Nigerian startup Afri Invoice has emerged with an innovative platform designed to solve long-standing issues in invoicing, compliance, and payment integration across the continent.
Founded in 2024 by British-Nigerian entrepreneur Mark Odenore, Afri Invoice is already attracting widespread attention ahead of its official launch, with a growing waiting list and enthusiastic early testers.
The startup seeks to address the gap left by global financial software tools, which often overlook Africa’s unique business practices, tax requirements, and mobile money ecosystems.
What Is Afri Invoice Trying to Accomplish?
Afri Invoice aims to simplify how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa manage their finances by providing a region-specific solution for invoicing, expense tracking, and payment management.
The platform is purpose-built to align with African realities, from Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) e-invoicing mandates to widespread mobile money usage in countries like Kenya and Senegal.
“We’re solving real problems: helping a Lagos retailer comply with Nigeria’s new e-invoicing mandate, enabling a consultant in Dakar to accept mobile money payments seamlessly, or allowing a startup in Nairobi to generate invoices in multiple currencies,” said CEO Mark Odenore.
Unlike foreign tools that often require complex workarounds, Afri Invoice is built to handle multi-currency billing, local tax compliance, and integration with mobile wallets such as MTN Mobile Money and M-Pesa, offering what the team calls
“financial management that understands how African businesses operate.”
Afri Invoice: Founding and Funding
The idea for Afri Invoice was born in 2019 out of Odenore’s personal frustration as an entrepreneur in Nigeria.
After relocating to the UK, he observed a recurring issue, African business owners were forced to rely on tools designed for Silicon Valley, not for African cities like Lagos, Dakar, or Kigali.
“Watching talented African entrepreneurs struggle with invoicing tools built for Silicon Valley, not Lagos or Dakar, I knew there had to be a better way,” Odenore said.
Afri Invoice officially launched in 2024, bootstrapped entirely by its founding team.
The company spent years conducting market research and held in-depth interviews with hundreds of small business owners across the continent to develop a product grounded in local needs.
The team now spans five countries, Nigeria, Senegal, India, the UK, and the United States.
What Makes Afri Invoice a Unique Startup
Afri Invoice distinguishes itself by being built from day one for Africa, unlike global competitors such as QuickBooks or Zoho, which often overlook local needs.
“African businesses are forced to choose between expensive, overcomplicated solutions that ignore local payment methods and tax requirements, or basic tools that can’t handle the complexity of modern African commerce,” Odenore explained.
The platform supports regional currencies, handles complex tax scenarios, and integrates seamlessly with African payment systems. Its infrastructure is designed for scalability, ensuring it can support rapid growth without compromising performance or compliance.
Furthermore, Afri Invoice has worked closely with regulatory bodies like Nigeria’s National Data Protection Commission (NDPC) to ensure data privacy and legal compliance, an unusual but commendable move for a pre-launch African startup.
Afri Invoice: The Growth So Far
Even before its official launch, Afri Invoice has recorded significant traction. Through organic word-of-mouth referrals, the startup has built a growing waiting list of entrepreneurs across Africa.
Early adopters, including SMEs from Lagos and Dakar, have been testing the platform and offering feedback that is actively shaping the product’s final iteration.
“The response has been overwhelming for a pre-launch product,” Odenore said. “The enthusiasm we’re seeing validates what we suspected, African businesses have been waiting for someone to build invoicing software specifically for them.”
Afri Invoice’s beta phase has also allowed the team to test real-time financial transactions and compliance workflows in collaboration with businesses in different regions, solidifying its readiness for market rollout.
Afri Invoice: What Next in The Operational Plans
Afri Invoice’s launch begins in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where new e-invoicing regulations are driving urgent demand for compliant financial solutions.
From there, the startup plans a phased expansion into Senegal, Kenya, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, and Ghana, markets selected for their robust fintech ecosystems, supportive regulatory frameworks, and high SME activity.
In the long term, the company plans to release region-specific versions of the platform, complete with local language support for French, Wolof, Swahili, and other widely spoken African languages.
Each new market entry will be guided by in-depth research to understand business culture, tax rules, and local financial habits.
“We’re not just scaling software, we’re scaling understanding,” Odenore emphasized.
Afri Invoice: A Platform Built by and for Africa
Experts conclude that, Afri Invoice is part of a broader wave of African-born tech startups tackling challenges with homegrown innovation.
As African economies digitize and regulatory bodies modernize, platforms like Afri Invoice could play a central role in transforming how millions of small businesses operate.
By designing financial software that reflects the realities of African commerce, rather than forcing businesses to adapt to foreign systems, Afri Invoice is positioning itself as a potential game-changer in Africa’s growing digital economy.
Talking Point
Afri Invoice deserves commendation for its bold, context-aware approach to solving a deeply entrenched problem faced by African SMEs, financial management tools that simply don’t speak the language of African commerce.
By building a platform from the ground up that supports local currencies, mobile money systems, and tax regulations, the startup clearly demonstrates a deep understanding of its target market.
The decision to engage early with regulators and base product development on extensive interviews with small business owners further shows maturity and strategic foresight rarely seen in pre-launch ventures.
However, I would recommend that Afri Invoice prioritizes robust customer support and localized onboarding content as it expands.
While the software itself is tailored to African markets, SMEs across different regions may still require hands-on guidance to transition from traditional or foreign tools to this new solution. Ensuring that local language interfaces are backed by culturally relevant user education and support will be key to achieving wide adoption.
In all, Afri Invoice presents a refreshing, African-first alternative in a fintech space often dominated by foreign-built platforms.
If its expansion is backed by strong partnerships, sustained community feedback, and thoughtful localization, it could become a foundational tool for financial empowerment across the continent.
