Case study · Raven product · Business management
Stride
Our own product — the platform pattern we proved in client work, productised.
Nairobi, Kenya · East Africa · Built and operated by Raven · 2025 — ongoing
The challenge
Every operating system we built for clients — Eagle HR, logistics operators, clinics — kept solving the same problems: employee records in spreadsheets, payroll in Excel with statutory rules approximated, finance disconnected from the people it pays. Global ERPs were designed elsewhere and adapted for Kenya, with M-Pesa added late and support queued in another timezone. The pattern deserved a product, not another one-off build.
What we built
Raven built Stride — a business management platform with people, time and leave, payroll, and finance on one data layer. Kenyan statutory compliance is built in, not bolted on: PAYE, NSSF, SHIF, and Housing Levy calculated correctly, with P9 and iTax-ready exports every pay run. M-Pesa disbursements run from the same finance module that carries the ledger. Vertical packs extend the core for logistics, SACCOs, healthcare, and HR consultancies.
From client pattern to product
The Eagle HR engagement proved the shape: one user directory, one audit log, payroll with KRA compliance, finance on the same records as the people it pays. When the third client needed the same core, the decision was clear — build it once, properly, and operate it as a product. Stride is that build.
Compliance is the product, not a feature
Kenyan payroll is not a template you localise. PAYE bands, NSSF tiers, SHIF, and the Housing Levy each carry their own rules and change on their own schedules. Stride calculates them natively and produces P9 and iTax-ready exports every pay run — so a KRA review is a download, not a scramble. Uganda support extends the same engine for multi-entity groups.
M-Pesa disbursements on the same ledger
Salary disbursement is where most platforms hand you a bank file and wish you luck. Stride runs M-Pesa disbursements from the finance module directly — the same records that carry approvals and the ledger. Payments reconcile because they never leave the system.
What operating our own product changes
Running Stride makes Raven a better consultancy. We carry pager duty for our own uptime, onboard real businesses in days, and feel every rough edge a client would. The vertical packs — logistics, SACCOs, healthcare, HR consultancies — encode what we learned shipping client systems, and client engagements now start from a proven core instead of a blank repo.
The outcome
Six core modules on one platform — compliance built in, onboarding in days.
Stride is live at getstride.co.ke and running real payrolls. Businesses onboard in days with guided setup, run statutory-compliant pay cycles, and disburse via M-Pesa without leaving the platform. Multi-entity compliance covers Kenya and Uganda, and the vertical packs carry the patterns we proved in client engagements.
6
Core modules on one platform
Days
Typical guided onboarding
KE+UG
Multi-entity compliance
Stack
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