HIMMA Technologies

Reg. No. Z0000300065

Client Proposal

Investment & Delivery Plan · 2026

Soma
Zanzibar

A living library network placing curated physical book corners inside hotels, restaurants, cafés and offices across Zanzibar — discoverable through one modern app that helps youth find, borrow and fall back in love with reading. (Working name — open to rebrand.)

Platforms

Web
iOS
Android

Network

Partner venues, islandwide

Timeline

8–12 weeks

Prepared by: HIMMA Technologies · Prepared for: Client · Confidential

Discover nearby

Partner dashboard

Section 01

The concept

Not just an app, and not just a bookshelf — a hybrid physical-digital network that turns everyday venues into reading spots, with one app tying the whole island together.

Physical layer

Book corners in partner venues

Curated shelves of Zanzibar history, culture and general-interest titles placed inside hotels, restaurants, cafés and offices — turning idle lounge space into a reading spot guests and staff actually use.

Digital layer

One app to discover it all

Users open the app, search for a title or browse by topic, and see exactly which nearby venue has it on the shelf right now — with directions and live availability.

Growth layer

A network that scales itself

Every new hotel or café that signs on adds a node to the map. More venues means more visibility for the app; more app users means more foot traffic value for venues — a self-reinforcing loop.

Section 02

Core features

Four pillars for launch — scoped to ship inside the 8–12 week build window.

Public

Book catalog & search

Browse and search Zanzibar history, culture and general titles. Filter by topic, language, or which partner venues currently hold a copy.

Public

Library / venue finder with map

Every partner venue shown as a pin with live "available now" status and walking directions — the core discovery loop of the app.

User

User accounts & reading lists

Save favorites, track what's been read, and build a personal reading list — light gamification to keep youth engaged over time.

Partner

Partner / admin dashboard

Registered venues manage their own shelf — add/remove titles, mark books as borrowed, pay their annual registration, and see visitor engagement for their venue.

Section 03

Platform & tech stack

One shared backend powers a responsive web app and native iOS + Android apps — built together to avoid duplicating work.

Web

Next.js (PWA)

Fast, installable responsive web app — works from any browser, no app store needed for basic access.

Mobile

React Native — iOS & Android

One codebase compiled to true native apps for both stores, cutting build time and future maintenance in half versus two separate native codebases.

Backend / API

Django REST

Shared by web and mobile — one source of truth for the catalog, venue network, and partner dashboard.

Database & geo

PostgreSQL + PostGIS

Geo-indexed venue data for fast "nearest book" queries on the map/finder feature.

Maps

Google Maps Platform

Pins, directions and live venue status for the location finder, on both web and mobile.

Hosting

VPS / Railway + S3

Affordable cloud hosting that scales as the partner network and user base grow.

Section 04

Investment

Build cost for web + native mobile, bundled to share one backend. All figures in Tanzanian Shillings (TZS).

Web app development

Responsive PWA · catalog, finder, accounts, partner dashboard

UI/UX design & branding

TZS 850,000

Frontend development

TZS 1,800,000

Backend & API (auth, catalog, geo-search, partner dashboard)

TZS 2,050,000

QA & testing

TZS 400,000

Web subtotal

TZS 5,100,000

Native mobile app development

iOS + Android, one React Native codebase, same shared backend

Mobile UI/UX adaptation

TZS 600,000

iOS + Android development

TZS 4,250,000

Push notifications & offline mode

TZS 550,000

QA across devices

TZS 400,000

Mobile subtotal

TZS 5,800,000

Built separately

TZS 10,900,000

Built together (recommended)

TZS 10,500,000

Save TZS 400,000 — shared backend & design system

Total one-time investment

TZS 10,500,000

Covers the full web + mobile build, bundled to share one backend.

Ongoing infrastructure cost

Starts at launch, billed monthly

TZS 150,000/mo

Infrastructure & third-party services

VPS hosting & database (~TZS 65,000), file storage (~TZS 15,000), Google Maps Platform (~TZS 40,000), push/email delivery (~TZS 30,000) — realistic for a lean launch, most of it inside free tiers at this scale, and it scales up only as usage grows.

✓

Deployment, maintenance & support retainer — app store deployment & release management, Apple/Google developer platform fees, bug fixes and uptime monitoring, billed as a separate retainer (pricing available upon request) — see Section 07 for full scope.

Section 05 · Section 06

Delivery timeline

Four phases across roughly 10–12 weeks, web and mobile built in parallel against the shared backend.

Phase 1

Discovery & design

Weeks 1–2

Partner venue mapping

Brand identity & UI/UX design

Database & API architecture

Phase 2

Core build

Weeks 3–7

Backend & API

Catalog, search & venue finder

Web app + mobile app in parallel

Phase 3

Accounts, dashboard & QA

Weeks 8–10

User accounts & reading lists

Partner admin dashboard

Cross-device QA

Phase 4

Launch

Weeks 11–12

App Store & Play Store submission

Partner onboarding

Section 07

Maintenance & support

You remain the dedicated technical partner after launch — covered by a monthly retainer, not a one-off handoff.

✓

Bug fixes and small feature updates across web, iOS and Android

✓

Server, database and uptime monitoring

✓

Support for partner venues adding or updating their book listings

✓

OS and app store compliance updates (iOS/Android version bumps)

✓

Monthly status report — usage stats, uptime, and open items