Duplo, a financial operating system for African businesses, has partnered with South African payment gateway Ozow to help companies automate payments, invoicing and expense management on a single platform, the firms said on Monday.
The integration combines Ozow’s instant electronic funds transfer (EFT) infrastructure with Duplo’s back-office financial tools, enabling businesses to reconcile payments in real time and reduce manual administrative work.
South African businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, spend between 15 and 20 hours each month on manual financial processes, according to recent research cited by the companies. For larger firms, this can exceed 120 hours monthly, with inefficiencies leading to revenue losses of up to 5% due to unmatched transactions.
By automatically linking incoming payments processed through Ozow to invoices within Duplo’s system, the companies said the solution could eliminate up to 90% of manual data entry and significantly reduce reconciliation delays.
The partnership also allows businesses to manage outgoing payments, monitor corporate spending and handle vendor payouts within a unified dashboard, offering a broader view of financial operations.
“We are excited to join forces with Ozow to help businesses in South Africa scale faster and with fewer administrative headaches,” said Tunde Akinnuwa, Duplo’s co-founder and chief operating officer. “By bridging the gap between payment speed and back-office accounting, we are turning payment operations into a competitive advantage.”
Ozow Chief Growth Officer Catherine Korsten said the collaboration would extend the company’s payment capabilities to businesses seeking to optimise collections and improve cash flow.
Duplo counts companies such as Maersk, DP World and Baobab among its clients, while Ozow provides payment services to major South African merchants including Takealot, Mr D Food and Superbalist.
Ozow, founded in 2014, offers a range of digital payment products including pay-by-bank, card payments and instant refunds, and is licensed by the Payments Association of South Africa.