Odoo chose Kenya to establish its first African office, the beginning of operations was on July 1st 2022. With already 30 employees until this day, up to 50 new colleagues are expected to join the new office within a year! Several new software features have been implemented to address the specific needs of Kenyan and African SMEs.
2022 marks the beginning of a new chapter for the software editor Odoo! The company is opening its first office in Africa and picked Nairobi to establish its local headquarters. As with all Odoo subsidiaries, objectives are ambitious on all fronts: recruitment, client and lead management, expected revenues, new features… Buckle up!
Earlier this year, Patrick Lukusa was appointed as the director of Odoo KE LTD, the new subsidiary of Odoo S.A. opening in Africa. Within a few weeks, the company was incorporated, a completely fit out office was leased in Nairobi and recruitment started. The goal was to launch activities on July 1st with a headcount of 15 new colleagues (Sales consultants and business analysts).
“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 customer base in Africa. Its business applications suite is indeed used by more than 7,5 million users worldwide, but it lacked the local presence and support. Additionally, SMEs are facing new challenges and cannot keep on operating the way 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 address the market’s needs, Odoo KE LTD already announces several new features specifically designed for Kenya: Kenyan Chart of accounts, new eCommerce acquirers accepting payments methods such as credit cards, debit cards, mobile money (Mpesa, Airtel, MTN, etc) throughout Africa, the Kenyan Payroll, and the KRA TIMS integration (upcoming). Furthermore, several new colleagues have been recruited, trained and have already commenced duty in the new office on Chiromo Lane, Westlands.
What’s next? Several goals have been set for Odoo KE LTD, one of which is to achieve a turnover of 250 million Kenyan Shillings (equivalent of 2 million EUR) in year one.
Odoo in Numbers:
Founded in 2002 – Annual revenues of €169 million in 2021 – 71% organic growth per year – 2200 employees worldwide (970 in Belgium) including 230 developers – 2 new employees every working day for the last 12 months – 4100 partners with more than 30,000 Odoo-related jobs created in 130 countries – 15 offices (Belgium (4), Luxembourg, Spain, Hong Kong, India, Australia, San Francisco, Buffalo, Curitiba, Mexico, Kenya, Dubai) – 7.5 million of users worldwide. Visit the official website here.
