Onikola Waliyu introduces himself as a digital product architect. He explains that his adventure into tech started in September 2019 when he joined DevCrib Technologies as a junior product data analyst.
Although Waliyu studied sociology and anthropology during his undergraduate studies, his focus has always been on technology, which explains his journey into software programming after graduation.
As a social scientist, he said he grew up understanding that in the 21st century, it’s essential to engage with the tech world and not limit interactions to humans alone. In his words, technological advancement is the next big thing to change the world.
In less than three years post graduation, Waliyu joined Sabo Financial Multiglobal Limited as a product analyst, where he ran numerous programs, including over 15 functional PRs, and mapped complex databases using PostgreSQL. He applied retention engineering and increased receipt generation by up to 25% in just 30 days.
By September 2024, the dividends of good work had come in, and Waliyu was promoted to digital products architect. While working in digital product architecture, Waliyu also developed the Smart Digital Commerce System (SDCS), which he calls the Ghost Ledger.
In this interview, Waliyu opens up about his career journey, how and why he built the Ghost Ledger, and his career trajectory.
What was the thinking behind building the Ghost Ledger?
This software is an attempt to digitise the informal way people keep records in our market system.
You can walk into some of the biggest markets in our country, and by 09:00 am, hundreds of transactions have taken place, all unrecorded, and this can cause many problems in the long run.
I was concerned about solving this problem because, even though the data was available, data capture was lacking. Market men and women have limited time to record their sales, so they resort to storing the information offhand or writing on scraps of paper. And unfortunately, they could easily lose.
Why do you think informal traders are still reliant on storing data and payment details in their memory or on a piece of paper when digital tools exist?
Traditional ledger-keeping apps such as QuickBooks and Wave are complex and can be time-consuming. Informal traders don’t have the time to keep records on these complicated apps.
It’s not a literacy problem. Many in the informal markets have WhatsApp and 3G-enabled smartphones. So, with this understanding, I built Ghost Ledger into WhatsApp, a platform they are familiar with.
Why do you think Ghost Ledger is a more workable solution than QuickBooks and all the likes?
The Ghost Ledger is a better alternative for many reasons.
A monolithic language using the OpenAI GPT was integrated into Ghost Ledger so that traders can speak their normal “market” language (e.g., 3K, 5K). The language is a hybrid of pure English and pidgin. Market men and women can type or speak this language into the Ghost Ledger, which would record it in standard JSON format that can be used by any bank worldwide, especially CBN.
So, in the long run, this offers informal traders a very formal record-keeping process that will not only save their time but also provide proper records. Furthermore, the Ghost Ledger has been tested and has shown that over 20% of previously wasted records have been recovered. With the proper records in place, traders can easily apply for and receive loans from financial institutions.
Most of the informal market men and women who have adopted the product said it’s a solution they love because it’s fast and reliable. We adopted Server-Side Rendering (SSR) using Jinja2. For a 3G-dominant market, our message takes only 4 milliseconds (1.5 seconds), which is fast and convenient (other options would take 3-4 seconds to initialise). And for a market woman or man pressed for time, with three to four customers to attend to, this option is better. We recorded 95% accuracy across all of these and in converting our market slang into precise, usable JSON.
Tell me about your traction so far
We entered a limited development phase of Ghost Ledger in early 2025, and as of today, we have reached over 1,500 micro businesses across Lagos and its environs. Precisely, we have successfully onboarded 1,570 merchants over the last 14 months; daily transactions on platforms is around 7,600. So far, over 42 million have been processed.
What are the challenges that you’ve encountered while building Ghost Ledger, and how does the app make money?
I wouldn’t call it a challenge because we knew what we wanted to build before we even started. The first constraint is time, because I’m still employed at Sabo Finance Multiglobal. The other challenge is the fact that we’re doing something novel.
We’ve faced challenges in programming what we understand, even though informal people might not understand it. We also have to run through a lot of financial background checks. But technically, we’ve achieved an impressive feat, and adoption has exceeded our expectations.
For now, we are focused on capturing market share, and with time, we believe the innovation will pay for itself.
How is Ghost Ledger funded?
The project was initially self-funded. As it gained traction, we attracted support from a small group of individual investors who provided additional funding and resources. Their backing has enabled us to expand our publicity and awareness efforts, helping us reach a much wider audience.
In addition, we open-sourced the project this year, which has encouraged a growing community of contributors to improve the product. Their contributions have enhanced its quality, accelerated development, and significantly reduced our overall development costs.
