Built in Uganda, for Ugandan counters
Stem is a point-of-sale and business system for shops, supermarkets and restaurants in Uganda. It was built offline-first from the first line of code, because the shops it serves do not have reliable internet and cannot stop selling when the network does.
Who builds Stem?
Stem is built in Kampala, Uganda by Talemwa Solomon, founder, and a small team. It is not a foreign point-of-sale product translated for this market. The offline-first design, the mobile-money payment methods and the customer credit book all exist because of how business is actually done here.
Talemwa designs and builds Stem: the Windows till, the web app and the sync engine behind them. The product decisions on this site are theirs: that a till must own its own data, that a receipt should be verifiable even when it was printed with no connection, and that a report should book every sale on the day it actually happened.
Why was Stem built offline-first?
Because most point-of-sale software assumes perfect internet, and Ugandan shops do not have it. When the network drops, a cloud till stops selling. Stem puts the whole shop on the machine at the counter: it sells at full speed with no connection, and treats the cloud as somewhere to sync to rather than something to depend on.
That one decision shapes everything else. Receipts can be verified even when they were printed offline. Reports put every sale on the business day it really happened, not the day it happened to sync. A credit book follows up on money owed instead of sitting in a notebook. And a shop that loses power or network for an afternoon loses nothing at all.
The same thinking runs down to some fairly small places. Warranty cover, for instance, counts in calendar months rather than 365 days — so a phone sold on 31 January is covered to 28 February, never to 3 March. A shop arguing “365 days” against a customer’s “you said one year” at the counter is a fight nobody wins, and it is avoidable by deciding it correctly once.
Stem at a glance
| Based in | Kampala, Uganda |
|---|---|
| Built for | Uganda: shops, supermarkets, restaurants and wholesalers |
| Works offline | Every sale, receipt, credit entry and repayment, with no connection |
| Windows till | Installs per-user on Windows 10/11, no administrator rights needed |
| Web till | Runs in any browser: Mac, Android, iPad, anything |
| Payments | Cash, card, MTN and Airtel mobile money, and customer credit |
| Tax | EFRIS settings are in place, but URA submission is still in development |
| Updates | Silent over-the-air. The till updates itself and you never reinstall |
How do I contact a real person?
Call or WhatsApp +256 706 370617, or call +256 785 994391. You can also use the contact form on the homepage. Messages reach the people who build the software, without a call centre in between.
Questions about the company
Who builds Stem?
Stem is built in Kampala, Uganda by Talemwa Solomon and a small team, for Ugandan shops and restaurants. It is not a foreign point-of-sale product translated for this market. The offline-first design, the mobile-money payment methods and the customer credit book all exist because of how business is actually done here.
How do I contact a real person?
Call or WhatsApp +256 706 370617, or call +256 785 994391. You can also use the contact form on the homepage. Messages go to the people who build the software, not to a call centre.
Why was Stem built offline-first?
Because most point-of-sale software assumes perfect internet, and Ugandan shops do not have it. When the network drops, a cloud till stops selling. Stem puts the whole shop on the machine at the counter: it sells at full speed with no connection and treats the cloud as somewhere to sync to, not something to depend on.
Where is Stem based?
Kampala, Uganda. The software is developed here and supported here, in East Africa Time, by people who can talk about a shop in Kampala, Jinja or Mbarara without needing it explained. Call or WhatsApp +256 706 370617 during business hours.
Page updated 21 July 2026