Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the lifeblood of African economies, driving growth, employment, and innovation. Yet for many business owners, especially those trading across borders, financial services remain frustratingly fragmented.
Accessing working capital, managing supply chain payments, or navigating opaque FX charges can add friction to already complex businesses.
A leading multinational African banking group recognised that its payments capabilities - though broad - were not proposition-led. They wanted to deliver more than just functionality; they wanted to create digital services rooted in the lived realities of their SME customers.
The group had already begun work on its core payments capability but leadership understood that building world-class propositions required a different approach: one grounded in customer Jobs to be Done (JTBD), local research, and rapid design sprints.
That’s where 11:FS Ventures came in.
The goal was ambitious: to define and deliver a high-level proposition, roadmap, and supporting architecture that would allow the bank to progress quickly into build and alpha release phases.
11:FS partnered with the group’s team to run an intensive proposition lab, blending deep customer immersion with structured design methodology. The engagement was designed not just to deliver insights, but to embed new ways of working within the client’s teams.
The project began on the ground for three weeks in South Africa, working with the core team of the client to review existing strategies, research, and market analysis. JTBD training was also carried out with the wider business to identify underserved customer needs and ensure capability transfer from day one.
The combined team then conducted further research on the ground in Ghana. Spending time with SMEs in their working environments revealed pain points often invisible from head office - whether the frustration of travelling to a branch to send funds, or the risks inherent in relying on cash-on-delivery models.
These insights shaped the design agenda and provided the evidence base for proposition design that took place over a series of sprints back in South Africa.
From research to roadmap, the team co-created a proposition framework designed to meet the most critical customer jobs. This included:
The process culminated in a business case and operating model design, giving the client confidence to progress toward implementation.
By the end of the engagement, the banking group had moved beyond ideas into actionable delivery. They emerged with:
Most importantly, the work created momentum. What began as a set of disconnected possibilities was transformed into a structured, customer-led path forward.
The frameworks and training that the 11:FS team were able to share also laid the foundations to help drive future propositions forward internally.
As the client’s Chief Digital Officer reflected:
“The difference 11:FS made really comes down to how they approach customer research and product work—it’s really focused on the right outcomes.
The team helped us accelerate through the early phases of ideation and discovery. Approaching the work with a team experienced in the Jobs to be Done framework has really helped us focus the execution and significantly improve the quality of our product build out. A high energy, high impact engagement with very focused outcomes has been a key benefit of working with the 11:FS team.”
By the end of the engagement, the banking group had moved beyond ideas into actionable delivery. They emerged with:
Most importantly, the work created momentum. What began as a set of disconnected possibilities was transformed into a structured, customer-led path forward.
The frameworks and training that the 11:FS team were able to share also laid the foundations to help drive future propositions forward internally.
As the client’s Chief Digital Officer reflected:
“The difference 11:FS made really comes down to how they approach customer research and product work—it’s really focused on the right outcomes.
The team helped us accelerate through the early phases of ideation and discovery. Approaching the work with a team experienced in the Jobs to be Done framework has really helped us focus the execution and significantly improve the quality of our product build out. A high energy, high impact engagement with very focused outcomes has been a key benefit of working with the 11:FS team.”
The success of this engagement demonstrates the power of combining customer-led design with strategic delivery discipline. By spending time in the market, co-creating with client teams, and relentlessly focusing on JTBD, 11:FS helped one of Africa’s largest banking groups chart a clear course from vision to viable proposition.
For financial institutions, the lesson is clear: competing on features alone is no longer enough. To unlock growth, banks must reframe payments not as infrastructure, but as a platform for building intelligent, contextual services that meet real customer needs.
That’s exactly what this client set out to do. And it’s only the beginning.
