Shipped
What we're building at Owena, in the open — the newest updates first. Founding partners help steer what comes next.
- Shipped
Connect your bank — the feed pulls itself in
The live app now links your bank account (read-only, via a licensed data partner) and pulls your transactions straight into the matching queue — the same suggest-and-approve flow as statement upload, no file needed. Explicit sync button, never background polling: you decide when Owena looks. Statement upload stays forever as the no-login fallback.
- Shipped
One account, many businesses — and the switcher to match
Run more than one studio? Your businesses now live on one Owena account with a workspace switcher where the logo used to be — the sidebar leads with YOUR business identity, and Owena takes the back seat. Each business is fully isolated: its own projects, team, money and profit.
- Shipped
Invite your team — they add their own verified bank details
No more typing someone else's account number. Add a contractor, staff member or vendor with just a name and email, send them a branded invite (WhatsApp, email or link), and they create their account and enter the bank details they want to be paid into — with the account name checked against the bank. Wrong-account transfers die here.
- Shipped
Import a bank statement — every line matched, you approve
The flagship landed in the live app: upload your statement CSV and Owena matches each line to the right project, invoice or payout — including catching bank charges and shortfalls as their own line so nothing silently disappears. Suggestions are questions, never auto-commits; unmatched lines wait in a review queue until you decide.
- Decided
The wallet waits for its license — reconciliation goes first
We sat down with the payment providers, and the honest answer is that letting agencies spend from wallet balances needs licensing cover we can only earn with traction — so we're not going to fake it. The wallet moves to an interest list inside the app (join it — it directly shapes who we onboard first and speeds up the licensed arrangement), and until then you pay from your own bank with one confirm, exactly as agencies do today. What goes first instead is the thing everyone actually begged for: connect your bank (read-only) or upload a statement, and Owena matches every payment to the right project — you approve in one tap, fees and shortfalls caught, nothing silently dropped. Owena never holds your money. That was true before, and it's the reason this decision was easy.
- Shipped
The Owena wallet — receive, pay and reconcile in one place (prototype)
Design partners kept telling us the same thing: reconciliation is hectic because the money lives in three bank apps. So the prototype now has an optional agency wallet — a dedicated account number for client payments, one-tap contractor payouts that book themselves to the right project, and a live view that waits with you until the bank actually confirms (because Nigerian transfers aren't instant, and pretending otherwise is how money gets lost). Funds sit with a licensed payment partner — never with Owena.
- Decided
Money moves on licensed rails now — why we changed our mind
We used to say Owena never moves money. Partners told us recording wasn't the pain — moving and matching it across bank apps was. So money can now move through Owena on licensed payment rails (custody with the licensed partner, never us), and every naira that does is born reconciled. Paying from your own bank still works exactly as before — one confirm books the cost. The principle stands: your funds never sit with Owena itself.
- Shipped
Channels, threads & richer teamwork in the workspace
The project workspace grew up: purpose-scoped channels (like Slack, with threads that break out into their own panel), the same emoji/file/voice composer everywhere, team search with member profiles, and invites by email or WhatsApp. Clients still never see any of it.
- Shipped
Reconcile from a bank statement — no bank login needed
In the prototype: import your statement (CSV/PDF) and Owena matches every line to a project by its reference, amount and date — you just confirm, and true profit per project falls out. Automatic bank-sync is optional, where your bank is supported. We never bet your reconciliation on one provider, and never touch your money.
- Decided
Reconciliation is the painkiller — profit is the payoff
The pain was never not knowing your profit; it's how hectic reconciling payments across banks, invoices and payouts is. So we make that effortless — profit just appears. Not a ledger you fill in.
- Shipped
Client access is your call — per project, and masked by default
The workspace is team-only by default, so clients never see it's outsourced. Per project you can invite a client to a scoped view — they can post and see deliverables and progress, but never your team, finances or timeline. Preview exactly what they'd see, and change it any time.
- Shipped
The project workspace — one window per project
Prototype now has Posts (updates, @mentions, voice notes), a Tasks board with deadline reminders you can reschedule by request-and-approval, 1:1 Messages, your Team, and Deliverables where the team submits and you approve or request changes. “Any update?” answers itself.
- Shipped
Pay the team in milestones — budget-aware, non-custodial
Set advances and milestones per contractor. Owena books the cost, shows budget vs paid vs left, and stops you overpaying a line — then you send it from your own bank. We never touch your money.
- Shipped
Start a project end to end
A guided flow: scope and brief with deliverables → quote with live margin and a deposit → build the team (each contractor's role, scope, deliverables and timeline; pick who leads) → launch the workspace.
- Shipped
New homepage — Owena is a command center, not a ledger
Reframed the whole site around running the outsourced project end to end: source the team, run the work, pay everyone, and reconcile it into true profit. Profit is the proof you ran it well, not the pitch.
- Shipped
A founding-partner welcome, from Ola
Every application gets a personal note from me. Qualified agencies get an invite to the founding-partners WhatsApp group, where I share builds and ask for your input first.
- Building
Next: connect-your-bank (optional) + contractor logins
Statement import already covers reconciliation on day one; optional read-only bank-sync (where supported) and contractors logging into their own slice are the fast-follows after founding partners are in.
- Decided
No contractor marketplace. No client portal.
You keep your client relationship and your roster — your contractors are your edge, not a directory for competitors. And client access, if you turn it on, is a masked per-project view, never a window into your delivery.
Use OwenaHQ free while we build it
The early-testers group runs real projects on Owena and gets every update first — with the builders one message away.