LIMESTART, an essential tool for Africa
The informal sector is a large part of employment in African cities. The International Labour Organization estimates that more than 66% of total employment in Sub-Saharan African is in the informal sector. With a pervasive informal sector, city governments have been struggling with how best to respond. On the one hand, a large informal sector often adds to city congestion, through informal vending and transport services, and does not contribute to city revenue. Furthermore, informal enterprises are typically characterized by low productivity, low wages and non-exportable goods and services. On the other hand, the informal sector provides crucial livelihoods to the most vulnerable of the urban poor.
Tools that reduce the time from ‘I have an idea’ to ‘my business is thriving’ and ‘I can pay myself a salary.
Limestart offers a solution to financial record problems faced by majority of African governments as well as making it simpler for SME’s to obtain loans. Keturah Ovio is the Founder & CEO of Limestart, a Founder Institute Lagos company providing affordable turnkey commerce solutions to digitize transaction records at point-of-sale for Nigerian SMEs.
Limestart boosts financial inclusion for unbanked small businesses in Africa’s informal sector by helping them digitize transaction records and collect flexible digital payments. Billions of transactions remain unregistered by governments, and solutions such as Limestart remain unintegrated into informal economies across Africa.
“Our ultimate goal here at Limestart is to enrich people and businesses with powerful tools. Tools that reduce the time from ‘I have an idea’ to ‘my business is thriving’ and ‘I can pay myself a salary.’ We started with a simple inventory management system but we’re not stopping at that. You will be able to create and send invoices and receipts with ease, fulfill orders, and profile each customer you have,” said Keturah.
Innovators should gain inspiration from entrepreneurs like Keturah, as they are key to solving the array of challenges faced in many African economies. Everyone should be able to participate and thrive in the economy. No business deserves to be left out of our economy because the cost is too great or the technology arduous, resulting in them unable to compete.