Questions owners ask us

SmartBiashara is cloud business software for African businesses. It brings point of sale, stock, purchasing, invoicing, accounting, customers, HR and reports into one system that runs in a web browser. It has been used by more than 20,000 businesses since 2018 and is run from Dar es Salaam.

Every new business starts on the Free Package: register your business online and you get 14 days free on SmartBiashara ERP. No credit card is needed to start. During the trial you can add products, set up branches and staff logins, and record real sales, then choose a plan when you are ready.

A phone, tablet, laptop or desktop with a web browser is enough. The POS is offline-ready, so a patchy connection does not stop the till. Barcode scanners are supported if you want faster checkout, but you can start without one.

Yes. Put your products in an Excel sheet and load them with the bulk import, including prices and opening stock. This is much quicker than typing items one by one, and it is the usual route when moving from another system or from a notebook.

SmartBiashara ERP runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, so there is nothing to install. MiniPOS, our separate light POS for very small shops, has an Android app on Google Play.

Starter is TSh 15,000 a month for one location and 5 users. Basic is TSh 35,000 for up to 3 locations and 10 users. Standard is TSh 45,000 for 5 locations and 20 users. Enterprise is TSh 55,000 for up to 50 locations and 100 users. Enterprise Pro is TSh 850,000 a year with no caps.

No. Each plan has one flat price and includes a set number of users. Adding a fourth cashier on Starter costs nothing extra; you only move up a plan when you need more users, branches or modules than your plan allows.

No. All SmartBiashara prices are in Tanzanian shillings and exclude VAT and service levy.

Yes. Yearly billing costs ten months’ price for twelve months of service, which works out at two months free. Enterprise Pro is billed yearly only.

You can pay by M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money, Halopesa, bank transfer, cards through PesaPal, or international cards in US dollars through Flutterwave.

First-time paid subscriptions have a 14-day money-back guarantee. After 14 days, monthly plans are not refunded but you keep access until the end of the billing cycle. Annual plans can be cancelled within 30 days of a renewal for a pro-rata refund. Third-party mobile money or bank fees cannot be refunded.

An upgrade takes effect straight away and you pay the pro-rata difference for the rest of the billing cycle. A downgrade takes effect at the end of your current cycle, and the difference for the part-period is not refunded.

Every plan covers POS, sales, purchases, inventory and accounting. Basic adds CRM, the WhatsApp gateway, product catalogue and WooCommerce connector. Standard adds hotel management, asset management and instalments. Enterprise and Enterprise Pro add manufacturing, repair management, project management and the API connector. The pricing page shows exactly which plan lists each module.

Yes. Starter covers one location, Basic three, Standard five, Enterprise fifty and Enterprise Pro unlimited. Each branch or warehouse keeps its own stock, and you move goods between them with inter-store transfers so head office sees every count.

The POS is offline-ready and runs in any browser on a phone, tablet or laptop, so a weak connection at the counter does not have to stop sales. Ask our team how offline selling fits your setup.

Yes. The HR and payroll module keeps staff records and roles, and payroll covers NSSF and PAYE. Staff log in with Admin, Manager or Cashier roles so each person sees only what they need.

SmartBiashara records every sale and produces your sales reports. For your EFD or VFD, ask our team about your fiscal-device setup before you go live.

If you sell on a WooCommerce website, the WooCommerce connector links it to your stock from the Basic plan. For other systems, the API connector is available on Enterprise and Enterprise Pro.

The same system adapts to retail, supermarkets, pharmacies with batch and expiry, wholesale with bulk pricing, hardware, electronics with IMEI and warranty, fashion with sizes and variants, restaurants, cafés, hotels, salons and manufacturers.

M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa and Airtel Money are accepted at the POS and reconciled against each sale. Cash, card and bank transfer payments can also be recorded, so every shilling is logged against the right method.

Because each sale records how it was paid, the day’s takings can be read by method: cash, M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa and Airtel Money. You check each figure against the drawer and the wallet statement instead of scrolling through a pile of SMS messages.

Yes. Record madeni (credit sales) against each customer, set a credit limit, and see who owes what. Instalments, for businesses that sell on monthly payments, are listed on the Standard plan.

No. SmartBiashara does not offer bank integrations. You record bank transfers and deposits in the system, and the accounting module keeps your bank, cash and mobile money balances in one set of books.

You do. Under our terms you keep full ownership of your sales, customer, stock, staff and financial records. SmartBiashara processes that data on your behalf to run the service.

Our privacy policy states that SmartBiashara is hosted with Hostinger in European Union data centres in Lithuania and the Netherlands. Some service providers, such as messaging and payment companies, may process data outside Tanzania under data-protection safeguards.

According to our privacy policy, data travels over HTTPS, passwords are stored hashed so staff cannot read them, database backups are encrypted and kept in separate locations, and access to production systems is restricted and logged. Full card numbers are not stored by us; they are held by the payment processors, PesaPal and Flutterwave.

Yes. You can export reports and records to Excel, CSV or PDF at any time using the export tools in the app, or ask us in writing for a copy of your data.

After an account is closed, its data is kept for 60 days and then permanently deleted. You can ask for earlier deletion. Records the law requires us to keep, such as tax-relevant financial records, are held for the legal period.

Email privacy@smartbiashara.com to ask for access, correction, a copy or deletion of your personal data. Our privacy policy commits to a reply within 30 days, in line with Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Act 2022.

Call or WhatsApp +255 749 900 050, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm East Africa Time. You can also email info@smartbiashara.com for general questions or support@smartbiashara.com for help with your account.

Yes. Our team in Dar es Salaam supports customers in English and Kiswahili on WhatsApp and by phone.

Our team answers setup questions on WhatsApp or by phone, such as how to add branches and payment methods or how to load your products from Excel. If you want to see the system with your own products before you start, book a demo.

Yes. SmartBiashara tutorials are published on YouTube, and you can find links to them on our resources page along with written guides on stock taking, cash flow and choosing ERP software.

Log in at erp.smartbiashara.com/login. If you have forgotten your password, use the password reset link on the login page and follow the email instructions.

MiniPOS is a separate, light POS app for kiosks, small dukas and mobile sellers. It records sales, stock, dues and expenses from a phone. SmartBiashara ERP is the full platform with warehouses, purchasing, double-entry accounting, CRM, payroll and industry modules. They have separate accounts and prices.

MiniPOS is free for 14 days. Then Standard is TSh 15,000 for 30 days, Standard MultiBranch TSh 20,000 for 31 days, Premium TSh 150,000 for 360 days and Premium MultiBranch TSh 200,000 for 365 days.

Yes. The two apps do not sync automatically, but the ERP accepts an Excel bulk import for products, so you do not have to type your list again. Our team can guide you through the move.

Smart QR Menu is a digital menu for restaurants, cafés and hotels. Guests scan a QR code on the table to see your menu, and you change prices online without reprinting. It has its own sign-up, separate from SmartBiashara ERP.

SmartBiashara POS (pos.smartbiashara.com) is our most popular app: fast checkout, stock, purchases, quotations, expenses and reports for shops, from TSh 15,000 a month. SmartBiashara ERP (erp.smartbiashara.com) runs the whole business, adding accounting, CRM, HR and payroll, manufacturing, hotel and repair management. Both start with a 14-day free trial.