What does a small business actually need to know at the end of a busy day?
How much did I sell? What products are left? Which customers still owe me? How much did I spend? And, perhaps most importantly, did I actually make money?
For many business owners, answering these questions can be harder than making the sales themselves. Records can be scattered across notebooks, receipts, memory and different payment channels.
This is the gap FigoBooks is trying to address.
FigoBooks is a Nigerian-built business management tool developed by Slashit Payments Limited in Lagos. It allows businesses to record sales, manage inventory and expenses, track payments and customer debts, scan barcodes and issue receipts. The company currently says more than 500 businesses use the platform.
But why would a business owner need FigoBooks when they already have a notebook, calculator or spreadsheet?
Because recording a transaction is not the same as understanding the business. A business owner may know that sales were made throughout the day without knowing which products performed best, what stock remains or how much money went into expenses. FigoBooks brings these activities into one system, allowing users to track sales, stock, expenses and payments rather than relying entirely on memory or disconnected records.
A fashion business, for example, may discover that the product it assumed was its best seller is not actually the product customers buy most. One of FigoBooks’ published customers, Augustine Okonkwo of ShineStyle Fashion in Lagos, says the platform’s sales reports helped reveal that products he thought were his best sellers were performing differently from his assumptions.
What about a business that does not have reliable internet access all the time?
This is where one of FigoBooks’ features becomes particularly relevant to the market it serves. The company says users can continue working offline and have their records synchronised when they reconnect.
That is not simply a technical feature. It is an example of a product being designed around the conditions in which its customers operate.
A business does not stop selling because the internet connection is unavailable. A market trader still needs to record a transaction. A shop still needs to know what is leaving its shelves. A business owner should not have to choose between serving a customer and keeping accurate records.
So, is FigoBooks only useful for large or highly structured businesses?
Not according to the types of businesses the company presents on its platform. FigoBooks positions itself for businesses ranging from market traders and shops to service businesses and established business owners. Its mobile app is designed for businesses operating from counters, market stalls and storefronts.
That matters because Africa’s business ecosystem is not made up of one type of company.
There are supermarkets, fashion businesses, restaurants, service providers, manufacturers, market traders and thousands of smaller businesses operating at different stages of formalization and growth. The technology that serves this market therefore has to meet businesses where they are.
But why should someone outside Nigeria care about a product like FigoBooks?
Because the interesting part is not only the software. It is the market problem behind it.
FigoBooks is one example of an African technology company building a product around the operational needs of businesses in its home market. For people outside Africa looking to enter, invest in or partner with African businesses, this offers a different way to look at the continent.
The opportunity is not only in bringing foreign products into African markets.
There is also an opportunity in understanding the problems African businesses already face and the companies emerging to solve them.
What other business problems are waiting for solutions?
FigoBooks is addressing one: helping businesses move from simply recording transactions to having a clearer view of their operations. Other African companies are working on different problems across payments, logistics, healthcare, agriculture, education, manufacturing and technology.
For anyone watching Africa’s business environment from outside the continent, these companies provide something worth paying attention to: evidence of local demand, local problem-solving and markets that are developing their own solutions.
FigoBooks may be one product, but the bigger story is the ecosystem around it.
