TIPS TO HELP SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS IN 2018.

When Zuri Foods, a small gourmet snack company in Abuja, started in 2020, it was just a side hustle for its founder, Aisha Azuri Danjuma. With a few friends helping out from her kitchen and weekend sales at farmers markets, it was simple enough to track sales and expenses using spreadsheets.

She kept on with using spreadsheet but by 2023, the business was different. She had gathered a lot of referrals from old customers and there was a big boom in the local supermarket business in Abuja which meant more orders coming in from here and there.

In no time, Zuri Foods had landed bulk supply contracts with local supermarkets, was exporting chin-chin and plantain chips to Ghana and had opened a production facility in Jabi. What used to be a weekend bookkeeping quickly turned into a weekly nightmare.

“I was spending hours trying to figure out why our profit margins were fluctuating,” Aisha recalls. “We had no real-time inventory tracking. We were losing products, and honestly, I had no idea how much it was costing us.”

On the advice of her accountant -Tunde, Aisha explored Sage ERP, a solution popular with growing businesses in Nigeria. With the help of PML Professional Services, a renowned Sage partner in Abuja, they implemented modules for inventory, sales, and financials.

A little secret, I guess I should spill this one. You see, Tunde has earlier been in acquaintance with PML where he finished his mandatory one-year service as a corper before joining Zuri foods in 2022. So now you know how he knew these Sage guys.

I wouldn’t want to bore you out, but I guess I should give you a little highlight of what Sage did for Zuri Foods within three months;

Inventory Management:
Before Sage, it took three staff a day of manual stock counts to prepare weekly reports using spreadsheets. With Sage ERP, inventory levels were updated in real-time across their Maraba warehouse and Nyanya distribution hub. They could see at a glance which products were moving, and which were sitting too long. Unlike when the business had to sell their products at a lower price to push out goods to avoid them from spoilage, Aisha was really happy because she could track the movement of her products and also see the value of her store with ease from the comfort of her office.

Sales and Order Processing:
Their sales reps armed with tablets and laptops, could now remotely enter customer orders on-site. Orders synced directly into the system, eliminating miscommunications and double entry ‘wahala’. I totally recall a case with Mallam Isah who had once called multiple staff of Zuri due to delay in supplies of his usual orders for Zuri’s special plantain chips to restock his kiosk. He was later supplied his orders but guess what, his order was duplicated, and he was supplied double the quantity he requested because the two supplying officers he had called were at that time using spreadsheets on their individual computers. It was cases like this that made Tunde refer PML to Aisha. Using Sage really eliminated this order processing ‘palava’ because every order number was unique and could not be duplicated.

Financial Reporting:
Aisha could generate profit & loss reports with one click. Sage’s multi-currency support also made it easier to track export sales in Ghanaian Cedis and convert them seamlessly to Naira as Zuri’s functional currency.

Scalability and Confidence.
“Sage didn’t just organize our chaos,” says Aisha. “It gave us the confidence to expand. We opened our second branch in Wuse and started supplying schools and hotels—something I never would have attempted before”. This was the biggest win for Zuri Foods.

Zuri Foods was completely transformed by 2025, they had grown their revenue by 300%, expanded to having branches in Kano, Lagos, Ibadan and Port-Harcourt and was in talks with some South African distributors. Aisha now spends less time firefighting and more time planning new product lines.

Let me give you a little secret about small and medium scale businesses in Abuja. Listen when I tell you this, for many small and medium scale businesses in Abuja and beyond, the challenge isn’t passion or product, it’s ‘STRUCTURE’. Exactly what PML is willing to offer with core expertise in Sage ERP deployment for your businesses. Just like Zuri Foods, PML can help your business upscale and realise its full potential while maintaining your business culture and values with the utilization of its various sage ERP software.

Sage helps businesses move from hustle to enterprise, with the right tools for managing money, inventory, and growth.

And in Aisha’s words:
“Sage gave me more than software. It gave me visibility, accountability, and freedom.” Wow! I just learnt that PML provides services in the areas of Audit, Tax and Advisory as well.