolt and InDrive. Their live availability and price negotiation pattern maps almost exactly onto informal labour, so I adapted it instead of copying a Western marketplace.
Chidi James
The skilled worker, 32, electrician
- Goal
- A steady stream of clients without depending on friends to refer him.
- Frustration
- No way to show proof of past work or build a reputation online.
"People don't know I exist until someone tells them about me."
Amaka Nwosu
The client, 38, small business owner
- Goal
- Find a reliable, verified worker quickly, without getting scammed.
- Frustration
- Has been scammed before. Asks family and WhatsApp groups, then waits two or three days.
"I just want to see reviews before I let someone into my house."
The plan met real users, real money and real rules.
A marketplace isn't finished when the screens are. These are the calls I had to reverse or rebuild once the product was live, and why each one made it better.
Escrow→Payment protection
Paystack's rules mean a marketplace can't hold customer money. I rebuilt payments around split payments: the card is authorised at hire, charged only when the client confirms, and the worker's share lands in their own bank. JobSpotta only ever receives its fee.
One NIN lookup→Four trust signals
Real NIN lookups need a licensed partner, cost ₦50 to ₦150 a check and go down. Nigeria already ties identity to phone numbers and bank accounts, so JobSpotta verifies through those for free, then adds a government ID and selfie reviewed by a person, and a guarantor.
Port Harcourt first→Bonny Island first
Bonny is an island with a close community and a contained labour market. Trust spreads street by street there, so it became the beachhead, with Port Harcourt alongside.
Stuck on "Under review"→A closed review loop
When a reviewer asked for a clearer ID photo, workers never saw it and stayed stuck. Now the reason shows on screen, they get a notification and an email, only one submission can be open, and repeated rejections lock the check until staff unlock it.
USSD alerts→Push, with email as the fallback
Important events reach people as device notifications, and fall back to email when push is off, with throttling so nobody gets spammed. Chat and job alerts deep link straight to the right screen.
Free forever→5%, after trust
A zero-fee launch window got the first jobs through. The flat 5% came back on schedule, stored as data rather than hard coded, so every transaction records the rate it was charged at.
Two roles, one app, light and dark.
These aren't screenshots. They're rebuilt from the app's own code and colours, so they stay sharp and switch themes like the real thing. Tap any phone to replay it.
Names, prices and ratings inside the phones are demo data.
A lens with a blue dot, and a character to carry it.
The wordmark's o is a magnifying glass with the brand blue dot in the lens. In September that lens came to life as Spotta, a mascot for every moment that needs a face: loading, empty lists, celebrations and things that went wrong.
DM Sans across the app, from 12px labels to 40px amounts.
Every animation stops under reduced motion, and haptics use the Taptic Engine inside the iPhone build.
Four checks on every worker. Zero naira held by us.
Trust is a system, not a badge. No single check carries it, and the payment design removes the biggest risk of all: a platform sitting on other people's money.
Phone
Verified free with one WhatsApp message, or a code by SMS or voice call. Required to hire or go live.
Bank name match
The account the worker is paid into must be in the name on their profile.
ID and selfie
Reviewed by a person in the Command Center, stored encrypted, never shown to other users.
Guarantor
Confirmed through a shareable link, then a staff phone call. Past clients can vouch too.
One person, built like infrastructure.
Security lives in the database, not the screen. Every table sits behind row level security, sensitive actions run through checked server functions, and money only moves inside edge functions that verify with Paystack.
A marketplace is operations. So I built the back office too.
The Command Center at ops.jobspotta.com is where the human side of trust happens, and where one person can run the business from a phone during a busy week.
Review queues
IDs with selfies, trade certificates and guarantor calls, each with approve, retake or reject and a reason that goes straight back to the user.
Recruiting kit
Tracked sign-up links and printable A5 flyers with QR codes per market, estate or church, so the sign-ups page shows which street actually brought people in.
Monday founder report
An email every Monday at 7am: sign-ups, jobs, money moved, and exactly what is waiting on a human.
The lens rolls in and becomes the o.
An 11 second brand intro built in Blender for the launch, exported in landscape, square and story formats.
A case that had to hold up as a business.
JobSpotta was my TS Academy capstone, my BDLI final project and the flagship of my iDICE Founders Lab application, so it had to work as a business, not just a design. Today it's a live product under Ace Engines Technologies Ltd, built solo and full stack.
Design the behaviour
Copy the pattern that fits the culture. People here haggle, so negotiation is a feature, not a bug.
Trust is a system
Identity, vouching and payment protection together. No single feature earns trust alone.
Rules shape the product
Payment and data protection rules forced better designs than the ones I started with.
Ship, then show
Small releases every week, each one written up. The log above is the proof.
Google Play, production
Once the closed testing period completes.
The App Store
The iOS build is ready. Next come Apple push delivery and demo accounts for review.
More of Rivers State
Area by area, the same way Bonny was earned.
Want this kind of thinking on your team?
I'm open to product design and full-stack roles, and to building with founders who care about trust as much as I do.