Inside Accrue’s Growth to 400K Users: A Conversation with Mobile Engineer Ifeanyi Onuoha

Accrue recently reached 400,000 users, another milestone in our mission to make moving money across Africa easier for more people. 

As the platform grows, so does the work required to keep it reliable, responsive, and useful to people navigating different financial needs and markets. For the engineering team, building a dependable fintech product means solving problems as they arise, anticipating what could go wrong, and using feedback to improve the experience. It’s an ongoing process of adapting the technology to meet the needs of a growing user base.

We spoke with Ifeanyi Onuoha about mobile engineering at scale, how AI is shaping his workflow, and the work that goes into making Accrue better for its users.

Accrue has grown to 400,000 users. What does that growth mean for you as an engineer?

One challenge is maintaining simplicity while serving users with different levels of experience.

Accrue initially started as a user-friendly way for people to invest through digital assets. Over time, we've had users on the platform for a while who have become more tech-savvy. For them, we can ship features that don't require much explanation because they're already familiar with how the product works.

Now that we have a much larger user base, we're still getting a lot of new users. We have to maintain that original idea of making the product accessible to someone who is new to crypto while also providing services for more experienced users who already understand the platform.

What's uniquely challenging about building a fintech product to reach 400k across African markets?

I think customer support makes a huge difference here.

When everything is working as expected, people generally don't have a problem, but the moment something goes wrong, even if it's a small issue, it can become a much bigger concern for the person involved, especially when money is at stake.

At the end of the day, we're building software, and what's important is being known as a platform that can fix problems when they arise. Being available to users, listening to their complaints, and helping them resolve issues can make a significant difference to how they experience the product.

What's one of the interesting technical challenges you've encountered at Accrue?

One of the most memorable incidents happened during our Ambassador Program, when a video about the program went viral on X.

The next day, we woke up to thousands of pending Know Your Customer (KYC) requests that needed manual attention.

Normally, KYC is automated. When users upload their documents, the system verifies the necessary information; however, the sudden increase in volume exposed an issue in the flow. Under normal conditions, verification and cleanup happen one after the other. With the unusually high volume, a queue formed, and the cleanup flow moved data before it was verified, and by the time the verification process ran, the data it needed was no longer available.

We hadn't encountered this issue before because the system was operating normally under everyday conditions. The increased volume made the problem visible.

I found it interesting how certain bugs just lay dormant until a special event triggers it.

What's the fastest you've shipped a feature at Accrue?

It depends on the scope of the feature.

For mobile engineering, one of the biggest differences is that building a feature and getting it into users' hands aren't always the same thing. Once we've finished development and submitted an update, we still have to wait for the app stores to review and publish it.

Google Play and Apple's App Store have different review timelines, and the App Store process can sometimes take several days. Our most recent submission, for example, took about a week, but if we're talking strictly about the work within our control, what used to take 2 hours now takes 20 minutes thanks to AI.

I recently worked on adding a preferred-agent feature for Cashramp. The implementation itself took around 15–20 minutes, followed by roughly 40 minutes of testing.

So, the development can be very quick, especially when the requirements and other dependencies are ready. But the time it takes to ship a feature to users also depends on testing and the App/Play Store review process.

Interesting. How has AI changed your workflow?

AI has made it possible to build things much faster, but it also introduces a different kind of work.

When I write code myself, I deeply understand how it works because I know what I've written and why I made certain decisions. That makes it easier to identify which parts need testing and where potential problems might occur.

With AI-generated code, I have to review more of what it produces. Even if the initial implementation takes only a few minutes, I still need to examine the code, understand its logic, and test the different flows to make sure everything works as expected.

For example, something I would have tested in 5 minutes because I built it myself could now require 30 minutes of testing and review because I need to check the implementation more thoroughly. So build time has reduced drastically with AI but time used for testing has gone up

AI makes development faster, but it doesn't remove the responsibility to ensure the code works.

Of the features you've worked on at Accrue, which are your favourites?

I particularly enjoy features with a fancy user interface.

Accrue Passport is one of the features I like working on, especially the visual interactions and details that make the experience engaging.

Accrue Passport is a delightful feature

I also enjoy working on Money Moves and other parts of the product where design and presentation matter. Sometimes, the focus isn't just on functionality but also on making the experience look and feel good.

I like working on those kinds of features.

What does collaboration between engineering, product, design, and marketing look like at Accrue?

Collaboration? Is it not Basecamp and Google Meet na?

Ifeanyi, pleaseeeee

When you're not building at Accrue, what do you do for fun?

Aside from spending time with my girlfriend, I'm usually writing more code, just on something else.

I've been building a game using Unreal Engine and AI. It's inspired by a helicopter game I used to play when I was younger, and I'm trying to recreate that experience with a story mode.

I want it to be an offline game, so I'm not planning to build an online experience that requires additional infrastructure and ongoing costs. I mostly want to try my hand at game development and eventually publish it on my App Store developer account.

I used to share more of the things I built online, but I've fallen out of the habit. I'd like to get back to it.

Thank you for taking the time to speak.

You're welcome!