SMS-powered HR for Malawi businesses – payroll via phone during blackouts.
Malawian businesses face constant electricity blackouts that disrupt cloud-based HRTech tools essential for payroll processing and employee management.
SMSStaff enables HR tasks via simple SMS commands on any mobile phone, no app or internet required. Businesses send texts for employee updates, payroll approvals, and payslip requests; responses confirm instantly over SMS. Data syncs to a cloud dashboard when power/internet allows, bridging mobile reliability with full HR needs.
Malawian businesses relying on cloud-based HRTech for payroll and employee management
SMS-only access leverages Malawi's 90% mobile coverage, bypassing internet/power issues entirely unlike app-based tools.
friendly
Text 'PAYROLL APPROVE #123' to process batches.
SMS 'ADD EMPLOYEE Name 50000' syntax.
Text 'CHECKIN' from employee phones.
Reply with payslip summary via SMS.
Web view of all SMS logs and data.
Inbound/outbound SMS handling.
Send payslips/announcements to all.
Customizable command shortcuts.
SMS summaries + web CSV.
IVR for complex queries.
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| phone | text | No |
| company_id | uuid | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| name | text | No |
| sms_number | text | No |
| tier | text | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| company_id | uuid | No |
| phone | text | No |
| salary | int | No |
Relationships:
| Column | Type | Nullable |
|---|---|---|
| id | uuid | No |
| company_id | uuid | No |
| message | text | No |
| direction | text | No |
| processed | bool | No |
Relationships:
/api/sms/webhookHandle incoming Twilio SMS
/api/companies/:id/dashboardFetch SMS history and data
/api/employeesProcess SMS employee add
/api/payroll/batchApprove via SMS trigger
Basic commands only
None
None
| Month | Users | Conversion | MRR | ARR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 40 | 6% | $72 | $864 |
| Month 6 | 250 | 14% | $1,050 | $12,600 |
Text your payroll approvals from any phone in Malawi.
Partner with Airtel/MTN resellers in markets for promo codes. Post in Malawi WhatsApp business groups with free SMS credits trial. Target 50 texts to owners from FMB bank SME lists.
Mobile
Limited features
Full payroll + dashboard
Integrations
App/internet req
SMS simplicity
Network effects from shared SMS templates; data from SMS usage patterns for Malawi HR insights.
Mobile money boom + blackouts; 12M+ SIMs in Malawi ripe for SMS SaaS.
Twilio SMS costs
Pass-through pricing + local gateway
SMS parsing errors
Fuzzy matching + HELP cmds
Success: Daily usage confirmed
Success: 20% convert
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