Belgium software company Odoo has chosen Nairobi as its African headquarters.
Odoo offers business solutions such as ecommerce, point of sale, accounting, inventory, among others, for businesses.
The firm says that its offices will be located at Chiromo Lane, Westlands.
“It was very important for us to open this new office and 2022 was the year to do it,” Odoo South Africa (S.A) CEO & Founder Fabien Pinckaers said.
“We wanted to be closer to our customers and address them locally, with local talents, which is something we cannot achieve from afar,” he added.
Locally, the firm has employed 30 people and it expects to hire up to 50 additional employees within a year.
So far, the firm has deployed several new software features tailored for the Kenyan market as well as African SMEs.
To ensure its ability to address the market’s needs, Odoo KE LTD introduced several new features specifically designed for Kenya such as Kenyan Chart of accounts.
Others include a new eCommerce acquirer accepting payments methods such as credit cards, debit cards, mobile money (Mpesa, Airtel, MTN, etc) throughout Africa, the Kenyan Payroll, and the KRA TIMS integration (upcoming).
“Digitization cannot be ignored anymore. Today an SME in Nairobi or Abidjan faces the same challenges as one in Sydney, Madrid, or Mexico in terms of efficiency gains,” Odoo KE LTD director Patrick Lukusa said.
“We want to equip these SMEs with a modern, fully integrated suite of business applications that can address their needs at a reasonable cost and boost their competitiveness,” he added.
Earlier this year, Lukusa was appointed as the director of Odoo KE LTD, a subsidiary of Odoo S.A.
After his appointment, the company was incorporated in a few weeks. Initially, the company was to start operation on July 1, 2022 with 15-headcounts (Sales consultants and business analysts).
Source: Capital FM Kenya.
