Tutorial 1 — Set up your business
Time: about 10 minutes. You will end with a working business, set up for the kind of business you actually run, with a profile that makes your invoices look professional.
Before you start, have these ready
- An email address you check regularly (this is how you sign in)
- A password of at least 6 characters
- Your business name
- Your business address and, if you have them, your logo and bank details (you will need these before your first invoice)
Step 1 — Create your account
Open NairaFlow and choose Create account.
| Field | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Yes | This is how you sign in from now on |
| Password | Yes | At least 6 characters |
| Your name | No | Shown on your business profile |
| Phone number | No | Used for staff logins, and for WhatsApp and Telegram |
| 4-digit PIN | No | A second way to sign in on a phone account |
| Business name | No | If you leave it blank, you will create your business in Step 2 instead |
Fill in your email and password, and — if you are setting up on the phone you will use day to day — add your phone number.
If you leave the business name blank, no business is created yet. That is completely fine, and it is how you add a second business later. The next step covers both cases.
Step 2 — Choose what kind of business you are
This is the single most important choice in the setup, so it is worth two minutes.
Your business type decides which screens you get. Not your plan — your type.
| You picked | You run | You get |
|---|---|---|
| Retail | Gadgets, fashion, perfume, mini-importing, Instagram selling | Inventory, supplier bills, leads — plus the basics |
| Food & Drinks | Restaurants, cloud kitchens, food vendors, frozen-food suppliers | Inventory, supplier bills — plus the basics |
| Hospitality | Apartments, short stays, guest houses | Properties, bookings, maintenance, reviews — plus the basics |
| Creative Agency | Agencies, consultants, designers, developers | Leads, projects — plus the basics |
| Financial Services | P2P trading, USDT, FX bureaux | Leads — plus the basics |
The basics, which every business gets whatever it sells: sales, purchases and expenses · contacts · debts · invoices · reports · staff · feature requests.
What if you are not sure, or your business is unusual?
Leave it blank, or type something else. An unrecognised business type is not locked — you keep every screen and the app will ask you to pick a type later, in Settings. Nothing breaks while you decide.
What if you pick the wrong one?
Change it in Settings → Business profile → Business category. It takes effect on your very next action, and nothing you have already recorded is lost.
The one thing that cannot be bought: a shop cannot get the bookings screen by paying more, and an apartment owner cannot get inventory. If you are told to upgrade to reach a screen, that screen belongs to a different kind of business.
Step 3 — Fill in your business profile
Go to Settings → Business profile. Everything here is optional, but the first three sections are worth filling in now, because they print on your invoices and receipts.
The basics
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Business name | The only required field. It appears on every invoice and receipt |
| Owner name | Printed on invoices |
| Email address | Your customers can reach you |
| State and city | Useful for reports later |
| Business address | Printed on invoices — customers need to know where you are |
The professional look
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Logo | Appears at the top of every invoice and receipt PDF. A photo of your shopfront sign is fine to start with |
| Bank name | Printed in the payment details box |
| Account number | Printed in the payment details box |
| Account name | Printed in the payment details box — and it must match the account name at your bank, or your customer will be told to pay the wrong person |
A note on the bank details. NairaFlow can check that a 10-digit account number belongs to the bank you say it does, and it fills in the account name for you when it can. It cannot yet reach your bank directly, so if it cannot resolve a name, you type the name yourself — and you should type it exactly as the bank has it.
You can also skip the check entirely and just type your bank details in. Many businesses do this and it is fine.
Your daily reminder
Set a Reminder Time — a 24-hour time like 20:30. NairaFlow will nudge you at that
time to record the day's sales before you close.
It is a small thing, and it is the difference between books that are current and books you reconstruct from memory a week later. Set it now, while you are here.
The reminder arrives as a phone notification, so make sure notifications are switched on for the app.
Step 4 — Know where you stand
Two numbers matter on this screen:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Your plan | Which plan you are on. New businesses start on Essential |
| Plan expiry | A date in the future means your 7-day trial is running |
When your trial ends, nothing is deleted and nothing is downgraded. Your business simply stops opening until a plan is assigned. If you are still deciding, contact NairaFlow support before the date.
Your limits are on the plan screen. Two of them reset every month — transactions and invoice PDFs. The rest count for as long as your business exists.
Step 5 — If you run more than one business
One account can hold several businesses, and each one keeps its own books, staff and plan. You never log out to switch.
- To add one: Settings → your business name → Add business. It gets the same 7-day trial and the same setup flow.
- To switch: tap your business name at the top of the app and pick the one you want.
- To come back to this guide: Set up your business →
Staff belong to a single business, and a phone number can only be one staff login across the whole platform. If the same person works at two of your businesses, give them a different number for the second one.
What you have now, and what is next
You have an account, a business set up for your type, and a profile that will print well.
Next, get the things you sell and the people you deal with into the system.
If something did not go as expected
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Phone number already registered" | That number already has an account. Try signing in instead |
| "This is a staff account. Please use the staff login." | This phone number is a staff login on someone's business. Use the staff sign-in |
| You cannot find your business after signing in | You may not have created one yet — Settings → Add business |
| The app shows screens you do not recognise | Your business type was left blank, so nothing is hidden. Set the type in Settings when you are ready |
| The reminder does not arrive | Check that notifications are allowed for the app on your phone, and that the app has been opened since you signed in |