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Sommalife’s success story: Effectively scaling its financial operations with Finstack

Who is Sommalife?

Sommalife empowers smallholder shea farmers across West Africa and is growing its operations rapidly. But, with its rapid expansion came increasing financial complexity. Managing multipe legal entities across multiple countries meant juggling multiple currencies (EUR, USD, GHS, XOF), constant conversions, and fragmented reports.

Without real-time financial visibility, the reconciliation of transactions was slow, intercompany mismatches piled up, and investor reporting was a challenge, slowing down the speed with which decisions could be made and investor confidence.

The challenge: consolidating multi-entity, multi-currency financials

With multiple legal entities, each operating in a different source currency (EUR, USD, GHS, XOF), tracking finances in real-time became a major challenge. Transactions flowed between entities, but without an automated system, reconciling them was slow, error-prone, and highly manual. Sommalife’s finance team struggled with:

Key challenges

• Multi-entity, multi-currency complexity – Every transaction required constant currency conversions, bank fees, and manual reconciliations, often leading to mismatched records.
• Intercompany mismatches – FX fluctuations meant that transactions between entities rarely balanced once settled, creating reconciliation headaches.
• Fragmented financial visibility – With no centralized system, consolidating financials across entities was a time-consuming manual process, delaying decisions.
• Investor-ready reporting – Fundraising efforts stalled because consolidating financial data took too long, and reports lacked real-time accuracy.

“When stakeholders and partners look at your books, they don’t want excuses—they want numbers that make sense, fast,” Tom explains.

And then there was the added complexity of the African banking infrastructure—delayed transactions, incomplete statement details, and unstructured mobile money payments.

“You’ll see a transaction labeled with just a reference number and no clue who sent it. It’s a constant puzzle.” – Tom, CFO, Sommalife.

Sommalife’s growth outpaced its financial systems. Scaling effectively meant finding a solution that could automate consolidation, eliminate intercompany mismatches, and generate real-time reports—without slowing down operations.

The solution: Automating financial reporting and consolidation with Finstack

To bring order to its financial operations, Sommalife implemented Finstack, which proved to be a game-changer in managing its consolidation needs, intercompany eliminations, and financial reporting.

Here’s how Finstack transformed Sommalife’s day-to-day financial workflows, giving Tom and his team more clarity, control, and time back.

Finstack in action: How it transformed Sommalife’s financial consolidation in 6 steps

Here’s what changed — at a glance:

Before Finstack, managing all the entities meant manually consolidating financials across multiple Excel spreadsheets. And more often than not, Tom didn’t even find the time to consolidate Sommalife’s finances at all. 

Finstack changes that by automating key processes, providing real-time insights, and giving finance teams full control over their data.

“With Finstack, I know that what’s on paper is actually what’s happening. That’s a huge relief,” says Tom.

Here’s how Tom did it:

Step 1: Connecting data sources with one click

• Instead of manually pulling financial data from multiple systems, Tom connected Sommalife’s four Xero administrations to Finstack in just one click. This integration enables real-time synchronization, ensuring all financial entries are automatically imported.

• What’s great: No need for CSV imports or data cleaning—Finstack pulls the numbers directly from his accounting software, keeping everything up to date.

Step 2: Gaining real-time insights

• Once set up, Tom can access Sommalife’s consolidated financials through the Reporting view, which provides him with both a consolidated and entity-level breakdown of Sommalife’s financials.

• What’s great: The interface provides instant access to profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow reports—updated in real-time, eliminating manual reconciliations.

Step 3: Digging deeper with drill-down capabilities

From the consolidated report, Tom can click on any figure to trace it back to the journal entry level, making error detection effortless. “If something looks off, I can track it down in seconds instead of wasting days piecing everything together.”

• What’s great: Instead of cross-checking spreadsheets, finance teams can investigate discrepancies in seconds—saving hours (or even days) of manual work

Step 4: Seamless multi-currency management

Finstack automatically converts transactions across currencies (EUR, USD, GHS, XOF) using real-time exchange rates. No more manual currency adjustments.

“We’re working with Cedi’s, Dollars, Euros, and Francs. Without Finstack, reconciling them all would be an endless puzzle. Luckily, Finstack does all this painstaking work for me,” Tom says.

• What’s great: Tom no longer has to worry about fluctuating rates affecting reconciliations—Finstack handles it automatically.

Step 5: Custom reports in minutes

Finstack allows Tom to create investor-ready reports tailored to Sommalife’s needs. He customizes report structures, maps GL accounts, and generates shareable insights—all within the platform.

• What’s great: Reports that once took days to compile can now be generated with a single click, ready to be shared internally or with investors.

Step 6: Exporting & sharing reports

Once everything is in place, Tom generates consolidated financial reports and exports them in Excel for seamless sharing with investors and stakeholders.

• What’s great: Whether for internal planning or investor updates, reports are ready in minutes, fully reconciled, and tailored to Sommalife’s needs.

Bonus: Plus, Finstack flags any newly created GL accounts with a pop-up reminder. “This ensures I never miss a new account in my reports,” Tom says.

The results: accuracy, efficiency, and better decision-making

Since implementing Finstack, Sommalife has transformed its financial operations, replacing time-consuming manual work with automation, accuracy, and real-time insights. Here’s what changed:

• Financial consolidation in minutes, not days

Before Finstack, consolidating financials across four entities was so time-consuming that it was often skipped. Now, real-time consolidation is just a click away.‍

“We used to have no consolidated statements at all. I would just hand over separate reports for each entity and let others figure it out,” Tom explains. “But at a certain point in your progress as a company, that isn’t a sustainable way to operate anymore.”

Key benefit: Reports that once took days (or didn’t happen at all) are now generated instantly—giving leadership real-time visibility into financials.

• Fully reconciled intercompany transactions

Mismatches due to fluctuating exchange rates and timing differences used to be a nightmare. Finstack automatically eliminates these discrepancies, ensuring all entities are aligned.

“Now, I can see at a glance that everything balances and I finally have full confidence in our numbers,” Tom explains.

Key benefit: No more chasing down mismatched transactions—everything balances automatically.

• Real-time, data-driven decision-making

With Finstack’s live dashboards, Sommalife now tracks cash flow, working capital, and intercompany loans weekly—instead of waiting for end-of-month reports.

‍“We used to do everything monthly, but that wasn’t working anymore. Right now, we’re transitioning to a weekly reconciliation model,” he says. “It takes time to implement, but it’s already making a difference.”

Key benefit: Faster access to accurate data means better decisions, made with confidence.

• Investor-ready reports at the click of a button

Raising capital requires clear, accurate, and timely financial statements. Finstack allows Sommalife to generate consolidated reports instantly—no more compiling spreadsheets manually.

‍“We’re about to raise a new funding round, and investors will expect consolidated reports regularly. With Finstack, I’ll be able to deliver those reports quickly and accurately,” Tom explains.

Key benefit: Investors see reliable, structured financials, improving trust and speeding up fundraising.

Why Finstack?

For Sommalife, Finstack wasn’t just another tool—it was the missing piece in their financial operations. Here’s why Tom and his team chose it over other solutions:

• User-friendly & straightforward

"I’ve tried other tools, but they were either too complex or didn’t do what I needed. Finstack is intuitive and to the point."

• Seamless onboarding & hands-on support

"The 30-day free trial period was key. Some tools give you just a few days—Finstack gave me time to see the real value. Also, support from Finstack was with me every step of the way."

• Automation that saves time

"Before, I handed over separate reports for each entity and let others figure it out. That wasn’t sustainable. Now, I generate consolidated statements in minutes."

Supporting Sommalife’s mission and driving sustainable impact

With Finstack, Sommalife has built a financial infrastructure that supports its mission. As the company continues to grow and empower more farmers across West Africa, Finstack will remain a crucial part of its expansion strategy, providing the financial automation and insights needed to drive sustainable impact. Safe to say that we, as Finstack, are proud to support Sommalife’s mission and help them create a better life for the West African farmers! 

Think Finstack can support your goals, too?

Are you ready to transform your financial operations, just like Tom did at Sommalife with Finstack? Book a demo and let us show you how Finstack could work for you, or start your free 30-day trial by clicking here. Be the forward-thinking financial leader any organization needs.