Your Duka Is a Data Goldmine: The Future of MSMEs Is in Data
Your Duka Is a Data Goldmine: The Future of MSMEs Is in Data
In a compelling new thought piece, fintech leader and Savannah Technologies Director Elizaphan Mouko is calling for a fundamental rethink in how Africa supports its most powerful economic engine: the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Titled “Your Duka is a Data Goldmine: Why the Future of African MSMEs Runs on Information, Not Cash”, the article is gaining traction among policy experts, lenders, and tech innovators for its blunt but insightful diagnosis: Africa has digitized payments but has yet to digitize value.
“For decades, we’ve measured MSME success in stacks of notes and the weight of the coin box,” writes Elizaphan.
“But that’s no longer enough. The true revolution lies in the information behind each sale.”
With MSMEs accounting for over 90% of businesses on the continent and contributing the majority of employment, particularly in Kenya where they represent 98% of all businesses, Mouko argues that simply digitizing cash transactions without capturing the intelligence within those transactions is a missed opportunity.
Your Duka Is a Data Goldmine: The Future of MSMEs Is in Data
Through affordable mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) systems like those developed at Uzapoint, Mouko explains how MSMEs can now access tools once reserved for big corporations.
These digital tills do more than process payments, they capture structured, real-time business intelligence.
“When a customer buys milk at 8 a.m.,” Mouko explains, “the mPOS records the item, time, and value. Multiply that across hundreds of transactions and suddenly the shopkeeper knows their bestsellers, peak hours, and restocking cycles. This is no longer anecdotal; it’s analytical.”
Furthermore, such data, he argues, empowers business owners to Optimize inventory and improve cash flow; Make strategic decisions based on real-time reports; Create loyalty programs and understand customer patterns and access formal credit by proving their consistency and revenue
He points to a Boston Consulting Group study showing that SMEs using digital tools saw up to 26% higher revenue growth, reinforcing the value of analytics in driving performance.
Crucially, Elizaphan Mouko concludes, this data becomes a financial identity, a bridge between informal business success and formal financial inclusion.
“We are moving from an economy of transactions to an economy of insights,” he writes. “And in that shift lies the key to unlocking Africa’s true entrepreneurial potential.”
As the continent continues its push toward digital and inclusive economic ecosystems, Elizaphan Mouko’s insights offer both a vision and a practical blueprint for how African MSMEs can compete, grow, and thrive, not just through what they sell, but through what they know.
His final message is simple yet urgent: “Every duka is a data goldmine. We are no longer just in an economy of transactions; we’re entering an economy of insights. And those insights are the key to unlocking Africa’s entrepreneurial future.”
Finally, in an age where financial access still defines opportunity, information, not just innovation, may prove to be Africa’s greatest currency.
