The year is still fresh, but financial decisions wait for no one. Whether you’re managing a personal budget, a small business, or running a side hustle, staying on top of your finances is crucial. But let’s face it, traditional bookkeeping can be tedious and time-consuming.
In a bid to revolutionize financial management for businesses, Spendtrack relaunched with a web app offering designed to help individuals and businesses track their financial expenditures.
Spendtrack’s Product Manager, Eng Kelvin Ageng’o Oriwo said the platform is poised to streamline bookkeeping processes.
“With the aim of enhancing financial transparency and stability, the app offers both individual and business account options, catering to a wide spectrum of users. Idea behind Spendtrack is to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) or Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) get on track with their books without spending much. Any size of business can use Spendtrack,” Eng Oriwo noted.
The product manager emphasizes the simplicity and accessibility of Spendtrack, highlighting its tailored features for the Kenyan financial system.
“Once signed in, there are two main features, Individual or Personal account and Business account. The individual account facilitates tracking of income, expenditure, and networking, alongside report generation capabilities. Meanwhile, the business account offers a robust suite of tools including financial reporting, income statements, balance sheets, and a dedicated payroll module, catering to the intricate needs of businesses,” he noted.
The journey of Spendtrack began when by Benfils Investments Ltd, the product manufacturer launched of an Android app in 2016, which garnered over 700 users for its individual account feature.
However, recognizing the demand for a more comprehensive solution, the team pulled back to develop an enhanced business account option.
Despite its innovative approach, the product manager acknowledged that the Spendtrack android app was brought down because it faced challenges such as prolonged update times and syncing issues. To address these, a launcher has been introduced on the Play Store, facilitating seamless access to the newly launched web app.
While the Individual account remains free, the business account requires a subscription fee, reflecting the added functionalities tailored for business operations.
Currently available as a web app, Spendtrack has relaunched into the market after intensive development efforts since November 2023.
Eng Oriwo underscores the critical role of bookkeeping apps in sustaining businesses, citing statistics revealing the high rate of business closures due to financial mismanagement.
He added that the web app aims to bridge this gap by providing a user-friendly platform that enables businesses to track finances effectively, regardless of their accounting expertise.
“Over 500k businesses are registered every year but after 3 years, 95% shutdown reasons being: Businesses running out of money, product market mismatch, organizational problems and lack of finance or account books. Bookkeeping apps fill these gaps. They help in financial sanity of business from the following perspectives: cashflow, liability and asset, taxes, expenditure and analyzing business trends,” he noted.
Beta testing conducted in November garnered positive feedback, paving the way for the official launch in December. Eng Oriwo believes Spendtrack is positioned to support Kenya’s transition towards a more financially stable business environment, emphasizing the importance of structured and data-driven decision-making over gambling with business operations.
“Why spendtrack? It’s simple. It’s made for the layman. Many people running businesses don’t have knowledge of accounting but need professional books. Hiring an accountant can be very expensive. All you need to remember is how much money came in and where it was spent. You don’t need to be an accountant to use Spendtrack, unlike other bookkeeping apps. We’ve simplified the front end and gone heavily sophisticated on the back end,” he noted.
Also in the web app, Payroll module is a stand-alone.
Mr Oriwo concluded that now, more than ever, businesses need rock-solid financial footing.
“Our country is at a point and time where it will be vital for businessess to be financially sound and we are sitting with the perfect tools to help our country transition to a more business sustainable environment. Moving away from gambling with business to more structured and data driven business decisions,” He said.