As African small businesses face widening infrastructure gaps and limited digital tools, Lumi’s CEO Wale Adeniji, has said his company isn’t merely building technology but laying the foundation for a smarter African retail economy.
In an exclusive interview with Techparley, the Lumi Business founder offered a look into how his company is helping small businesses overcome operational challenges that hinder growth across the continent.
“Payments are only 10% of the challenge,” he told Techparley. “We chose to focus on the other 90%, the operational layer, that’s absolutely essential to SME survival and growth.”
From its Lagos base, Lumi has grown into one of Nigeria’s most influential retail-tech platforms, processing over ₦6 billion in monthly transactions. But for Adeniji, success is about building an infrastructure that Africa’s small business economy can depend on.
Building for Offline Africa
Adeniji was clear about the real-world impact of Lumi. In cities and rural towns alike, internet outages, and power cuts often mean that businesses can not operate. That’s where Lumi’s Offline Mode comes in.
The Offline Mode allows businesses to continue operations without internet access. According to Adeniji, the feature took eight months to build and reflect Lumi’s mission to meet users where they are.
“Offline Mode took about eight months to build from the ground up,” he said. “It was clear from day one that it wasn’t a “nice to have”, it was a necessity.
The Infrastructure Layer Most Startups Ignore
While many African tech startups begin with payments or lending, Lumi took a different path, targeting the daily processes that business owners struggle with the most: inventory, expense tracking, reporting, and customer management.
As Adeniji explained, the moment he realised Lumi had moved beyond startup status came when merchants began depending on the platform for their entire daily operations.
“At that point, it became clear we weren’t just offering software, we were becoming a core part of the business infrastructure for our users,” he said.
Reshaping African Commerce by 2035
When asked about the long-term vision, Lumi’s CEO Wale Adeniji envisions a future where structured data and intelligent tools are as universal as card machines.
“Our vision is to fundamentally reshape the business landscape in Africa. We’re focused on being ecosystem-critical,” he said.
“Success for us means becoming indispensable to the everyday operations of African SMEs, helping them grow, digitize, and thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape.”
Industry observers say Lumi’s traction is proof that African startups must design for ground realities rather than global playbooks. Lumi’s approach fills a gap many startups overlook.
According to experts, if the startup stays on the right track, it could very well define what SME infrastructure looks like in Nigeria and beyond.
Talking Points
Lumi’s Offline Mode is a standout feature that tackles one of the biggest hurdles African small businesses face, which is intermittent internet access. By ensuring merchants keep operating even when offline, Lumi is addressing a systemic barrier to digital adoption.
At Techparley, we see Lumi’s infrastructure-first approach as a smart bet. By embedding itself into daily business operations, the platform becomes indispensable, making it far more likely to drive long-term digital transformation, especially among informal and semi-formal enterprises.
Still, the challenge will be scale. Lumi’s ambitions for reshaping commerce by 2035 will require not just technology, but grassroots adoption.
Partnering with cooperatives, state governments, or even telcos could help deepen reach, educate merchants, and position Lumi as a default SME infrastructure across Africa.
