Investa

A lot of young Nigerians want their savings to outrun inflation, and stocks feel like the way to do it. Most trading apps are built for people who already understand markets. They open on a candlestick chart, talk in tickers and order types, and leave the naira to dollar conversion as a footnote.

For someone buying their first share, every one of those moments is a reason to stop. So Investa opens on companies people already use, MTN, Apple and Airtel, each explained in one line.

Three people kept coming up. A first-time investor between 22 and 30 who wants to put a little away each month. A salary earner trying to protect savings from inflation. A curious saver who wants to own a piece of a company they already pay every month.

None of them think in dollars or shares. They think in naira and in monthly habits, so the home screen shows everything in naira and a recurring buy takes three taps.

You don’t buy shares on Investa. You type an amount in naira and the app works out what it buys. ₦1,000 gets you a slice of an Apple share, and the slice is shown as you type.

The fee and the exchange rate sit on the same screen before anything is confirmed. A first-timer should never find out what something cost after they’ve paid for it.

Adding money means a bank transfer in naira that becomes dollars on our side. Rates move, and transfers can be slow. So the rate is locked for 15 minutes, with a countdown right beside it.

If a transfer lands after the lock runs out, I didn’t want the app to quietly take a worse rate. It shows both rates, the difference in dollars, and lets you decide whether to keep the money in dollars or leave it in naira for now.

US prices change by the second. If the price moves between tapping buy and the order going through, most apps fill the order anyway. Investa stops and asks.

A sheet shows the old price, the new one and what your money buys now. You can buy at the new price or cancel and keep your naira. The default is the choice that keeps you in control.

Lagos evenings are when most people have time to invest, and that’s before the US market opens. An order placed then can’t fill straight away.

The order screen says so plainly. It shows what’s done, what’s waiting and when the market opens, and it tells you the most you could pay a share, so a price jump at the open isn’t a surprise.

Charts are where most trading apps start. In Investa they sit on the stock page and on home, the two places where they help someone decide. You can drag across the line to read the price on any day, and switch the range from a day to five years.

A monthly buy fails because the wallet is short. Someone tries to sell more than they own. A stock drops sharply on bad news. Each of these needed its own screen, because each is a moment where a new investor decides whether to trust the app.

The failed buy offers to add the missing amount or skip the month. The sell screen caps the amount at what you own. The sharp drop explains what happened in one sentence, shows what you put in against what it’s worth today, and says you don’t need to decide today.

Options, margin trading and crypto all came up, and all of them stayed out. Each one adds risk a first-timer can’t see yet. Leaving them out kept every screen about one thing, buying a piece of a company you know.

Next I’d put the buy flow in front of five people who have never invested, and watch two moments closely. Whether buying by amount feels like owning something, and whether the drop screen calms people down or makes them sell.