Artificial intelligence is gaining a larger role in Africa’s fintech ecosystem, influencing everything from identity verification to risk checks and customer support. As more financial products introduce automated actions and system-led decision points, product teams are facing a new challenge: how to make these intelligent behaviours clear, predictable, and usable for millions of customers with varied digital experiences.
This shift is prompting companies to rethink how financial interfaces are designed. Instead of focusing solely on visible screens, teams must now consider how automated processes should communicate with users, how much information should be revealed, and when a system should step back and allow the user to decide. These questions are becoming central to fintech development across the continent.
Within this changing environment, Muhammed Adepoju, a Senior Product Designer working with teams across African and global markets, has been part of efforts to help companies adjust their product experience to align with AI-driven behaviours. His work involves contributing to the definition of interaction models for financial tools where automated checks, background processes, and intelligent prompts increasingly shape how customers engage with a product.
In multi-country payment products, for instance, AI often plays a supporting role in areas such as verification, transaction review, or card-related actions. Designers working in these domains must understand the different expectations users bring from one region to another, especially when the product is operating under varying regulatory and communication rules. Adepoju has collaborated with engineering and product teams to help determine how these system-led interactions should appear to the end user, ensuring that automated steps do not feel abrupt or unclear.
This work forms part of a broader pattern across African fintech. As companies expand into multiple countries, designers must account for diverse levels of digital familiarity, network reliability, and behavioural norms. Even small adjustments — such as how a product asks for additional information or indicates that an automated check is in progress can shift how users interpret the system’s role.
For designers working in this field, the introduction of AI has created new responsibilities. They must consider when systems should explain their reasoning, how much context users need to feel comfortable proceeding, and how to present automated actions without overwhelming the interface. This involves ongoing collaboration with engineering and compliance teams to ensure that technical processes translate into clear user interactions.
Adepoju’s contributions reflect this shift toward a more interpretive model of product design, where designers help mediate between human expectations and machine-led processes. His involvement in these discussions across different fintech environments illustrates how design roles are evolving as automation becomes a deeper part of financial services.
The broader African fintech sector is still in the early stages of integrating AI into mainstream products, but the trajectory is clear. As financial tools grow more intelligent, the design layer will play a crucial role in determining how users understand and trust automated systems. Designers like Muhammed Adepoju — who work at the intersection of technical teams, regulatory requirements, and user needs, are helping shape the practices that will define how AI-enabled finance operates across the continent in the coming years.
