When Isioma decided to start her clothing business, she was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to begin. “I was very new to this and didn’t even know how to market anything,” she tells us. She had a little capital and a plug for thrift clothes. All she knew for sure was that she had a good idea; in an economy that was getting more expensive, she would sell chic thrift clothes to women who would be happy to pay a fair amount for quality clothes. She would get these clothes in bulk at a discount and sell them higher. She had a good eye for clothes and a good sense of style but not much business experience. She didn’t know who to speak to because all her friends worked 9-5 jobs and going into entrepreneurship blindly seemed like a sure way to lose money.
After her first bale of clothes arrived she was about to open a new Instagram page for the business when she saw her bank advertising a solution for business owners. “I had so much anxiety that day but once I saw that Sparkle business advert, it was as if they were speaking to me directly and my spirit just felt calm. Even things I didn’t know my business needed were on the app and I just knew I would have failed at this business if not that God was watching out for me that day and I saw that advert.”
Meet Sparkle Business
Sparkle Business is a simple digital solution for small businesses and it is made to help businesses thrive online. Sparkle is leading a new generation of digital-only businesses and what this means is that with Sparkle business you have all your business details in the palm of your hand. From registering your business to managing customer data and all your financial information, you can do all that in one simple digital banking platform.
According to the 2023 Future of Commerce report from TechCabal, there are 90.9 million e-commerce users in Nigeria presently and that number is projected to keep growing. This growing number of users is due to the increase in mobile internet usage, the growing adoption of digital financial services, and Africans are becoming more comfortable shopping online. The number of e-Commerce users in Africa is projected to surpass 500 million by 2025 and Sparkle wants to help more vendors and business owners tap into this market. Sparkle is helping Nigerian entrepreneurs succeed by providing seamless business solutions and leveraging technology and data.
Sparkle Business features
Sparkle Business has some amazing business tools to help businesses start, thrive, and scale.
- Business Support Service
The first thing Isioma tells us she did on Sparkle is register her business name with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and get a Tax Identification Number (TIN). To run a legal and sustainable business in Nigeria you need to register your business name and also pay tax. With its business support services, Sparkle offers business owners all the help they need with starting their business; Business name registration, TIN registration, and business incorporation. This takes away the stress of doing this yourself and business owners can concentrate on getting their products ready for market instead of struggling to figure out where to begin.
- Business account opening and business management
On Sparkle Business, vendors can easily get a business account to manage their business finances better but not just that, they also get access to sparkling tools for managing their daily business operations. These tools include inventory management, enabling users to monitor their stock from any location. The platform also features smart invoicing, allowing vendors to effortlessly create and share professional invoices within minutes. This invoicing tool includes the option to automatically apply discounts and provides instant visibility into VAT calculations and deductions. Additionally, Sparkle Business facilitates the management of employee payroll and salary payments to both Sparkle and other bank accounts through the ‘My People’ feature. It also includes the option to enable deductions like Pension contribution, NHF contribution and PAYE tax. This way, business owners have good insight on their taxes/remittances, making them more compliant and socially responsible.
- Business insights
On Sparkle business users get a view of key business metrics so they can manage their business productivity. Users get a breakdown of spending; where or what your money is going to and when. They can also know which products are selling better and who their top customers are. With insights and analytics like these, users can make informed decisions that help grow their businesses faster.
Sparkle gives entrepreneurs the confidence to apply themselves, explore their ideas, and build skill. With the solutions it has provided, business owners are more equipped to manage their businesses and are more confident to scale. For Isioma above, she credits Sparkle with making her feel bold enough to tackle entrepreneurship and conquer all it would throw at her. Now a year later she has 11,000 Instagram followers and the clothes she posts sell out in minutes.
According to a Sparkle’s Marketing and Communications Lead, “We’re on a mission to make every business owner sparkle, both in their personal lives and in their businesses and we have the perfect tool to make this happen. We understand that small businesses are the backbone of the Nigerian economy and that small businesses need data to make the right decisions and that’s why we built Sparkle Business.“
To join the sparkling tribe of business owners using Sparkle Business to scale their business and fuel your hustle, scan the QR code below.
