Ebunoluwa Akinola
Bento, Nigeria’s digital payroll and human resource management platform, is expanding to Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to set up operations in six other markets in Africa this year.
In its next phase of expansion, it will also expand to Egypt, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola and Ethiopia by the end of this year.
Bento is tapping the payroll and HR management market in Africa that has relied on laborious analog processes to disburse pay. The startup was founded in 2019, helps businesses to automate the disbursement of salaries and other statutory remittances, including taxes and pension.
“Seeing so many companies using analogue methods to manage their workforce is both frustrating and exciting for us. Employers don’t have access to locally customized, world-class payroll and HRM tools, and employees can’t easily access third-party services to help make life easier. When you think about it, your salary powers your life, so we’re building the operating system that will have a profound impact on the African continent for generations to come,” said Bento co-founder and CEO, Ebun Okubanjo.
The platform is leveraging data to extend credit solutions to third parties (employees) and other services like unemployment insurance, savings and investments.
In Nigeria, Bento currently serves more than 900 businesses, including healthcare and financial service companies such as Hygeia and Tangerine Africa, and Y Combinator-backed startups Paystack, Kobo360, Branch and LORI Systems.
“Having successfully established product-market fit in Nigeria, one of the most difficult markets to penetrate in Africa, we’re excited to roll out across the continent and solve the real problems we know millions of employers and employees face on a daily basis,” said Bento’s other co- founder Chidozie David Okonkwo.
Bento’s expansion comes about a month after Workpay, a Nairobi-based payroll and HR management startup, expanded to Nigeria to tap small medium sized businesses in the West African region.
