Hey there,

Angela here.

Today’s edition is about one question I keep returning to:

What does it actually look like to scale SaaS in Africa?

In the streets. In the markets. Inside the messy operational grind where revenue actually happens.

To answer that, we need to talk about Chari and Ismael Belkhayat.

Because Chari prototyped a blueprint that other African SaaS companies are now quietly copying.

Before Chari, Ismael built Sarouty.ma (exited to Property Finder) and then worked in Morocco’s financial and consulting ecosystem.

He wasn’t the typical first-time founder chasing Silicon Valley templates. He understood two things deeply:

1. Distribution in Africa is not digital-first; it’s relationship-first.
2. Working capital is the biggest blocker for B2B merchants.

Those two insights shaped everything that came next.

This matters because most African SaaS founders pick the wrong pain points. They build software for efficiency when the real bottleneck is cash, trust, or inventory.

Chari launched as a B2B e-commerce marketplace for mom-and-pop shops (dukawalas / kiosks).

Why? Because:

A classic inefficiency cluster.

So Chari inserted software into the procurement layer:

Retailers ordered inventory through Chari. Chari aggregated supply, improved logistics, and delivered.

That alone was a strong business.

But the hidden lever is:

Once you own procurement, you see cash flows. And once you see cash flows, you can underwrite credit.

Which leads us to the strategic pivot.

Every African SaaS founder eventually discovers the same truth:

B2B software is a settlements game.

Once Chari controlled the ordering flows, two things became clear:

1. Retailers needed terms.
2. Suppliers needed predictable payments.

So Chari launched embedded credit.

And suddenly the business model shifted from:

to:

That’s fintech infrastructure.

Here are the 7 tactical decisions that made this work:

1. Started with a physical market, not just a digital one
They built trust before optimizing for software margins.

2. Owned the last-mile relationship
This reduced churn and made the switching cost high.

3. Built a data lake from day one
SKUs, velocity, margins, seasonality, supplier performance, payment patterns.

4. Used distribution to justify underwriting
The data made risk financeable.

5. Monetized through financial products
Fintech > subscription economics in emerging markets.

6. Used acquisitions strategically
Capability M&A (data, credit scoring, fintech infrastructure).

7. Played a market thesis
The thesis:
African software will monetize through capital flows and settlements.

And they were early.

If you zoom out, Chari is proof of a broader pattern across the continent:

It’s structural.

African SaaS companies keep discovering that software is the wedge, credit is the monetization layer, and payments are the moat.

If you build SaaS without this in mind, you either:

Here are 5 lessons worth stealing if you’re building in Africa:

Lesson 1: Start at the point of pain
People buy survival.

Lesson 2: Software provides visibility, but visibility enables underwriting
Data is not the value. What you can do with the data is.

Lesson 3: Build for trust before you build for scale
Relationships are a distribution channel in Africa.

Lesson 4: Find the capital flows
Ask:
Where is money moving? Who controls it? Who is suffering?

Lesson 5: Monetization lives in the transaction
Africa is a “take rate” continent, not a “MRR” continent.

African SaaS is entering a new era. The winners will look like:

Founders who understand this are raising quietly and scaling sustainably.

Founders who miss this are stuck trying to sell SaaS subscriptions to markets that aren’t structured for pure SaaS.

The good news is:

You need to copy the continent.

And there’s a growing playbook for it.

If you want to:

✔ get on the events calendar
✔ attend the upcoming Careergo growth teardown
✔ follow the weekly operator content

Here are your pathways:

➡ Subscribe to the LinkedIn newsletter
➡ Follow my personal LinkedIn
➡ Follow Smarter SaaS Growth page
➡ Join events calendar

The story of Chari is about FMCG. It’s not even about credit.

It’s about understanding that African SaaS is coordination. And coordination is monetized through capital.

See you in the next edition.

Angela
Founder, Smarter SaaS Growth