BotswanaTrade

We're building a simple and smart mobile app that makes it easy for everyday Batswana to invest in the Botswana Stock Exchange.

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Inspiration

As someone who’s always been keen on investing and buying stocks, I quickly realized how difficult it is to actually participate in the Botswana Stock Exchange. The process was overwhelming full of paperwork, long email threads, broker visits, and unnecessary admin. It felt outdated and inaccessible, especially for young people like me who are used to doing everything with just a tap on their phones. I also noticed that many Batswana don’t even know they can buy shares in companies like Choppies or FNBB, and there's very little accessible education about how the stock market works locally.

What it does

This frustration sparked the idea for our project: a digital broker platform that simplifies and modernizes stock investing in Botswana. Our app is a trading platform for the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) that brings together all the tools investors need in one place. It allows: Account creation & onboarding – individuals and investors can sign up securely. Access to all listed stocks – users can view, search, and explore BSE companies. Broker integration – investors can formally log in to their respective brokers through our execution program and place real trades. Secure accounts – protected with two-factor authentication (2FA) and best security practices. AI-powered assistant – users can ask questions about the market, stock performance, or even how to navigate the app, making the experience seamless and beginner-friendly. In short, it’s a MetaTrader-style trading application designed specifically for the Botswana Stock Exchange, combining FinTech, AI, and Cybersecurity into one platform.

How we built it

Frontend: React + Tailwind CSS for a clean, responsive, and fast UI. Backend: Node.js (with FastAPI integrations in parts) for handling real-time trading logic and APIs. Database: PostgreSQL in the neon database for user, portfolio, and trade storage and 2FA. WebSockets: For real-time price feeds and live updates.

AI module: A hardcoded assistant that responds to market-related questions (e.g., “How is ABSA doing this month?”).

Challenges we ran into

Deploying the application was one of our biggest challanges as we tried to use variuos ways to deploy but we were not lucky. Building an AI-like feature that feels intelligent even though it’s based on hardcoded logic and mock data. Implementing WebSockets was challenging at first, since keeping persistent real-time connections between the server and multiple clients required careful handling of state, reconnections, and synchronization.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a MetaTrader-style web app tailored for the Botswana Stock Exchange. Created a real-time trading simulation that mimics order execution. Designed a modern, intuitive UI that makes stock trading accessible to everyday users. Implemented a basic AI assistant that guides users with investment insights. Being able to build a database in the cloud in just minutes as it was efficient.

What we learned

How AI, even in simple forms, can add a huge boost to user experience. And we learnt how to build a Full stack application using different languages we have never used before eg typescript , node and build the backend with a cloud database

What's next for TapInvest

Integrating with real BSE broker APIs for live trading. Expanding the AI assistant with machine learning models for market trend predictions. Adding multi-broker support so users can choose their preferred broker. Building a mobile-first version (React Native or Flutter) to make trading accessible on the go. Strengthening cybersecurity features with full end-to-end encryption and fraud detection AI.

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