Tips, guides and news for business owners
Written for the people running businesses on Knomart: how to get started, what shipped this month, and how to grow your trade.
Poultry Farming: Feed, Flock and Cost Per Bird
A trade app that tracks feed against flock performance, so the largest cost in the business is measured rather than estimated.
Butchery: Yield, Cut Value and What the Chiller Costs
A trade app that tracks weight in against weight sold, so yield stops being a guess and pricing rests on real cost per kilo.
Tailor / Workshop: Jobs, Fittings and What Time Costs
A trade app that tracks each job from measurement to collection, including the hours that quoting usually forgets.
Equipment Hire: Utilisation, Deposits and Machine History
A trade app that tracks what is out, what is idle, what is owed and what each machine has cost to keep working.
Daycare & Tuition: Attendance, Fees and Real Occupancy
A trade app that tracks which children attended, which fees were paid and what the room is actually costing per child.
Dairy Collection: Litres In, Litres Out, Producers Paid
A trade app that reconciles collection against sale and keeps producer payments accurate, which is what keeps supply.
Water Station: Production, Sales and Cost Per Litre
A trade app that tracks litres produced, litres sold and the consumables between them, so cost per litre is a fact rather than an estimate.
Gym & Fitness: Members, Renewals and What Was Collected
A trade app that separates who is enrolled from who has paid, and warns you before a membership lapses.
Landlord: Rent Due, Rent Paid and What Is Outstanding
A trade app that keeps every unit, tenant, payment and arrear in one place, so late rent is caught in week one rather than month three.
Boda Fleet: What Each Bike and Each Rider Returns
A trade app for fleet owners that tracks daily remittance, fuel, repairs and downtime bike by bike.
Laundry: Loads, Weights and What Each Cycle Returns
A trade app that tracks items in, cycles run and money out, so per-kilo pricing can be checked against the utility bill.
Salon & Barbershop: Chairs, Services and Stylist Earnings
A trade app for a salon that needs to know what each chair returns, what each service costs and what each stylist has earned.
Car Wash: Every Vehicle, Every Shift, Every Shilling
A trade app that records each wash as it happens, so the day's takings and the day's work can be checked against each other.
Bakery Costing: Know What Every Loaf Actually Costs
A trade app that costs your recipes properly, so a change in flour price becomes a calculation instead of a guess.
Butchery: What the Scale Does Not Tell You
Carcass weight in and saleable weight out are different numbers. Here is where the difference goes and how to price for it.
Tailor: Pricing a Job When the Fabric Is Theirs
When the customer supplies the material, you are selling time and skill alone. Here is how to price that without underselling the work.
Water Station: Cost Per 20 Litres, Honestly
Treatment, power and containers all sit between source water and the sale. Here is how to work out what a jerrican really costs you.
Equipment Hire: A Day Rate That Covers Replacement
Hire income that ignores wear is borrowing from the day the machine must be replaced. Here is how to build a rate that funds its own successor.
Boda Fleet: What a Rider Actually Returns After Fuel
Daily remittance looks like income until fuel, maintenance and downtime are counted. Here is how to work out what each bike really earns.
Dairy: Margin Per Litre, and Where It Leaks
Margin per litre is thin enough that small losses matter. Here is where volume disappears between collection and sale.
Daycare: Pricing Per Child When Your Costs Are Per Day
Staff, food and space are booked by the day, but parents pay by the child. Here is how to price so the two line up.
Gym: Why 60 Members Is Not 60 Payments
Membership numbers and collected revenue are different things. Here is where the gap comes from and how to close it.
Landlord: The Real Cost of a Late Tenant
Late rent is not just delayed money. Work out what a chronically late tenant actually costs before you decide how to handle one.
Laundry: Pricing Per Kilo Without Losing It on the Water Bill
Per-kilo pricing is simple to quote and easy to get wrong. Here is how to build a rate that survives your utility bill.
Salon: Chair Rent, Product Cost, and What You Actually Keep
A busy salon is not automatically a profitable one. Work out what each chair and each service really returns after product, commission and rent.
What a Bakery Should Charge Per Loaf When Flour Goes Up
When an input price moves, the question is not whether to raise your price but by how much — and that starts with knowing your cost per loaf.
What It Costs to Run a Car Wash in Nairobi in 2026
Water, labour, rent and consumables all move. Here is how to work out what a wash really costs you before you set a price.
Group Buying: When Three Shops on One Street Order Together
Sometimes the smartest way to buy stock is not to buy alone. When nearby businesses need similar supplies, ordering together can turn separate purchasing needs into one coordinated order.
What You Run Out Of, and When — Reading Your Own Stock Data
Running out of stock is rarely random. Your sales history can show which products move, which ones sit, and what deserves attention before the shelf is empty.
Restocking Is Your Most Predictable Cost and Your Least Planned
Every business that sells products knows stock will run out. The surprise is usually not that you need to restock — it is that you realise you need to restock when the shelf is already getting empty.
Selling to Another Knomart Business
Your next customer does not always have to be an individual. Another business can need exactly what you sell, and Knomart gives merchants a place to find and serve those business-to-business opportunities.
Posting a Supply Request
When your business needs something, a clear supply request can turn a vague need into a useful business conversation. On Knomart, merchants can discover suppliers, request quotations and post supply
Give Business, Get Business: The Merchant Marketplace
Your business does not only need customers. Sometimes you need another business — for stock, services, partnerships or a useful supplier. Knomart's merchant marketplace is designed for businesses to
Deposits: Taking Them, Tracking Them, Returning Them
A deposit can protect a business and give a customer confidence—but only when everyone knows what was paid, why it was paid, and what happens to it next.
Why Your Gym Has 60 Members and 41 Payers
Having 60 people on your membership list does not mean you have 60 paying members. The difference is where your collection problem begins.
How to Ask a Tenant for Rent Without a Fight
Rent collection becomes easier when the conversation is about a clear payment record and an agreed date—not a personal confrontation.
Handing Over a Shift Without an Argument
A shift handover should transfer information, money and responsibility—not create a debate about what happened before the next person arrived.
We Did 40 Washes Versus 40 Washes Worth of Money
Counting completed washes tells you how busy the car wash was. Counting the money those washes should have produced tells you whether the day's activity matches the records.
The Margin Conversation to Have Before You Say a Price Out Loud
Before you quote a customer, make sure you know what the price needs to cover—and what you need it to leave behind.
You Are Selling Three of Your Cakes Below Cost and You Do Not Know Which
When several cakes look profitable at the selling price, hidden differences in ingredients, size and preparation can make one of them a loss.
The One Number That Tells You Whether Today Was Good
A busy day can feel successful. A quiet day can feel disappointing. But one useful number can help you judge the day by its business result rather than by how busy it felt.
Stock That Walks: The Gap Between What Came In and What Sold
Stock can disappear faster than your records can explain it. Here is why the gap between stock received and stock sold matters.
General Shop / Duka
A trade-specific business app for keeping a general shop organised as products, customers, stock and daily sales grow.
Pharmacy
A trade-specific business app for keeping a pharmacy organised as products, customers, sales and daily business activity grow.
Hardware
A trade-specific business app for keeping a hardware shop organised as products, customers, stock and daily sales grow.
Tours
A trade-specific business app for keeping a tours business organised as customers, bookings and daily operations grow.
Ready to grow your business?
Start managing your trade with software that works the way you do.