With technology growing rapidly in Nigeria, the number of entrepreneurs also keep shooting up. While taking advantage of the opportunities provided by technology, young entrepreneurs are coming up with disruptive ideas that solve real problems faced by the average Nigerian.
As these ideas transform into thriving businesses, every year, we get to see dozen of startups offering solutions that are nothing short of creative.
Here are 5 of such startups that are using technology to solve common problems faced by small businesses.
In a bid to eliminate the need for small businesses to recruit or train in-house accountants, Accountinghub has specialized in cloud and virtual accounting to enable them offer simple but professional accounting services.
Accountinghub is Nigeria’s small business accountant. The startup is a bookkeeping practice firm which services Startups, small businesses, Projects and entrepreneurs. They help small businesses and Projects track their every kobo, organize accounts, systems and processes.
Selling accounting products via its online shop, Accountinghub also introduces retail, virtual and tech-accounting in Nigeria.
2. Invoice.ng
Invoice NG is an online platform that provides a simple and convenient way for business owners to bill clients and get paid. According to the founder, Olaoye Somide, paper works could be quite tiring for small business owners. Hence, Invoice NG gives a paperless alternative.
Asides giving small business owners a seamless way to go about their invoicing, it makes it possible to track all issued invoices, be it paid or pending. In addition, business owners can easily send payment reminders to customers when necessary. This facilitates business management and ensures that services are promptly paid for.
3. Independent Personal Assistant
We all know how soul draining doing office chores can be. Things like spreadsheets, social media management, and emails are some of the necessary evils that append themselves to actual, productive work. This is why Ibukun Akinnawo launched Independent Personal Assistant (iPA) to take all that soul draining stuff off your hands for cheaper than an actual PA would.
iPA is an agency that provides skilled virtual assistants to entrepreneurs, professionals, executives and small teams across the globe.
The startup provides professional administrative, technical, and creative assistance to clients through its team of dedicated virtual assistants. According to the iPA team, “think of us as your very own Personal Assistant to handle time consuming tasks”. They pretty much provide that all round support that a busy person would need.
4. DIYlaw
World Bank’s Doing Busines report ranked Africa’s largest economy 169th out of 189 countries. Nigeria ranked 39th among the listed African countries. When it comes to registering a company in Nigeria, it takes a whole lots of strssful processes that can run into months. This is what DIYlaw was launched to address.
DIYlaw is Nigeria’s foremost legal technology company that empowers entrepreneurs by providing access to simplified and quality legal services and information at affordable prices using technology, legal know-how and project management.
The startup seeks to make registration and legal processes more accessible, professional and transparent for entrepreneurs seeking to do business in Nigeria by being a one-stop online portal for fulfilling registration and legal needs. From company registration, to trademark registration, business name registration, and providing businesses with legal services, they make the process of getting a business started really easy.
5. Paystack
There are many barriers businesses have to face to accept payments online and that’s what Paystack is fixing. The startup has taken a bold move to revamp the Nigerian payment system.
Paystack is a payments platform that makes online payments process seamless for both the consumers and the businesses they are trying to pay. The Paystack platform makes easy for merchants to accept credit and debit card payments online from customers.
According to Shola Akinlade, Cofounder of Paystack, “the problem of payment has always been there and begging for someone to pick it up, and fix. There’s a big gap, and people are looking for means to get paid. We’ve done businesses before, we know how it goes, we’ve seen how things are being done outside of Nigeria, and when the opportunity came to really fix this problem, the prospect was really very exciting.”
