SkillBridge
LMS
An affordable, full-featured Learning Management System built specifically for the East African market — started as a personal SaaS, validated with real users, and eventually acquired.
110+
Learners Served
1
Successful Acquisition
5K+
Projected Reach Post-Sale
M-Pesa
Payment Infrastructure
My Role
Solo Full-Stack Developer
Project Type
Personal SaaS → Acquired Product
Status
Live · Sold & Operating
An expensive gap in the East African learning market.
Platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and Teachable exist — but they're built for Western markets. Pricing is in dollars, payment methods exclude most Kenyans, and the content is rarely contextualised for local learners or instructors.
Beyond cost, there was a structural gap: institutions and instructors in Kenya had no affordable way to host structured courses, track student progress remotely, or collect payments digitally without complex workarounds.
The opportunity was clear: build an LMS that speaks to the East African market — local payments, local currency, local context.
A complete educational ecosystem, built for real users.
Low-Latency Video Pipeline
Course videos are stored on AWS S3 and streamed via optimized delivery, ensuring smooth playback even on slower Kenyan network conditions.
Real-Time Progress Tracking
Students and instructors see live progress dashboards — lessons completed, quiz scores, and time-on-platform — all updated in real time.
M-Pesa Payment Integration
Seamless STK push payments via Safaricom's Daraja API. Students enroll and pay in seconds, no card needed — exactly what the local market requires.
Instructor Dashboard
Course creators get a dedicated dashboard to upload content, manage curricula, and monitor student engagement metrics.
Authentication & Roles
Multi-role auth system distinguishing students, instructors, and admins — each with appropriate access levels and capabilities.
Curriculum Management
Structured course builder with sections, lessons, attachments, and prerequisite locking to guide learners through defined learning paths.
Built for scale from the start.
Frontend
Next.js
Styling
Tailwind CSS
Database
PostgreSQL
Media Storage
AWS S3
Payments
M-Pesa
Language
TypeScript
Data Layer
Prisma ORM
Deployment
Vercel
What this project proved.
Product-Market Fit is Real
The fact that SkillBridge found a buyer validates the market gap. A platform built for local context, with local payments, outperforms generic alternatives in adoption.
M-Pesa Changes Everything
Integrating Safaricom's Daraja API removed the single biggest barrier to course enrollment — friction at checkout. STK push payments feel native to Kenyan users.
Video Infra Is the Hard Part
Building a reliable, low-latency video experience on varied network conditions required careful S3 configuration and CDN strategy — not just a file upload.
Build Once, Sell Once
The platform was designed cleanly enough that a buyer could take ownership and operate it without rebuilding. Clean architecture has real business value.
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