Odoo launches a new subsidiary in Kenya

News Desk -

Share

The company is opening its first office in Africa and picked Nairobi to establish its local headquarters

Odoo (www.Odoo.com) chose Kenya to establish its first African office, the beginning of operations was on July 1st 2022. Within a year, up to 50 new colleagues will join the new offices! Several new software features have been added to meet the unique needs of Kenyan and African SMEs.

Odoo’s software editor Odoo is starting a new chapter in 2022! The company is establishing its first office in Africa, with Nairobi as its local headquarters. As with all Odoo subsidiaries, the company’s goals are lofty on all fronts: recruitment, client and lead management, expected revenue, new features, and so on. Buckle up!

Patrick Lukusa was named director of Odoo KE LTD, Odoo S.A.’s new subsidiary in Africa, earlier this year. Within a few weeks, the company was incorporated, an office in Nairobi was leased and fully equipped, and recruitment began with the goal of launching activities on July 1st with a headcount of 15 new colleagues.

It was very important for us to open this new office and 2022 was the year to do it. We wanted to be closer to our customers and address them locally, with local talents, which is something we cannot achieve from afar.” says Fabien Pinckaers, CEO & Founder of Odoo S.A.

Odoo S.A. already had a clientele in Africa. Although its business applications suite is used by over 7.5 million users worldwide, it lacked a local presence and support. Furthermore, SMEs are facing new challenges and cannot continue to operate as they did 10 or 20 years ago. 

“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. 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”, explains Patrick Lukusa, director of Odoo KE LTD.

To ensure its ability to meet the needs of the market, Odoo KE LTD has already announced several new features designed specifically for Kenya: Kenyan Chart of Accounts, new eCommerce acquirers accepting payment methods such as credit cards, debit cards, mobile money (Mpesa, Airtel, MTN, etc) throughout Africa, and Kenyan Payroll. Furthermore, several new colleagues have been hired, trained, and are already working in the new Westlands office on Chiromo Lane.

What comes next? Odoo KE LTD has several objectives, one of which is to generate a revenue of 250 million Kenyan Shillings (equivalent to 2 million EUR) in the first year.