Pebla: Game Changer or Just Another Fintech App?

After weeks of building in public and sharing updates on the process of developing a fintech product, David Masoperh has finally launched his product, Pebla. About a week ago, David announced on his LinkedIn page that Pebla is now available on the Play Store in Rwanda. Excited to try it, I downloaded it immediately. But, was Pebla worth the hype it garnered before launch? Is Pebla a Game Changer or Just Another Fintech App?

Pebla is a financial services aggregator focused on creating inclusive fintech solutions for emerging economies. Currently, it offers an automated USSD platform. Prior to its launch, Pebla executed a strong marketing strategy, gaining visibility through Norskenn East Africa. David actively promoted his product as a founder, which worked perfectly. If you’re part of Kigali’s tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem, you’ve likely heard of David and Pebla at least once.

I love Pebla

Since downloading the app, I’ve used it daily for payments. Not just for this review, but genuinely because I find the app quite impressive. It serves a meaningful purpose—making mobile money transactions quicker and more convenient.

The app’s user interface is simple and intuitive. Navigation is easy, requiring no additional tutorials. It mirrors the typical USSD interface on mobile phones but with subtle enhancements that make the app more functional and efficient.

As of 2022, Rwanda registered over 16.2 million mobile money accounts, a clear indicator that mobile money is the dominant payment method in the country. However, most users rely solely on USSD, which poses a challenge.

Before making a payment, users have to dial a long sequence of USSD codes, which is often time-consuming. Pebla simplifies this process by allowing users to input a phone number and the amount to pay. The app then generates and dials the appropriate USSD code in the correct sequence. All that’s left to do is enter your PIN to complete the transaction. With this streamlined solution, Pebla reduces a typical six-step transaction process to just three steps, and checking your mobile money balance takes only two steps.

In addition, the application also has features like “split” and “request” that let you split payments, such as house rent or food, with others by sharing a link to make their payment.

The app also features a transaction history that logs previous transactions, enabling users to view, manage, or delete records. Pebla supports both MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Mobile Money, the two dominant mobile money services in Rwanda.

The best part is that the Pebla application works completely offline, making it more practical and accessible compared to its competitors in Kigali, such as Spenn, MTN Momo App, Nokanda, and others.

I Love Pebla, but Not Entirely

While this might seem like a great product which it is, I would still review the application as one in its beta stage. The application is good for what it offers at the moment, it performs well, but who says it can’t perform better?

One major issue with the application is how it records transaction history. The app provides minimal feedback on the status of a transaction. For instance, during my first use, I canceled a payment without entering my PIN, but the transaction was marked as “number paid.”  As a user, canceling a transaction and seeing it recorded as “paid” is not a good experience.It would be preferable if the app distinguished between completed and canceled transactions in the history, using statuses like “paid” for completed transactions and “canceled” for aborted ones.

Another improvement area is transaction records. Currently, the app only logs the phone number and the transaction amount, but it does not record the recipient’s name. Instead, it uses the generic phrase “number paid” rather than showing the name of the person or business paid, like “John Doe.” This feature would enhance users’ ability to track and identify their transactions.

A feature that would be highly useful is the ability to save numbers or codes for future transactions, reducing the need to input the information repeatedly. While Pebla allows selecting contacts, this option doesn’t extend to paying Momo codes. Additionally, including the option to download mobile money transaction records would be a great enhancement

Additionally, an option to download your mobile money account statement/record could be included. 

Pebla can help me check my balance and make payments faster and easier, but can it help me purchase recharge cards/mobile airtime and data faster? The answer is NO, at least for now. As David and his team continue to improve the product, I would love to see features that streamline the process of purchasing mobile data. Currently, buying a data package on MTN Momo can take about 30 seconds to one minute, with up to six steps involved.

To further improve Pebla, I suggest integrating a simple calculator into the dialing pad. Many times after shopping, I have to exit Pebla to use my calculator to sum up the total cost, then return to Pebla to complete the payment. A built-in calculator would reduce the time spent figuring out the total before making a transaction.

Payments with Pebla involve two parties: the sender and the receiver. While reviewing this, Pebla was functional when I entered the receiver’s number or code manually. However, when trying to make transactions with market vendors or moto drivers, many of them found the interface confusing. They are used to the traditional USSD interface and struggle with Pebla’s QWERTY keyboard. In these situations, I had to exit Pebla and revert to the traditional USSD method. A solution would be to make the number or code entry interface resemble the USSD keypad.

Even at its beta stage, Pebla is highly functional and addresses a real problem, making mobile money transactions faster and easier. This review was tested on an Android device, as Pebla is not yet available on the iOS App Store. To download Pebla on Playstore, click here.