Babes & Babies

A hair and baby products shop in a Nigerian university community, powered by Google Gemini, helping students and young mothers get style advice and baby product recommendations instantly

Comment

Inspiration

I live and work in a university community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Every day I watch students, young mothers, and women around me struggle to get simple answers, which hairstyle works for my face shape, which diaper brand is right for my baby. The information exists but nobody is making it easy to access in communities like ours. When I heard about this hackathon, I saw a chance to build something that actually matters where I am, not for Silicon Valley, but for Ekim Town.

What I built

Babes & Babies is a shop website with two AI assistants built in. The Hair Stylist helps customers choose a hairstyle from our catalogue based on their occasion and preferences. The Baby Advisor helps mothers pick the right products based on their baby age and needs. Both assistants speak English, Nigerian Pidgin and Ibibio, the local language. Every conversation ends with a WhatsApp link to place an order or book an appointment.

How I built it

The site is hosted on Google Cloud using Firebase Hosting. The AI is powered by the Gemini API, running securely through Cloudflare Workers so the API key is never exposed. The site is also connected to GitHub for version control.

Challenges

Getting the AI to stop quoting prices was harder than expected. Prices change with the market in Nigeria, so we had to train the AI to always direct customers to WhatsApp for current pricing instead of guessing. Setting up a secure backend without a paid server was also a challenge we solved using Cloudflare Workers free tier.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting the AI to speak Nigerian Pidgin was something we did not plan but ended up being one of the best parts of the project. Watching it respond naturally in the way our customers actually talk felt like a breakthrough. We are also proud that the whole system runs on free tools, no paid servers, no exposed keys, built by someone in a small community with nothing but determination and an internet connection.

What I learned

I learned that you do not need to be in a big city to build something meaningful with technology. This shop serves a small community, but the problems we are solving are the same problems small businesses face everywhere.

What's next for Babes & Babies

We want to add online payments so customers can pay directly from the website without leaving to WhatsApp. We also want to expand the AI to handle inventory — so when a product is out of stock, the AI already knows and suggests something else. Long term, we want to license this same setup to other small shop owners in our community and across Akwa Ibom, so more local businesses can have their own AI assistant without needing to know how to code.

Share this project:

Updates