An MVP, or minimum viable product, is the smallest thing you can offer that tests whether people want your solution. In Ghana, the cheapest MVP is often not software at all. You run the service by hand using tools people already have, and you watch what happens. If people do not use the manual version, building an app will not change that.
This is also one of the best ways to build portfolio evidence when you have no product job yet.
The concierge approach
In a concierge MVP, you do the work a future app would automate. Customers get the real benefit, but behind the scenes it is you, a phone and a spreadsheet. This lets you learn:
- Do people actually ask for the service?
- Do they come back a second time?
- Will they pay, and how much?
- What goes wrong that you never expected?
A free toolkit
- WhatsApp Business for taking requests, sending updates and quick replies.
- Google Forms for orders or sign ups, which feed straight into a sheet.
- Google Sheets for tracking every request, status and payment.
- Mobile money for collecting payment, with a clear receipt message.
All of these work on a phone with modest data.