Nigerian retail-tech startu, Timart, stands as a critical infrastructure layer for small businesses struggling with poor record-keeping, unreliable internet, and revenue leakages, as it scales an “offline-first” platform that delivers real-time visibility into inventory, sales, expenses, and staff activity.

Founded in 2021 by Muhammad Ndako, the company says it is addressing one of the most persistent operational gaps across African SMEs, data blindness, by enabling businesses to operate seamlessly without internet while syncing across devices when connectivity returns.

“Many SMEs operate with poor record-keeping and unreliable internet, leading to stock losses, fraud, and missed revenue,” founder Muhammad Ndako said, noting that the platform ensures “business owners always have accurate data and control over their operations.”

The startup has processed over 20,000 businesses onboarded, more than 750 paying customers, and approximately US$2.1 million in monthly sales through its system.

Timart is now eyeing continental expansion as it builds what it describes as a resilient business operating system for Africa’s informal and semi-formal economy.

What to Know About Timart

Timart operates at the intersection of SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and retail technology. It offers tools that allow businesses to digitally manage their day-to-day operations, from inventory tracking and sales monitoring to expense management and staff oversight.

Built specifically for African market conditions, the platform prioritises simplicity and usability, acknowledging that many business owners lack advanced technical skills.

The startup has also expanded its product ecosystem to include point-of-sale (POS) systems, payment integrations, and even AI-powered tools such as WhatsApp-based assistants, allowing users to manage their business operations conversationally rather than through complex dashboards.

This design philosophy reflects a broader shift in African tech innovation, towards tools that meet users where they are, rather than forcing them into rigid digital systems.

The Problem Timart is Solving for Small Businesses

Across Africa, SMEs form the backbone of the economy but remain structurally vulnerable. The continent hosts over 44 million SMEs, contributing significantly to employment and GDP, yet many operate informally with limited access to digital tools.

In Nigeria specifically, SMEs account for about 96% of businesses and nearly half of GDP, yet survival rates remain alarmingly low, with only a fraction making it beyond the early years.

A key driver of this fragility is poor operational visibility. Many businesses:

• Track sales manually in notebooks
• Have no integrated inventory systems
• Cannot detect theft or inefficiencies
• Make decisions without real-time data

As Ndako explains, “many African SMEs still rely on pen-and-paper or informal methods… making it difficult to track stock, detect losses, or understand performance.”

The result is a cycle of hidden losses, poor financial planning, and ultimately, business failure. Timart’s core value proposition lies in breaking this cycle through structured, real-time data access.

The “Offline-First” Approach: What It Means

One of Timart’s defining innovations is its offline-first architecture, a model increasingly relevant in emerging markets where internet connectivity is inconsistent or expensive.

Unlike traditional cloud-based tools that require constant internet access, Timart allows users to:

• Record transactions offline
• Manage inventory without connectivity
• Continue operations uninterrupted

Once internet access becomes available, the system automatically syncs data across mobile, desktop, and web platforms.

“Timart solves this by working seamlessly offline while syncing… when connectivity is available,” Ndako said.

This approach directly addresses one of the biggest infrastructural constraints facing African SMEs, limited and unreliable internet penetration, making digital adoption more practical and inclusive.

Traction: How Well It is Doing and Expansion Plans

Timart’s growth metrics suggest strong product-market fit within Nigeria’s SME ecosystem. The company reports:

• Over 20,000 registered businesses
• Around 4,000 monthly active users
• More than 750 paying customers
• A retention rate of approximately 95%

Notably, businesses using the platform collectively process over US$2.1 million in monthly sales, indicating not just adoption but meaningful economic activity flowing through the system.

Growth, according to the founder, has been driven through a mix of organic adoption, referrals, and targeted digital marketing, an indication that the product resonates strongly with its target audience.

Having established a foothold in Nigeria, Timart is now looking outward.

“We are already seeing usage from other African countries, and plan to expand more intentionally into additional markets as we scale,” Ndako noted.

This expansion aligns with broader trends in African tech, where startups increasingly scale regionally to tap into similar structural challenges across markets.

Timart’s Revenue Models

Timart employs a hybrid monetization strategy typical of modern SaaS platforms but tailored to SME realities.

Its primary revenue stream comes from subscription-based pricing, with different tiers designed to accommodate businesses of varying sizes and operational complexity.

In addition, the company generates transaction-based revenue through its financial integrations. These include:

• POS transactions
• Card payments
• Bank transfers

“We earn transaction-based revenue… including commissions on transfers and card payments,” Ndako explained.

Despite strong user growth, revenue currently stands at about US$4,000 monthly, reflecting an early-stage monetization phase but also indicating room for significant scaling as more users convert to paying customers.

Why This Matters

Timart’s emergence highlights a deeper structural shift within Africa’s digital economy, the transition from informal, intuition-driven business practices to data-driven, technology-enabled operations.

Experts increasingly emphasize that access to data and digital tools is critical for SME competitiveness. “Data is everything,” industry leaders note, stressing that businesses must rely on insights rather than assumptions to scale effectively.

In a market where; less than 35% of SMEs use digital payment tools, and fewer than 20% sell online, solutions like Timart could play a transformative role in bridging the digital gap.

More importantly, with SME failure rates in Sub-Saharan Africa reaching as high as 80–90% within five years, improving operational visibility and financial control is not just a convenience, it is a survival necessity.

By addressing foundational challenges such as record-keeping, fraud detection, and decision-making, Timart is not merely building a business tool, it is contributing to the long-term resilience and scalability of Africa’s most important economic segment.

Talking Points

Timart is tackling a very real and deeply entrenched problem in African SMEs, poor record-keeping and lack of operational visibility, but its current positioning reflects both promise and limitations.

On the positive side, the “offline-first” architecture is a genuinely practical innovation for markets like Nigeria, where unreliable internet remains a daily constraint, and the focus on simplicity aligns well with the realities of informal and semi-formal businesses.

However, beyond this, Timart is not fundamentally reinventing the wheel; it is entering a crowded space of POS, inventory, and SME management tools where differentiation is often thin and user loyalty can be fragile.

Its traction, 20,000 sign-ups but only 750 paying users and roughly $4,000 in monthly revenue, raises questions about monetization depth, pricing power, and whether businesses truly see it as mission-critical or merely optional.

A 95% retention rate is impressive on paper, but without clarity on what cohort that applies to (active vs paying users), it risks being misleading. Additionally, scaling across Africa will not be as seamless as suggested; fragmented regulations, payment systems, and business cultures often break “one-size-fits-all” SaaS models.

In essence, Timart is building a useful, context-aware tool with clear market need, but it has yet to prove it can evolve from a helpful utility into a defensible, high-revenue, pan-African platform, and execution, not just relevance, will determine its long-term significance.

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