Who I Am

My name is Peter Chege, a dedicated software engineer with a passion for helping small businesses succeed. I’ve spent years coding solutions to real-world problems, inspired by the hustle of entrepreneurs running small shops, freelance gigs, and family businesses. I know the challenges they face—struggling to secure loans, juggling payments, and managing finances without breaking the bank. That’s why I’m building EmpowerFin, a FinTech platform designed to simplify finances and fuel growth for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the USA. As a solo developer with a big vision, I’m pouring my heart into this project, but I need your support to make it a reality.

What We’re Raising Funds For

I’m raising $30,000 to build and launch the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of EmpowerFin in the USA, a mobile-first platform that empowers small businesses with affordable financial tools. EmpowerFin will offer:

Digital Invoicing and Payments: Create invoices and accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, or ACH transfers in minutes, saving time for business owners.
Accessible Loans: Apply for working capital loans using alternative credit scoring based on digital transactions, helping microbusinesses access funds without complex paperwork.
Financial Tools: Track expenses, generate profit and loss reports, and integrate with tax software like TurboTax, making financial management a breeze.

This MVP will target microbusinesses—freelancers, small retailers, and service providers—across states like California and Texas, with plans to scale nationwide. Your support will help us empower America’s 33 million small businesses to grow, create jobs, and strengthen local economies.

How the Funds Will Be Used

Every dollar you contribute will go directly toward building EmpowerFin, ensuring transparency and impact. Here’s the breakdown:

Development Costs ($15,000): Covers my salary as the sole developer for 9 months ($1,667/month), allowing me to focus on coding the MVP using Django, a secure and scalable framework. This includes building the users and payments apps for registration, authentication, and Stripe integration.
Infrastructure ($4,500): Funds cloud hosting on AWS (starting with the free tier, then $500/month for production) and PostgreSQL database setup to ensure reliability and scalability.
Payment and Tax Integrations ($4,500): Covers setup fees for Stripe ($1,000), Plaid for bank data ($2,000), and TaxJar for IRS-compliant tax reporting ($1,500), critical for US SMEs.
Security and Compliance ($4,000): Ensures PCI-DSS compliance, CCPA adherence, and data encryption to protect user data, aligning with US regulations.
Branding and Marketing ($2,000): Creates the EmpowerFin logo, website, and outreach to chambers of commerce and small business networks like the National Small Business Association.

With these funds, we’ll launch the MVP in a pilot market (e.g., San Francisco or Austin), targeting 200 initial users, and gather feedback to refine the platform. Future funding will support additional features (loans, advanced reporting) and nationwide expansion, but this $30,000 will get us started.

Why You Should Support EmpowerFin

Small businesses are the backbone of America, making up 99.9% of all businesses and employing nearly half the workforce, according to the Small Business Administration. Yet, 70% struggle to access capital, and many rely on expensive or fragmented tools for payments and accounting. I’ve seen this up close—friends running food trucks drowning in paperwork, freelancers missing out on growth due to cash flow issues. EmpowerFin is here to change that.

With EmpowerFin, small businesses can:

Save Time: Send invoices and accept payments instantly via Stripe or PayPal, freeing up hours to focus on growth.
Access Capital: Get loans based on transaction data, not just credit scores, helping businesses like coffee shops or Etsy sellers expand.
Grow Smarter: Use integrated tools to track expenses, generate reports, and file taxes, turning small ventures into thriving enterprises.

Our tagline, “Grow Your Business, Simplify Your Finances,” captures this mission. By supporting EmpowerFin, you’re investing in entrepreneurs who create jobs, support communities, and drive innovation. With 80% of SMEs adopting digital tools post-COVID, our mobile-first platform is perfectly timed to meet their needs, from urban hubs to rural towns

peter kagai

EmpowerFin