Elroy Mbabazi

I grew up in Uganda from birth until age 16. Like everyone around me, I used mobile money daily, for transfers, withdrawals, buying airtime and data, and making purchases. But the experience was frustrating.

You had to memorize long phone numbers and PIN combinations. One wrong digit meant starting over. Worse, if you accidentally sent money to the wrong number, it couldn't be reversed. I watched this happen to family and friends, and experienced it myself.

When I moved to the United States at 17 for my studies, I discovered fintech products like Cash App and Venmo. The difference was striking, you could send money with just a username. No memorizing numbers. No irreversible mistakes. It changed how I thought about financial technology.

I kept this contrast in mind throughout my education, but my technical knowledge wasn't deep enough yet to build a solution.

In 2022, I returned to Uganda for a visit. I expected things to have changed. They hadn't. The telecom companies had introduced their own apps, but they weren't user-friendly or straightforward. For those without the apps, the experience was nearly identical to what I remembered. The core problem remained unsolved.

That's when I decided to build Sendly, a fintech platform that brings the simplicity of modern payment apps to East Africa's mobile money ecosystem, prioritizing transaction safety, clarity, and user experience.

Freelance software developer with experience building web applications for municipal clients including the City of Lacey, as well as websites for individuals and businesses.

Full-stack development experience spanning frontend interfaces, backend systems, and the financial infrastructure required for secure transaction processing.