On June 17, 2026, the Goods and Services Tax Network issued Advisory No. 664. This advisory outlines changes to the e-Invoice API, the e-Way Bill by IRN API, and a new optional e-Way Bill closure feature.Â
If one line could sum up Odoo Experience Africa 2026 for us, it’s this: two days of real conversations, and the same practical problem coming up again and again.
This was the first-ever edition of Odoo Experience Africa, held on September 3-4 at Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi – a 1954 horse-racing venue turned into a two-day tech and business festival. The event drew a crowd expected to top 10,000 attendees from across the continent, along with over 100 talks and sessions. We were there for both days, and here’s what it was actually like.
Day one opened with Patrick Lukusa, Odoo’s Director for Africa, taking the stage for the keynote “Meet Odoo 20.” He’s been with Odoo for a decade across Europe, Asia, and now Africa, and it showed – the session set the tone for the two days: less hype, more substance.
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That same tone carried through to the exhibition floor. The crowd wasn’t there to browse. Most visitors who stopped at our booth came ready to talk through a specific problem they were already dealing with. A few things stood out immediately:
One thing made this feel different from other Odoo events we’ve attended: the tone. There were fewer polished pitches on both sides and a lot more honest, specific problem-solving. Visitors described real situations and asked directly whether Odoo software could help their business, not someone else’s case study.
The conversation shifted the moment people realised we were listening to their situation instead of reciting a feature list. That shift – from general interest to specific problem – is where the most useful exchanges happened.
One line came up in different forms across almost every conversation at the booth: “We need one system that gives us visibility across the business instead of managing everything separately.”
Underneath that, a few themes kept repeating:
These aren’t small complaints. They’re the operational signs of a business that has outgrown its current setup and is feeling it every week – whether that setup is built around Odoo ERP, Sage ERP, or a patchwork of spreadsheets.
Same opening, every time: a visitor listing off the tools they were juggling – invoicing here, stock there, a spreadsheet holding the rest together.
Then, almost as an afterthought:
“Could one system actually replace all of this?”
That question came up over and over. People arrived unsure if Odoo even fit a business their size – and left with a clear picture of what a live Odoo demo would show them.
A website explains what software does. A real conversation gets you from “here’s our problem” to “here’s what solving it looks like.”
That’s what these two days delivered, on repeat.
Nobody asked about technology. Every question came back to efficiency, visibility, growth.
Installing software is easy. Helping a business run better isn’t – and the businesses at this event already knew the difference.
For our team, being on the ground was worth more than any slide deck. We connected directly with businesses in the African market through actual conversations, not assumptions – and we heard the same operational frustrations described, unprompted, across a booth table for two straight days. We spoke with existing Odoo users looking to scale, and with businesses evaluating their first ERP system, including a few prospects who asked for an Odoo demo on the spot.
Greytrix Business Solutions works as a certified Odoo partner, implementing, customising, and supporting Odoo ERP for businesses across India and now building relationships across African markets. Being at this event in person was a direct extension of that work. And when the day wrapped up, so did the event itself – with the kind of live music and dinner that only a racecourse venue can pull off.
Two days in Nairobi gave us real conversations, a clearer picture of what businesses here are working through, and a handful of relationships we’re genuinely glad to be building. We’re already looking forward to the next one.
Were you at Odoo Experience Africa 2026? We’d genuinely like to hear what stood out to you – reach out and tell us.
If the conversations above sound familiar – the disconnected tools, the visibility gaps, the reports that are always one step behind – we’d be glad to show you what a connected ERP system looks like in practice.
