TWAA

TWAA is a mentorship and networking platform for women across Africa: a place to find mentors, join groups, share opportunities and grow. Its goals were ambitious. It wanted to raise its profile, grow membership fast and carry the women's empowerment movement across the region and beyond. But on mobile, where most of its members were, the experience was letting it down.

The problem

The first version of the web app worked on desktop but fell apart on phones. Text was jumbled, images and menus were misaligned, and members scrolled through endless pages to find anything. For a community trying to grow through word of mouth, that friction was costly.

What I built

• A ground-up mobile UX overhaul. Clear navigation, readable layouts and content members can actually find.
• An installable PWA. Built with Ionic, it installs to the home screen and feels like a native app.
• iOS packaging. The same codebase shipped as an iOS app.
• Backend integration. Connected to TWAA's TypeScript/Express API and Firestore, with LinkedIn integration for professional profiles.

Why a PWA

Persuading people to install an app is hard, and a PWA removes that step. It updates instantly without app-store releases, loads fast thanks to caching, and takes load off the servers during traffic spikes. That's exactly what a fast-growing community needs.

The result

Members got a fast, polished mobile experience that matched TWAA's ambitions. According to 2022 press coverage, the platform went on to serve 25,000+ members in more than 35 countries.