Startbutton, a “merchant of record” based in Nigeria, is enabling companies to take payments in local currencies and handle local compliance without setting up shop in the country.
In 2022, Mallick Bolake and Kelechi Obi co-founded Startbutton to help multinational businesses accept payments in local currency across Africa. The company then settles the payments in foreign currencies, such as USD, at the rate that is in effect when the money is collected. Treasury, foreign exchange, and settlement risk management are all helped by this.
According to Bolake, another service they offer is “compliance as a service,” which streamlines VAT collection for businesses. This paves the way for these businesses to collect taxes from their clients and send them to the appropriate government agencies.
How the service can be utilised
Merchants can take five local African currencies and receive settlements in USD with just one API from Startbutton. For businesses that need to get a local licence in order to do business in other areas, it provides regulatory coverage as well.
According to Bolake, one of the main reasons businesses go global is to increase sales and tap into untapped income sources. If a Nigerian firm wishes to grow into Kenya, it must follow certain protocols. These include creating a local entity, getting a bank account, and figuring out how to accept payments in shillings and convert them to naira.
Following this, the business must maintain tax compliance by timely submitting all required tax returns. If business takes off and the company decides to bring on a Kenyan worker, it should ideally pay them in shillings and cover all of their employee taxes. A single regulation change could turn a once-compliant company into a defaulter and subject it to substantial sanctions, even when the company has everything under lockdown.
What Startbutton has achieved
Aiming to address all of these issues, Startbutton is currently present in five African markets: South Africa, Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. The business has begun merchant expansion programmes in conjunction with payment processors such as Cellulant and Paystack.
On the day of launch, they directly onboarded the first merchant onto the platform. Swift action was taken to address the merchant’s Twitter complaint. The business has been there ever since, backing the merchant as he expands across Africa. Fifty-plus enterprise merchants have been brought on board.
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It raised over $250,000 in an angel round last year from investors such as Norrsken, Musha Ventures, and Africa Fintech Collective. The company was bootstrapped until it launched its product and started onboarding customers. This year, it intends to expand to additional markets and raise an extension round.
In addition, Bolake announced that preparations are underway to launch in Cote Ivoire, Tanzania, and Uganda by the end of the first quarter. Plus, they hope to launch operations in North Africa by the end of the year.
For services like compliance and taxes, among others, Startbutton charges a regular fee in addition to a commission on customer settlements and collections.