It’s tax season and with that comes preparation for documents for your tax preparer. A Central New York woman is helping small business owners organize their documents in a simpler form through an app she created.
“What Namnu does is you can take a picture of your receipt, you can choose a category and it’ll store it for you,” said Pratiksha Bista, founder of the Namnu app.
She is from Nepal. She came to the U.S. two years ago to enrich her entrepreneur skills by working on her master’s degree in business analytics at Utica University. After a year of being in the states, she saw there was a need for small business owners who were struggling to get their finances in order for tax season.
“I saw a lot of business owners losing money time and again just because they couldn’t do their finances. I just wanted them to feel a little bit more relaxed during the tax season,” said Bista.
Bista said she got the idea to create the Namnu app, a simple and easy way to keep your finances in order throughout the year. With the help of the Mohawk Valley Small Business Development Center, she was able to work with a team to help her develop and launch the app.
“I always say it’s a privilege to be part of someone’s entrepreneurial journey,” said Ujj Rai, a small business consultant at the development center. He’s a business advisor and a small business owner himself.
“The SBDC has done a lot of work on this project because we have a research network. So like, you know, there are a lot of questions — how much to charge, who to charge. And, you know, is there really demand because, the tech is changing so fast, right? How can we make it as simple as possible,” said Rai.
Small business development centers are statewide. They provide free consulting, training and research to small business owners and to those who are looking to start up one.
“They really help entrepreneurs like me to refine our ideas and push us with real feedback,” said Bista.
Bista said the app is free to use. She said the only charge is $15 and that’s to export all the files for the tax preparer at the end of the year.
She says the feedback has been positive so far.
“’I use your app, it’s really easy.’ I’ve heard feedback like that. Someone from Utica Tax LLC, they’ve been using our app, so they are a tax preparer,” said Bista.