For fifteen years the dating app business has rested on one metric: the number of profiles. The more there are, the bigger the promise looks. The problem is that this metric says nothing about the reality of the people behind those profiles.
The hidden cost of fake profiles
Every fake profile puts a mental load on everyone else: checking, doubting, cross-referencing. That load is a silent tax, and it is paid mostly by women.
What checking by hand costs, and what it returns
Checking every document by hand is expensive and slows growth: 48 hours of delay, a trained team, a security infrastructure. It is a deliberate economic choice. In exchange, the community gains something no marketing campaign can buy: trust by default.
A culturally aware algorithm
The second bet: build into the compatibility score the cultural dimensions specific to West Africa — language, cultural background, religion, views on family. They account for 30% of the score on WANYIYIN, against 0% for imported Western apps.
