Jabulani Digital

Nikwisa · Local discovery & connection · Lusaka, Zambia

From directory to decide-and-act platform.

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Discovery platform · Product strategy · UX · Development

2025–2026Visit live site ↗

Project at a glance

Who it is for

Client
Nikwisa
Sector
Local discovery & connection · Lusaka, Zambia
Delivered
Explore hubs, Structured place pages and WhatsApp enquiry

  • Explore

    Explore

    • Places
    • Activities
    • Ideas hubs

  • Compare

    Compare

    • Price
    • Conditions
    • Good-for

  • Enquire

    Enquire

    • Place view
    • WhatsApp handoff
    • Vendor shortlist

The challenge

What was getting in the way

  • 01

    Directory mental model

    Before

    Users and market compared Nikwisa to listing sites instead of a decide-and-act tool.

    Now

    Clearer job-to-be-done story for Explore season go-to-market.

  • 02

    Data before content

    Before

    Social and editorial formats scaled before flagship places had complete fields.

    Now

    Content queries the database instead of contradicting it.

  • 03

    Crawl trust

    Before

    Soft 404 history and empty shells trained search engines away.

    Now

    SEO posture aligned with pages that actually help users decide.

  • 04

    WhatsApp as the action layer

    Before

    Users already transact and book through WhatsApp in this market.

    Now

    Actions generated metric direction: hub → view → enquire.

The solution

One platform. Three motions.

[ 01 ]

Explore

  • Places
  • Activities
  • Ideas hubs
  • PAC metadata

[ 02 ]

Compare

  • Price
  • Conditions
  • Good-for
  • Trust signals

[ 03 ]

Enquire

  • Place view
  • WhatsApp handoff
  • Vendor shortlist

“We didn't need another feed — we needed people to see prices, pick an activity, and message the business.”

Nikwisa product team

Method

How we approached the project

Product direction had to be decided before more features shipped.

  1. [ 01 ]

    Investigate

    User jobs · inventory · SEO · conversion

  2. [ 02 ]

    Diagnose

    Where discover → compare → enquire broke

  3. [ 03 ]

    Architect

    Explore / Plan · hub-first model

  4. [ 04 ]

    Build

    Crawl fixes · hub UX · enquire flows

  5. [ 05 ]

    Ship

    Iterative releases on nikwisa.com

Behind the build

Research, structure, and build notes

Open a section for the investigation, the structure, or the build notes.

Discovery and research
02

How we investigated

Worked backward from live product, SEO posture, competitive patterns, and inventory quality audit. Diagnostic from live product, Explore/Plan rules, SEO opportunity map, competitive patterns, and inventory quality audit (PAC, conditions, price semantics, soft 404 history).

Sources

  • Live product review
  • SEO opportunity map
  • Competitive research
  • Inventory audit (PAC, conditions, pricing)

Evidence snapshot

  • [ 01 ]

    Directory mental model hid the decide-and-act job

  • [ 02 ]

    Missing structured fields broke budget and Ideas content

  • [ 03 ]

    Crawl trust debt from historical soft 404s and empty hubs

Architecture and design decisions

The blueprint

System architecture

                  NIKWISA
                     │
              ┌──────┴──────┐
              ↓             ↓
           EXPLORE         PLAN
              │             │
        Places · PAC    Event vendors
        Activities      (return GTM)
        Ideas hubs
              │
              └──────→ WHATSAPP ENQUIRE

Capability

Technology & role

Product strategy · Explore/Plan direction · SEO & discovery architecture

  • Next.js
  • Structured inventory (Places · Activities · Stores)
  • Collections & SEO hubs
  • WhatsApp enquire
Implementation

How it works

Workflows

Weekend planning (Explore)

  1. 1.Ideas or PAC hub
  2. 2.Compare fees and conditions
  3. 3.Shortlist
  4. 4.WhatsApp enquire

Note

Plan (event vendors) stays in the product while Explore leads GTM — dual entry is intentional.

Scope & limits

Explore leads go-to-market; Plan stays in product but marketing is paused. Payments in-app are not MVP. Confirm live URL in CMS if production domain differs.

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