Designing the Future of Finance in MENA
TLDR: As Head of Design, I define the design language across products, manage budgets and resourcing, and provide strategic alignment across teams ⚡
+40 million
70%
Accounts connected
Market share
5x
Revenue and annual growth
+1.5 Billion
Annualized volume
Building MENA’s Leading Open Banking Platform.
Building MENA’s Leading Open Banking Platform.
Tarabut is paving the way for an accessible, personalised and connected financial ecosystem. With the broadest connectivity, we empower banks, lenders, fintechs, and startups to unlock their full potential by driving innovation in financial services across the region.
Animation credits: Manish JosephBoosting revenue with design thinking
“Open Banking can bring more value than just a PFM”
Helping our customers make the most out of Open Banking
With Open Banking emerging as a new technology in the region, our B2B customers faced low adoption rates.
We started these workshops by brainstorming ways in which their users can benefit most from Open Banking—beyond just a PFM. We defined a design approach that resonates with their users who were unfamiliar with the concept. We started by doing the groundwork by understanding concerns and expectations around using financial products.
I led design thinking workshops, collaborating closely with our UX researcher and product teams.
Together, we tested various design options and conducted in-depth conversations with users about their banking experiences. This research informed the creation of guiding principles encompassing best practices in design and content tailored specifically for Open Banking.
These guiding principles allowed us to create a “plug-and-play” approach for our customers, like Saudi National Bank, Flooss, SAIB, and Riyad Bank, etc, resulting in
A streamlined user experience
Higher adoption rates
Increasing the number of connect accounts.
38%
Increase in adoption rates
+40
Bank and fintech partnerships
Enabling strategic partnerships through design
Empowering sales by conceptualizing products
To build impactful products, the team validates ideas directly with clients before production, saving development time and effort.
Collaborating with the CPO and Product Owners, we design product ideas from discovery to POCs(proof of concept) to help the sales and product teams sell the product and find the market fit. The team takes high-level ideas and transforms them into fully realized, client-facing prototypes, often within just a few days.
This design-first approach has consistently led to successful buy-in from clients, strengthening partnerships and laying the foundation for strategic partnerships. By validating ideas through client engagement, we positioned the company for forward sales, accelerating product development with a clear, market-validated direction.
The outcome— increased engagement from customers like SNB and AMEX choosing Tarabut as their first choice for Open Banking products.
We built a no-code solution that enables them to see a detailed overview of their customer’s finances with which they can make an informed credit decision. This process of building this product has been so impactful that AMEX now wants to integrate our Open Banking solutions across various other products.
How Amex is using Open Banking to provide loans to self-employed customers.
How SNB is using Open Banking to target it’s customers with relevant products.
We conceptualised a dashboard with which SNB can enrich their customers’ data from banks they’ve connected to SNB. This gives SNB the opportunity to upsell or cross-sell products based on their financial requirements, increasing the likeliness of a conversion.
Bringing in strategic alignment through a rebrand
What are we working towards?
Defining the company’s vision
The company was facing internal misalignment regarding its identity, values, and mission. Different teams operated under varied interpretations of our brand, leading to fragmented messaging and a lack of cohesive direction.
This became especially pressing with our upcoming Series A announcement, where a unified brand would be essential for external credibility and internal cohesion.
I led the entire rebrand in-house along with the marketing team, within a tight two-month timeframe.
We started by interviewing leadership, HR, and employees across teams to gather diverse insights on what the brand should represent.
Through this feedback, we defined
Our core values
Our ideal customers
Visual identity
Brand voice
Brand and marketing strategy
The outcome
This rebrand aligned our company under a unified identity and strong visual foundation, resolving internal misalignment and boosting brand recognition.
With a clear direction, our teams now approach problem-solving consistently, which has led to more cohesive sales messaging and a strong, compelling story for future investments.
The rebrand has increased customer trust, improved market positioning, and strengthened employee engagement. It has also bolstered our appeal to top talent, enhanced investor confidence, and laid a solid foundation for growth and expansion.
Scaling a lean design team requires creative and flexible problem-solving to meet the needs of a growing business. One of the biggest challenges was balancing strategic initiatives with limited resources, which involved frequent planning sessions with PMs to prioritize projects effectively.
To meet demand without a fully scaled team, I took on hands-on design work alongside strategic responsibilities. This allowed me to lay the groundwork for key projects and validate proofs of concept (POCs) before committing to new hires. Once a POC was validated, we could scale the team confidently around proven needs. This strategy maximized our resources and ensured the design function could grow sustainably, aligning with business goals and adapting to a dynamic environment.
Scaling a Lean Design Team in a Dynamic Business
The outcome
The impact of this approach is a highly adaptable design team that can grow strategically and sustainably. The team’s ability to adapt to changing business conditions and scale at the right time resulted in increased operational efficiency, better alignment with business priorities, and a strong foundation for future growth. It also enabled the design function to consistently meet the evolving demands of a dynamic business environment.
Key Learnings and Takeaways
The Impact of Design on Strategic Decisions: Design can play a pivotal role in shaping business strategy, and influencing decisions that drive growth, brand direction, and user experience.
Maximizing Efficiency with a Lean Team: A small, focused team with the right direction can achieve remarkable results, proving that efficiency often trumps size.
Effective Budgeting: Managing resources wisely is key to maintaining flexibility and ensuring that design initiatives align with business priorities without overextending.
The Importance of Validation: Thinking ahead and validating ideas before execution ensures we build only what’s necessary, reducing waste and aligning design efforts with proven business needs.
TABBY