Africa's Business Intelligence Layer

Billions move through African businesses every day. Much of the intelligence behind it remains invisible

IQONA is where AI learns how African businesses actually work. We turn everyday business activity into usable intelligence, helping businesses understand themselves while giving SACCOs, investors, and institutions a clearer view of the markets they serve.

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$2.8T
Africa's informal economy
100M+
MSMEs operating with low visibility
91%
cite income visibility as their top unmet need
600+
MSMEs engaged in field validation

Ask IQONA, right now

Tap a question or type your own in Swahili, Sheng, or English. This is a live demo of how Ask IQONA responds. Connect it to a real business and it answers from that business's own data.

IQONA Askdemo mode
Habari! Niko hapa kukusaidia na biashara yako. Uliza chochote, Kiswahili, Sheng, au Kiingereza.

Demo responses are prewritten to show how Ask IQONA reasons in context and switches language. Live use connects to a business's real IQONA Ledger data.

What's happening behind it
  • Detects which language and register was used, including formal Swahili, Sheng, or English, and replies in kind.
  • Reads the question in context, including the time period, season, and business type, rather than giving a generic answer.
  • Pulls from IQONA Ledger's continuously built business record, not another form the business owner has to maintain.
  • Turns the answer into a next step, not just a number, including what to restock, when, and why.

Built from the ground up. Literally

IQONA started with a notebook, a market stall, and a question: why does so much economic activity leave so little usable data behind?

"To make Africa's real economy visible, measurable, and accessible, from the street vendor to the institution, with privacy and dignity at the center."

Africa's real economy runs on people, trust, language, and relationships. Payments move through cash, mobile money, bank accounts, and credit. Stock, pricing, and growth decisions are often shaped by experience while valuable business data remains fragmented across transactions, conversations, and daily activity. IQONA turns those signals into intelligence without asking businesses to change how they already work.

Why now
  • AI has shifted from generic models to contextual, adaptive intelligence.
  • Mobile money adoption has created continuous economic signals.
  • African businesses are digitizing, but context aware insight tools have not caught up.
  • Businesses are already generating valuable data. Much of it remains fragmented and difficult to act on.
  • Voice and multilingual AI make context aware tools possible in the languages people actually use, not just English or formal Swahili.

Not a concept. Tested with the people who would use it

600+
MSMEs engaged across WhatsApp and field demos
17
Pilot users
3
Regions covered in early field validation
Data-science direction comes from ML Ops leadership at the American Red Cross, focused on AI system design and privacy-preserving analytics.
A privacy-preserving data and insight framework has been filed with KIPI, Kenya's intellectual property authority.

"When you launch it, let me know."Shop owner, Kasarani. IQONA field validation, 2025

Intelligence that meets businesses where they are

From a market stall to an online business, school, SACCO, or growing enterprise, IQONA works through familiar channels including WhatsApp, voice, and text, making business intelligence accessible without adding another complicated system.

Ask IQONABusiness intelligence assistant

A WhatsApp, voice, and text assistant designed to understand how people actually communicate across African business contexts, from English and Swahili to Sheng and local languages such as Kikuyu, Kamba, and Luo. Ask IQONA understands business context, local phrasing, and code switching, turning business data into clear answers about sales, cash flow, stock, pricing, and performance.

SwahiliEnglishShengKikuyuKambaLuoVoice notesText
IQONA LedgerAutomated bookkeeping

A continuously built business record created from activity the business already generates, including M-Pesa transactions, WhatsApp orders, and voice notes. Less manual entry and fewer disconnected records.

IQONA CoachBusiness guidance and literacy

Short, personalized insights tied to a business's own numbers. Understand why sales changed, where margins may be shrinking, what needs attention, and what to consider next.

IQONA CirclesGroups and networks

Shared intelligence for organizations managing or supporting multiple businesses or accounts, including SACCOs, business associations, schools, and other networks.

Business intelligence for institutions and AI builders

IQONA turns consented business activity into privacy preserving intelligence. Our products help institutions understand markets, help businesses build stronger records, and help AI systems better understand African business contexts.

Business Finder
Local business discovery
A local discovery layer that helps people find businesses, products, and services around them using natural language, location, and context. Business Finder makes smaller and less visible businesses easier to discover while creating a clearer picture of what is available across local markets.
IQONA Score
Trust and financial layer
A developing trust and financial signal designed to help businesses build a usable record from consented transaction and repayment behavior, with potential applications across SACCOs, microfinance institutions, and lenders.
Sector / Gov
Institutional intelligence
Custom dashboards and analysis for governments, development institutions, and NGOs seeking better visibility into county and sector level business activity.
Data as a Service
API and licensing
Aggregated, privacy preserving datasets and intelligence for fintechs, insurers, researchers, and AI builders that need deeper African business and market intelligence.

Start with individual businesses. Expand through groups. Scale through institutions.

Individual Business
Ask IQONA and personalized business insights.
Groups and Networks
Shared intelligence and analytics for SACCOs, associations, schools, and business networks.
Institutional
Custom intelligence, analytics, datasets, and API access.