Smartr City

Purpose and goal

The project aimed to validate service and business concepts for a system to digitize the collection of taxes and fees from merchants (the informal sector) in development markets. A pilot system, Smartr Tax, has been developed and field tested in Dakar, Senegal, to validate system solution and the business concept. The real-life test has been successful, leading to a number of new contracts with municipalities. There are no competing solutions on the market today. SMARTR Tax has the potential to become the state-of-the-art solution disrupting tax collection from the infomal sector.

Expected results and effects

A system has been developed and adapted to local conditions. It has been tested under real-life conditions for four weeks. Fourteen operators have registered more than 2,500 traders, issued ID cards and merchant licenses through the system. A local subsidiary has been started that will operate local business. Five municipalities have signed agreements for 6 months pilot projects. There is a strong interest in signing long-term agreements with Red Flash. As a secondary effect, agreements have been signed with two insurance companies to provide mobile microinsurances.

Planned approach and implementation

In order to adopt the locally, we had to focus on making the apps intuitive and easy to use. Android apps are widely spread and used among the population, a fact that has made adoption easy. We have invested heavily in meetings with key stakeholders to establish the solution. Concrete demonstrations of the solution have made communication easier. The introduction of SMARTR Tax affects social informal and formal structures and it has been important to navigate correctly. It has been of utmost importance to have staff members with local know-how involved in the implementation.