Description
Mercado Cobest is a multi-vendor marketplace I architected and structured end to end. The core challenge was not building an online shop it was building a platform where multiple independent sellers manage their own catalogues, stock and payouts, while customers get one coherent shopping experience. On top of that came the complexity of Mozambican payment methods: beyond M-Pesa and Ponto 24, the platform needed a purpose-built instalment system with credit control and payment scheduling.
My Role and Contributions
System Architecture: Designed the full platform structure, from the multi-vendor data model to the separation of concerns between web, API and mobile app.
Technical Leadership: Led the development team, setting code standards, reviewing deliveries and maintaining technical coherence throughout the project.
Payment Integrations: Implemented M-Pesa, Ponto 24 and a bespoke instalment payment system with automatic reconciliation and robust transaction failure handling.
Mobile API: Built the specialised APIs connecting the web platform to the mobile app, ensuring feature parity across both channels.
Key Features
Multi-Vendor Management: An independent dashboard per seller for catalogue, stock, orders and payout tracking.
Instalment Payments: Credit sales with configurable plans, scheduled collections and per-instalment status tracking.
Multi-Method Checkout: A unified purchase flow supporting M-Pesa, Ponto 24 and instalments, with automatic payment confirmation.
Order Management: Complete flow from cart to delivery, with notifications to buyer and seller at every status change.
Mobile Application: A dedicated app carrying the full shopping experience, powered by the platform APIs.
Technologies Used
Backend: Laravel with a RESTful API, asynchronous queues for transaction processing and payment webhooks.
Database: MySQL with relational modelling optimised for catalogue queries at multi-vendor scale.
Payments: Direct integration with the M-Pesa and Ponto 24 APIs, with a full audit log of every transaction.
Infrastructure: Cloud hosting with an automated deployment pipeline and uptime monitoring.
Results and Impact
Access to Digital Commerce: The instalment option opened e-commerce to customers who cannot pay in full up front a decisive factor in the Mozambican market.
Team Delivery: Project completed and shipped to production with a cross-functional team under my technical coordination.
