De Chile a África

For a Chilean company like Closelly, seeing our technology support retailers across Africa is extraordinary. We are proud to take part in GRIT and BEES Academy and to work alongside the local teams who make it possible. Behind every learning journey is someone running a business, knowing their customers and wanting to do better.

Their day is full of decisions. How much to buy. How much money to set aside. How to tell whether a product makes a profit. Finding time to learn amid those responsibilities has enormous value. That is why, when we think about this project, we first think about how useful a lesson can be when someone returns to the counter.

That is where we like to start: with a real question, a concrete need and the ambition of someone who wants to grow their own business.

A decision that starts at the till

Steven Sekamatte runs Vegas Depot and Pub in Mutukula, Uganda. He attended GRIT training in Masaka. In a testimonial published by Nile Breweries, he described one of the things he learned:

“The training has helped me understand how to separate business money from personal money.”

He also spoke about keeping better records, managing stock and learning about digital payments and savings options. These are issues anyone running a small shop will recognize. Training becomes meaningful when it helps people see more clearly what is happening in their own business.

His testimonial is part of GRIT's work led by Nile Breweries in Uganda. We share it because it expresses an aspiration close to our hearts: knowledge should be useful to the person who has to make the next decision.

In the programs we support, that usefulness guides the learning experience. The content brings finance, sales and operations into everyday work: reviewing accounts, knowing what is in stock, planning purchases and serving customers better. We want each person to connect what they learn with their own reality.

A business brings together the effort and hopes of the person running it. Helping strengthen their capabilities is a concrete way to work toward greater opportunities and a better quality of life. That purpose connects us to this story.

Technology needs to find a place in people's lives

For people to benefit from training, we need to consider everything happening around the screen: available time, connectivity, language and the support someone needs to get started. Our experience in Africa has made us pay even closer attention to these details.

In Uganda, teams from Nile Breweries and Ability Explored combined digital learning with in-person meetings. They guided people step by step through the app, explained content in local languages and provided connectivity during sessions. They understood the difficulties and adapted how they worked.

That support gives context to what we build at Closelly. We provide the platform, microlearning experiences and implementation support. In GRIT, the app includes LENA and resources to help people progress through their learning journey. Support channels help with installation, access and the first steps.

Behind this is coordination with teams in each country and shared work to make the experience function well. We care about how technology fits into that relationship. Listening to people close to the retailers helps us understand what to simplify, where support is needed and how to make learning more accessible.

Pride that strengthens our commitment

This journey has brought us together with teams working in very different circumstances. During 2025, we supported the rollout of GRIT Academy in seven countries: Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana. Our experience with BEES Academy has also extended to Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia.

We estimate that our work in Africa has reached around 100,000 retailers. Thinking about that scale moves us and challenges us to care for each person's experience. A personal connection still depends on small decisions: a clear explanation, easier access, someone available to answer a question.

We share this journey with AB InBev, its local teams and partners such as Nile Breweries and Ability Explored in Uganda. Their knowledge of these businesses and their dedication are essential to what we see in these photographs. We are grateful for their trust and for everything we are learning together.

We want to help the people running these businesses gain more tools to develop their projects and improve their own and their families' quality of life. For us, that possibility makes it worth designing better, listening more and staying close.

As we return to our daily work at Closelly, we carry a very concrete conviction: it is worth building technology people can make their own. Technology that finds a place among their responsibilities and helps them move forward with something that matters to them. That is why this experience makes us so proud.