10X Focus: WeKeep — accounting made easy for entrepreneurs

Gone are the days where one needed to be a finance or economics major to start a business. Today, most entrepreneurs come from a tech or other business background without the experience of financial accounting.

Traditionally, the job of bookkeeping was simply outsourced to an accountant. With the introduction of accounting softwares, small businesses and startups have been able to take advantage of the technology to cut costs. Yet the time and effort involved in using those softwares often sees the responsibility divided between business owners, office managers, assistants, and even HRs, depending upon the size of the company.

Moreover, with the introduction of VAT, the need to ensure compliance has made it challenging for entrepreneurs to simply leave the job to those not qualified, leading even startups to either hire qualified accountants or put in the time and effort themselves.

This is where the idea of WeKeep struck Nadim Alameddine — a one-stop tech solution to bookkeeping that reduces the hassle at very affordable rates.

An entrepreneur himself, Alameddine saw this struggle first hand in 2018 with the introduction of VAT in the UAE. At the time, he was managing his initial company Pricena, a price comparison platform, for six years.

While looking to outsource their accounting, Alameddine was left unimpressed by the technology literacy of most firms he met with. Utilising his MBA training in finance from the Wharton School of Business and his experience in the technology industry, he decided to solve the problem in-house.

That’s where the idea took shape. Alameddine founded WeKeep in January 2019. After working for four months on the platform, he went to market in June.

Instead of using a mix of Google Drive, spreadsheets, and multiple back and forth emails, WeKeep offers an integrated platform built on top of the existing softwares used by 95 percent of entrepreneurs — QuickBooks, Xero and Zoho Books.

This not only makes it easier by eliminating the need for migration if entrepreneurs are already using them, but also helps WeKeep keep costs lower, which benefit its customers.

The platform comes with an email address that customers can simply forward the invoices and bills to, thereby having all documents and conversations in one place. Moreover, WeKeep’s platform offers a chat functionality for instant access to the accountant. “There’s no reason why accounting shouldn’t be done 100% online; WeKeep’s platform is designed with that goal in mind,'' says Alameddine.

On top of that, as it keeps all conversations between entrepreneurs and WeKeep on the platform, the mess of multiple emails is done away with, making the whole experience a lot more seamless.

WeKeep helps you file VAT correctly, while complying with the law. It also provides you with monthly reports in a systematic and clean manner. This benefits entrepreneurs to keep documents correctly in order, track financials, as well as present them to investors when fundraising.

Moreover, its integrated platform simplifies the process while ensuring quality bookkeeping.

The 8 month-old startup is a great option for anyone looking to ease the accounting process for an affordable monthly fee — provided most documents are digital.

“If most of your bills and invoices are received digitally or via email, then WeKeep can be a great solution, especially for small businesses that are already online-savvy,” explains Alameddine.

However, ensuring all documents are digital is very difficult for most businesses, and Alameddine understands this, which is why WeKeep does extend its support to businesses who have a small section of paper-based bills.

It is easiest to take on WeKeep’s services if you are already using QuickBooks, Zoho Books or Xero. If you are using spreadsheets, then WeKeep helps you migrate documents and information to one of the supported accounting software as part of the on-boarding process.