Engineering Migration: Building Systems That Move People, Not Just Data

By Nicholas Bassey

Albert Einstein once said, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” That statement captures not only the philosophy behind good engineering but also the arc of my personal journey.
Today, I lead engineering at Vesti, a company building critical infrastructure for migration. Our mission is to provide trusted, secure, and intuitive digital tools that empower individuals as they move across borders in pursuit of education, career opportunities, safety, or a better quality of life.

But my path here wasn’t traditional I studied Physics in university, drawn by the structure, logic, and problem-solving it demanded. After graduation, I joined the banking industry in IT support, managing infrastructure, network resilience, and system uptime. I later transitioned into backend operations where I handled interbank transfers, reconciliations, and compliance with regulatory standards.

It was during that time I became deeply curious about the systems behind the tools I supported. I began self-learning programming, building small utilities to automate manual banking tasks. That interest evolved into a full career shift. Over time, I moved into software engineering and eventually into leadership roles. Today at Vesti, I lead teams building platforms that serve real people at global scale.
The need we are solving is massive. According to Gallup’s World Poll (2023), over 1.3 billion people globally are open to migrating permanently. Africa ranks highest in migration readiness. Nigeria alone has over 1.7 million emigrants abroad, placing it among the top ten countries of origin for international migrants, according to the UN Migration Data Portal (2022).

These are not just numbers. They represent individuals in transition, navigating some of the most complex moments of their lives.
At Vesti, our mission is to support that journey. From the decision to relocate, through documentation and payments, to legal compliance and community integration, our systems are designed to be end-to-end. We process cross-border transactions, deliver migration intelligence, and help people move with confidence.

The tools currently available to many migrants are outdated or inaccessible. In some cases, people still rely on manual paper forms for visa applications, unverified agents for advisory services, and mobile apps that lack integration between payment systems, document verification, and local compliance requirements. These disjointed tools not only slow down the process but also increase risk and reduce trust.
That is why we built Vesti
Behind the scenes, we have faced significant technical challenges. At one point, our transaction processing slowed during peak hours. After profiling the system, we refactored key database queries, broke down complex joins into modular indexed subqueries, and introduced asynchronous background tasks for non-critical requests. This reduced response time by over 80 percent and tripled our throughput.
Another major fix involved our webhook infrastructure. Initially, third-party endpoint failures triggered a chain of internal slowdowns. We solved this by decoupling webhook calls from the core flow, implementing Redis queues with Bull, adding exponential backoff for retries, and improving logging granularity. Our webhook success rate increased from 74 percent to 99.5 percent and system stability improved significantly.

These are not just engineering wins. They are infrastructure investments that enable trust, reliability, and scale.

The financial side of migration is equally significant. In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa received over 53 billion dollars in remittances. Nigeria alone accounted for 20.5 billion dollars, according to the World Bank’s 2024 Migration and Development Brief. These are not just cash flows. They are tuition fees, travel savings, hospital bills, and support for families back home.

Vesti is building products to bridge this gap. One of those is MIAI, our intelligent assistant for migration planning. MIAI uses natural language processing to guide users through visa options, documentation timelines, financial planning, and country-specific requirements. It is connected to our secure backend systems and designed to deliver personalised, real-time answers while staying compliant with data privacy and security protocols.

We design every system to work across jurisdictions and withstand scale. The GSMA’s Mobile Economy Africa 2024 report notes that by 2025, over 70 percent of African migrants will rely on digital platforms for financial and migration services. And the IFC and Google e-Conomy Africa report projects that Africa’s digital economy will reach 712 billion dollars by 2050.

This is the future we are building for. Not with hype. With solid engineering, legal integrity, and a clear understanding of user needs.
My journey from Physics to backend operations to Engineering Lead taught me that solid engineering is not about building fast. It is about building right. It means understanding problems deeply, collaborating across teams, and designing systems that can last; because what we are building touches people’s lives. This, moreover, comes with real responsibility.

At Vesti, we are not just writing code. We are writing infrastructure for migration. Infrastructure that works quietly in the background, but enables people to move, grow, settle, and thrive.

Nicholas Bassey is Engineering Lead at Vesti