Aella: Building a Full-Stack Digital Banking Platform

Aella was on an ambitious mission to build a full-stack digital banking platform that would serve Nigeria's underbanked population. As a rapidly scaling fintech company transitioning into a Microfinance Bank (MFB), they needed to accelerate their product development while maintaining the highest standards of financial security and regulatory compliance.

The company faced several critical challenges:

• Talent Gap: Limited access to senior engineers with deep fintech and banking experience

• Speed to Market: Aggressive timelines to launch features that would differentiate them in a competitive market

• Technical Complexity: Building mission-critical banking infrastructure requiring specialized knowledge of Nigerian financial systems

• Scalability Requirements: Architecture needed to support explosive user growth and transaction volumes

• Regulatory Compliance: Navigating complex CBN regulations and integration requirements with national payment infrastructure

Aella needed more than just additional developers—they required experienced engineers who could hit the ground running, architect scalable solutions, and integrate seamlessly with their existing team to build enterprise-grade banking features.

We deployed a strategic team augmentation model, embedding our senior full-stack engineers directly into Aella's product teams. Our engineers worked as an extension of their in-house team, participating in sprint planning, architecture decisions, and code reviews while taking ownership of critical infrastructure components.

Key Deliverables:

Direct NIBSS Integration Pipeline

We architected and built Aella's direct integration with the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), enabling:

• Real-time bank account verification and validation

• Instant fund transfers between banks

• Direct debit collections for loan repayments

• Automated settlement and reconciliation

• 99.9% uptime and sub-second response times

This integration eliminated dependency on third-party aggregators, significantly reducing transaction costs and improving reliability.

Wallet Interest Module

Designed and implemented a sophisticated interest calculation and accrual system that:

• Automatically calculates interest on customer wallet balances

• Supports multiple interest rates based on account tiers and balance thresholds

• Handles daily accrual with monthly capitalization

• Provides transparent interest statements to customers

• Scales to handle millions of accounts with accurate calculations

Statements and Reporting System

Built a comprehensive financial reporting infrastructure featuring:

• Real-time transaction statements generation

• Customizable date range reports

• PDF and CSV export capabilities

• Automated monthly statement delivery via email

• Advanced filtering and search capabilities

• Performance-optimized queries handling billions of transaction records

B2B Solutions for Fast-Growing Businesses

Developed enterprise-focused features including:

• Multi-user business accounts with role-based access control

• Bulk payment processing for payroll and vendor payments

• Corporate credit facilities and loan management

• Dedicated account managers dashboard

• Transaction limits and approval workflows

Technical Excellence

Our contributions extended beyond feature development to include:

• Scalable microservices architecture

• Database optimization for high-performance queries

• Security best practices and penetration testing

• Documentation for knowledge transfer and maintenance

Our team augmentation engagement transformed Aella's product capabilities and market position, contributing significantly to their success story.

For Aella:

• Accelerated Time-to-Market: Launched critical banking features faster than projected timelines

• Investor Confidence: Strong technical foundation helped secure $10M+ in funding

• Operational Efficiency: Direct NIBSS integration saved hundreds of thousands in transaction fees annually

• Competitive Advantage: Enterprise B2B features opened new revenue streams and market segments

• Technical Scalability: Infrastructure scaled seamlessly from thousands to millions of users

Technical Impact:

The systems we built became core to Aella's value proposition. The wallet interest module differentiated them from competitors by offering savings features that drove customer retention. The statements and reporting system ensured transparency and built trust with users and regulators alike.

Our NIBSS integration became a significant competitive moat—while competitors relied on expensive third-party services, Aella could process transactions faster and cheaper, directly improving unit economics.

Team Integration Success

Our engineers seamlessly integrated with Aella's culture and workflows. We participated in:

• On-call rotations for production support

• Knowledge transfer sessions ensuring long-term sustainability

The collaborative approach meant that when our formal engagement ended, Aella's internal team had the knowledge and documentation to maintain and extend all systems we built.

Long-Term Value

The infrastructure we developed continues to power Aella's operations today, processing billions of Naira in transactions and serving as the foundation for new product innovations. The modular architecture we implemented allows their team to rapidly build and deploy new features without major refactoring.