Across Africa, businesses have operated in an unreliable infrastructure. For Lumi CEO Wale Adeniji, this was an opportunity to bring operational infrastructure to African SMEs, many of which had never touched software before.
Since launching in 2020, Lumi has grown into one of the most influential platforms in Nigeria’s retail-tech ecosystem. The Lagos-based startup offers a suite of tools that go beyond payments, spanning inventory, analytics, and enterprise-grade support.
“Payments are only 10% of the challenge,” Adeniji told Techparley. “We chose to focus on the other 90%, the operational layer, that’s absolutely essential to SME survival and growth.”
This mindset is evident in features like Lumi’s Offline Mode, which allows merchants to keep selling even without internet access
In this wide-ranging conversation with Techparley’s Quadri Adejumo, Lumi CEO Wale Adeniji, shares the thesis behind Lumi’s ecosystem-critical approach, infrastructure blind spots most startups ignore, and why building for African small businesses requires a different kind of ambition.
Q&A with Lumi CEO Wale Adeniji
Let’s start from the beginning—what was the key moment or personal experience that triggered the idea for Lumi Business?
I’ve always had the entrepreneurial bug, from high school through university. But the real trigger for Lumi Business came from my time at KraftHeinz and FundThrough. My role as a Data Scientist was all about using data and software to build internal tools that directly advanced business goals. That experience made it clear to me: the most successful companies are those that are truly data-driven. I saw a huge opportunity to bring that kind of infrastructure and tooling to African businesses.
You didn’t set out to build just a payments tool. What convinced you that African SMEs needed an operating system, not just a point solution?
The processes our platform supports, inventory, sales, expenses, reporting, are the everyday backbone of any business. Whether or not a business is using software, those processes are happening. The problem is, doing it manually is painful, inefficient, and often unsustainable. Payments are only 10% of the challenge; we chose to focus on the other 90%, the operational layer, that’s absolutely essential to SME survival and growth.
With Offline Mode, Lumi is addressing a deep infrastructure gap. What did it take technically, and philosophically, to build for real-world conditions rather than ideal ones?
Offline Mode took about eight months to build from the ground up. It was clear from day one that it wasn’t a “nice to have”, it was a necessity. So we blocked out distractions and gave our engineering team space to build it right. Philosophically, we had to accept that while innovation is important, meeting customers where they are is even more critical. Internet access will improve over time, but until then, tools like Lumi need to function reliably regardless of connectivity.
Many merchants are first-time software users. How do you design Lumi to be both powerful and intuitive for that segment?
We started with the basics, features that first-time users could grasp quickly. From there, we focused on making business performance easy to understand. Once merchants can clearly see how their business is doing, they’re much more engaged. On the design side, we put a lot of thought into creating an intuitive, user-friendly interface that feels natural even for those who aren’t tech-savvy.
You process over ₦6 billion in monthly transactions. At what point did you realise this wasn’t just a startup, it was infrastructure?
That realization came when we saw businesses depending on us for their entire daily operations, from sales to inventory to financial management. 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.
The Chowdeck partnership feels like a new layer for Lumi. What’s the strategic thinking behind these integrations, and where else might you plug in?
Like many of our features, this came directly from customer demand. We’re now actively working on integrations with more marketplaces like Glovo and FoodCourt to help our customers expand their reach and grow sales. Beyond e-commerce, we’re exploring partnerships in lending, payroll, and payments to support SMEs across more verticals.
Are you building Lumi to be venture-scale, ecosystem-critical, or exit-ready? How do you define success for this company?
We’re focused on being ecosystem-critical. 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.
Customer support is often under-discussed. What’s Lumi doing differently to make merchants feel seen and supported, even beyond Lagos?
We’re building a certified partner network across the country to ensure support is local, accessible, and consistent. Our goal is that no matter where a merchant is based, they feel just as supported as someone in Lagos.
Data privacy, syncing, and transparency are all baked into Lumi. How do you balance innovation with the regulatory uncertainty in markets like Nigeria?
We’re NITDA-certified and take compliance seriously. But more than that, we lead with a customer-first mindset, ensuring that how we collect, manage, and protect data aligns with best practices and earns user trust.
If everything goes right for Lumi, what does African commerce look like by 2035, and what role will Lumi be playing in that future?
Our vision is to fundamentally reshape the business landscape in Africa. Right now, we’re falling behind, especially with the rapid rise of AI and other advanced technologies. But tools like Lumi lay the groundwork. By 2035, we hope structured data and the intelligent tools that help create it are as common as card machines are today, making it easy for any African business, no matter the size, to run smarter, faster, and more profitably. And for Africa to remain highly competitive in the world stage.
