The social commerce landscape in Africa continues to expand, driven by businesses and micro-entrepreneurs increasingly harnessing digital platforms such as WhatsApp, TikTok, and Instagram. However, despite the growing presence of sellers on these social media platforms, the end-to-end buying experience often encounters hurdles, such as the need to switch to non-digital channels for payments and delivery. Emerging social commerce start-ups like Sukhiba Connect aim to bridge these gaps.

Sukhiba Connect has developed a B2B conversational commerce solution that enables businesses to engage and sell to their customers through Meta's messaging app, WhatsApp. It equips sellers with tools to manage orders, accept local payment methods like M-Pesa, send notifications, and group customers. Buyers, on the other hand, can browse product catalogues, add or remove items from their carts, and complete transactions without leaving the WhatsApp ecosystem.

Ananth Gudipati, the co-founder and CEO of Sukhiba, stated,

"We have brought to WhatsApp the ability to do the entire transaction from conversation, purchase, and payments to delivery."

To date, the start-up claims to have facilitated WhatsApp commerce for over 30 companies, primarily major manufacturers and distributors serving nearly 15,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), including retailers.

Manufacturers leverage Sukhiba to extend the reach of their offline sales teams and acquire new customers. The platform offers tools for grouping customers based on specific routes, which are then assigned to sales personnel to provide tailored in-app support. Gudipati emphasized the importance of trust in African customer interactions, noting that Sukhiba does not seek to replace the relationships established by salespeople.

The Sukhiba team

Sukhiba's capabilities extend to supporting an entire CRM function through WhatsApp, including route optimization, sales staff management, view mapping, and monitoring. While Sukhiba primarily targets B2B commerce, companies like Uncover are also utilizing the platform to reach retail customers.

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Fueled by $1.5 million in funding from investors, including CRE Investment, Antler, EQ2 Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Chandaria Capital, and several angel investors, Sukhiba is poised to expand beyond Kenya.

WhatsApp's widespread adoption in Kenya and several other African nations, such as Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria, presents an opportunity for businesses and communities to connect effortlessly. While WhatsApp has introduced features for businesses to set up in-app shops, some functionalities are still missing, requiring localization and customization. Sukhiba and other social commerce start-ups like Tushop and Kapu are actively addressing these gaps, with immense potential for further exploration.

"Significant transactions and conversations are happening on WhatsApp," Gudipati noted, highlighting the app's central role in facilitating commerce-related interactions. Sukhiba, co-founded by Ananth Gudipati and Abhinav Solipuram in 2021, initially began as a community commerce platform that aggregated orders from buyers and facilitated bulk purchases from manufacturers. However, the capital-intensive nature of this model led them to pivot towards conversational commerce, focusing on innovative and scalable software development. Sukhiba is now positioning itself as a key player in the growing African social commerce ecosystem, advocating that selling on WhatsApp can be as effective as creating a standalone app.