Wafeq: the fintech catering to regional standards
It was in 2018 when Nadim Alameddine was preparing to file his first ever tax return that the idea for an accounting software came to him. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia had just introduced VAT and Alameddine, who was already a co-founder at Pricena, a shopping search engine, decided to leave and set up Wafeq, an accounting software that enables SMEs to conduct their e-invoicing, taxation and employee payroll online.
Despite the presence of international accounting software solutions in the regional market, Alameddine realised that in many countries, a homegrown solution for accounting software always dominated the market and held a 10x larger market share compared to the second largest player. In the US, this is true of QuickBooks, which is 10 times the size of Xero, whereas in New Zealand, where Xero was founded, it is the dominant player.
“This pattern repeats in many countries, but not in our market, we don’t have this 10x brand - where you become the default software - there is opportunity in the Middle East where it is still fragmented and that's what we’re going after,” says Alameddine. “There wasn’t a big incentive for businesses to do their accounting on a software and that really changed when VAT was introduced and once Saudi Arabia launched the e-invoicing law last year, which requires all SMEs to use accounting software. These regulatory changes are driving demand.”
In Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, SMEs comprise over 98 per cent, 90 per cent 94 per cent of all companies registered respectively. With most regional accounting still done manually or through legacy software, or global solutions that are not always compatible with country-specific requirements, Wafeq is hoping to tap into this opportunity, by offering solutions like Zakat and tax and customs requirements laid out by the respective authorities.
Once Alameddine left Pricena, he had to come to terms with becoming a solo founder, which comes with its own set of challenges and pressures.