ZapCartZapCart

Hack4Freedom Lagos 2026Hack4Freedom Lagos 2026

OverviewOverview

ZapCart is a simple, mobile-first point-of-sale (POS) system built for small businesses and everyday traders in Nigeria.

It helps merchants accept instant Bitcoin Lightning payments, track sales, and manage inventory in a way that feels as simple as writing in a notebook, but faster, more accurate, and less stressful.

ZapCart was born from a real problem we experienced firsthand through our mother’s local store.

Like many small traders in Nigeria, she relied on memory, paper records, and mental calculations to run her business. Over time, inaccurate bookkeeping, forgotten transactions, and calculation mistakes constantly pushed the business into confusion and debt.

Some customers claimed they had paid when no record existed. Some sales were never written down during busy periods. End-of-day calculations were stressful and often inaccurate. Inventory disappeared without clear tracking. Despite working hard every day, there was never full visibility into whether the business was truly making profit.

We realized this was not just our mother’s problem.

It is the reality for millions of small businesses across Nigeria.

ZapCart exists to solve that problem with simplicity first.

If a trader can use WhatsApp, they can use ZapCart.

ProblemProblem

Nigeria’s informal economy is one of the largest in Africa, contributing significantly to employment and daily commerce.

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), over 80% of employment in Nigeria exists within the informal sector. Millions of these businesses operate without proper digital tools for sales tracking, bookkeeping, or inventory management.

Most small traders still rely on:

• Paper notebooks
• Mental calculations
• Verbal debt tracking
• Manual inventory counting

This creates serious daily problems:

• Missing or forgotten transactions
• Frequent calculation mistakes
• Poor debt tracking
• Lost sales records
• Inventory inconsistencies
• Stressful end-of-day reconciliation
• Limited understanding of actual profit or loss

Existing POS and accounting solutions are often:

• Too complex for everyday traders
• Designed for formal businesses
• Expensive to maintain
• Dependent on traditional banking systems
• Difficult for low-tech users to learn

For many traders, technology today feels like additional stress instead of assistance.

Yet these same traders are the backbone of local commerce in Nigeria.

SolutionSolution

ZapCart transforms the familiar market-selling experience into a simple digital workflow designed specifically for everyday Nigerian merchants.

Instead of replacing how traders work, ZapCart improves the system they already understand.

With ZapCart, merchants can:

• Add products quickly during checkout
• Receive instant payments using Bitcoin Lightning
• Generate simple QR-based payment requests
• Automatically save every transaction
• View daily sales totals instantly
• Track inventory without spreadsheets or accounting knowledge

The product is intentionally designed around one principle:

“If your mother cannot use it without explanation, it is not ready.”

To achieve this, ZapCart focuses heavily on:

• Large touch-friendly interfaces
• Minimal checkout steps
• Extremely simple navigation
• Clear visual feedback
• Mobile-first usability
• Fast interactions for busy market environments
• Low-friction onboarding

ZapCart is not trying to turn traders into accountants.

It is helping them avoid preventable losses, confusion, and debt caused by poor record-keeping.

Technology StackTechnology Stack

• React (Vite)
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• Zustand
• Node.js
• Breez SDK (Lightning Payments)

TeamTeam

• Enyi Gloria - Fullstack Developer
• Enyi Hannah - Product Analyst
• Achusim Ebube - Product Manager

Repository & LinksRepository & Links

• Live Demo: https://zap-cart.vercel.app/
• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/gloria2807/ZapCart
• Demo Video: https://vimeo.com/1194957098?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci