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Imali

Use cases

Whatever you sell, there's a way Imali fits how you work.

Twelve real SA business types using Imali every day, with the actual WhatsApp messages they send — plus eighteen more we'd happily onboard tomorrow.

Free tier

Spaza shops

Daily till, stock turn, customer tabs

  • Quick-log every cash sale in 5 seconds, between customers
  • Photo of a Makro or Massmart slip — Imali reads it in
  • Track who's running a tab and how old the debt is
  • See yesterday's profit before you open this morning
Saves ~25 min/day vs. the paper book
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Imali

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R45 airtime sale

✅ R45 logged. Today: R380.

📸 (Makro receipt)

🧾 Makro: R1,247.80 stock. Save?

Starter tier

Hair salons

Per-service invoices, tips, product stock

  • Issue an invoice per client without leaving the chair
  • Log tips separately so commission and profit stay honest
  • Track hair products and styling stock with low-stock alerts
  • Owner sees the day's takings even when she's not in the salon
Cuts admin from 40 min to 5 min a day
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Imali

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invoice

Who's the client?

Lerato — cornrows R250, treatment R120

Invoice draft: R370 for Lerato. Send?

Starter tier

Mobile mechanics

Per-job invoices, parts vs labour, fuel

  • Multi-line invoices: parts, labour, call-out — one message
  • Photo a parts slip from Midas — OCR pulls amount and date
  • Fuel logged as expense; tax estimate updates automatically
  • Customer history at your thumbs: who you serviced, when, for how much
Cleaner books for the next SARS return
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Imali

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invoice for Sipho — brake pads R650, labour R400, callout R200

🧾 Invoice for Sipho: R1,250. 3 lines. Send?

spent R380 on petrol

✅ R380 fuel logged.

Starter tier

Taxi owners

Driver hand-overs, fuel, maintenance

  • Driver sends daily takings to the owner's number — no cash counting
  • Fuel and tyre receipts logged as expenses, not lost
  • Monthly profit per vehicle visible without a spreadsheet
  • Build the credit profile that gets you finance for the next bakkie
6-month history → asset finance application
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Imali

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Today's takings R1,420

✅ R1,420 logged. Week-to-date: R8,150.

📸 (Engen slip)

⛽ Engen: R650 fuel. Save as expense?

Premium tier

Tailors & seamstresses

Deposits, balances, fabric stock

  • Deposit + balance flow on a single invoice
  • Fabric and trim stock with low-stock alerts before a rush job
  • Per-customer history — who ordered, what, when
  • Voice note from your machine: "deposit 200 for Mrs Khumalo"
Never finishes a dress short of trim
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Imali

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invoice Mrs Khumalo — wedding dress R3,200, deposit R1,600

🧾 Invoice R3,200, deposit R1,600 received. Balance R1,600 on delivery.

stock

🧵 Low stock: White lace (2m left), gold thread (1 spool).

Premium tier

Caterers & kasi kitchens

Event invoices, per-head pricing, ingredient cost

  • Multi-line event invoices (food, staff, transport) on one chat
  • Ingredient stock with auto-deduction when you log a sale
  • Voice notes for big-batch braai days when hands are full
  • Per-event profit visible — know which gigs are worth saying yes to
Books a real margin instead of guessing
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Imali

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invoice — 60 guests at R95, drinks R1,200, staff R600

🧾 R7,500 total. 3 lines. Who's the client?

Mbeki family — 21st birthday

Sent. Marked unpaid. Imali will remind you in 7 days.

Starter tier

Plumbers & electricians

Call-out + materials + labour invoices

  • Call-out fee, materials, and labour as separate line items
  • Photo of the parts slip from Builders — OCR captures vendor, amount, date
  • Customer asks for the invoice on WhatsApp — you send the PDF instantly
  • Tax estimate based on real trailing-12-month income, not a flat ×12
Quote in the kitchen, paid by lunch
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Imali

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invoice 4 Park Road — call-out R350, geyser element R420, labour R600

🧾 R1,370 invoice ready. Send to client?

Premium tier

Phone repair shops

Parts inventory, per-job invoices

  • Parts inventory: screens, batteries, ports — auto-deduct on each repair
  • Forgiving search: "iPhone 12" finds "iPhone 12 Pro Max screen"
  • Per-job invoices with parts + labour split
  • Low-stock alert before the busy weekend rush
Cuts "is this in stock?" guesswork to zero
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Imali

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sell iPhone 12 screen

Found 2: 1) iPhone 12 screen 2) iPhone 12 Pro screen. Reply 1 or 2.

1

Quantity? Cost in stock R1,200.

1 sold for R1,650

✅ Sold. Profit on this job: R450. 4 left in stock.

Starter tier

Carwashes

Per-vehicle tickets, tips, supplies

  • Quick-log per car — "R60 standard", "R250 full valet"
  • Tips logged separately so washer commission is fair
  • Soap and wax stock with low-stock alerts
  • Saturday peak vs Tuesday quiet — see the pattern, staff for it
Ends the day knowing the real number
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Imali

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R60, R60, R250 valet

✅ 3 sales, R370 total. Today: R1,840 from 22 cars.

best day this month

🏆 Best day: Saturday 26 April — R2,950 from 34 cars.

Starter tier

Tutors

Per-student monthly invoices

  • One monthly invoice per student, sent on WhatsApp
  • Mark paid → income transaction books automatically
  • Stationery and printing as expenses against the right category
  • Tax estimate for the side hustle clear, not a year-end shock
Chases late payers without the awkward call
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Imali

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list overdue invoices

🧾 2 overdue: Naledi (R1,800, 12 days), Themba (R2,400, 5 days).

remind Naledi

I'll send a polite reminder PDF to her WhatsApp now.

Premium tier

Stokvels & burial societies

Contributions, payouts, pot balance

  • Chairperson tracks every member's monthly contribution
  • Members get auto-confirmation when their dues are recorded
  • Double-contribution guard — no row gets counted twice
  • Pot balance visible to authorised members in real time
Replaces 3 paper ledgers and a WhatsApp group
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Imali

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Mama Zodwa paid R500 for May

✅ Recorded. Pot balance: R28,400. 11/14 members in for May.

list missing for May

Still owed: Sibongile, Pretty, Lwazi (R500 each).

Starter tier

Cross-border traders

Multi-currency in one chat

  • Log USD, EUR, BWP, MZN, NGN — 21 currencies recognised natively
  • Daily ECB rates auto-cached, weekend uses last Friday's rate
  • Reports denominated in your default currency, no manual conversion
  • Buy stock in dollars, sell in rand — both currencies preserved on the row
Honest books across 4 borders
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Imali

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$120 from tourist

✅ $120 logged (≈ R2,232 at today's rate). Today: R3,840.

spent 850 BWP at border

✅ 850 BWP fuel logged (≈ R1,189). Cross-border trip 7 of May.

Also for

Eighteen more we'd happily onboard.

If you handle money, Imali fits. We've left the deep dives for the twelve above — every business below uses the same building blocks.

Barbers

Daily till + clipper restock

Gardeners

Weekly cash per client

Domestic bakers

Per-cake invoice, ingredient stock

Painters

Paint stock per job, m² labour

Welders

Material + labour quotes

Photographers

Deposit + balance per shoot

DJ / sound hire

Per-event invoice, kit value

Nail techs

Polish stock, weekly recap

Internet cafes

Airtime + data resale

School tuckshops

Term-end summary

Poultry / egg sellers

Daily count, feed stock

Online resellers

Per-order income + courier expense

B&B hosts

Per-night income, linen supplies

Beauty therapists

Per-treatment invoice, product stock

Bakkie couriers

Per-delivery invoice + fuel

Shisanyama stands

Daily meat cost, weekend peaks

Daycares

Monthly fees per child

Flea-market vendors

Saturday cash + stock turn

Don't see your business?

If you take money in or out, Imali handles it. Start free in 60 seconds — no app, no login. Tell us what you do and we'll help you set it up.