Project Lucky

The Challenge

African freelancers across emerging sectors such as blockchain, gaming, software and the creator economy needed better access to relevant financial and business opportunities.

The challenge was understanding this emerging market and building a pipeline of potential users and business opportunities around it.

My Role

As Associate Product Manager, I supported product and market development, including market research, user discovery, freelancer ecosystem development and opportunity generation.

What I Did

• Researched the features and services most relevant to freelancers using Cadana's D2C product.
• Sourced a database of 2,000+ African freelancers across blockchain, gaming, software and the creator economy.
• Conducted preliminary screening and due diligence across 18+ African countries.
• Used tools including Retool and Zendesk to support research and market development workflows.
• Organized virtual freelancer mixers to deepen understanding of the target market.
• Built an inbound lead database and supported market development.

The Outcome

The initiative strengthened the organization's understanding of an emerging freelancer market and created a larger pipeline for future product and business opportunities.

What I Learned

Entering an emerging market requires customer discovery before assumptions.

I learned how important it is to combine research, direct conversations, market mapping and structured data to understand an audience before designing products or growth strategies around them.