- tappi, a digital commerce SaaS solution startup, has announced its expansion into Côte d'Ivoire to help its target audience of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) in Africa go digital.
- The expansion comes as the startup expands into other African countries, including Kenya and Nigeria, and mirrors the extension of its existing partnership with the telco MTN.
- This move comes three months after tappi raised a $1.5 million pre-seed round. Six months ago, it received $180,000 in funding from Orbit Startups through an accelerator programme.
Also, after the December pre-seed round, tappi hinted that it plans to expand its geographic reach and services offered.
Kenfield Griffith and Louis Majanja founded tappi in 2022 to help users create websites, run online ads, and collect customer reviews, among other digital solutions.
The company claims it has captured verified reviews on over $3 million in consumer transactions, engaged over 150,000 consumers, and indexed over 5,000 online pages.
The platform's solutions are not free, but Côte d'Ivoire's MSMEs will have access to them for $8 per month. The company also offers MTN users in the country access to its services via integrated data bundles.
However, users can pay for ads online using their mobile airtime. For example, tappi enables businesses to use MTN mobile airtime in Nigeria.
Following the expansion, Kenfield Griffith, the startup's CEO, stated that the move highlights a way to empower MSMEs and reach Francophone Africa's 150 million consumers as they identify future growth opportunities across the region. He also analysed the country's GDP growth rate of 6.9% and named it an ideal market for empowering MSMEs looking to go digital.
The CEO also acknowledged that its expansion partner, MTN, is equally committed to digitising MSMEs across Africa and that MTN has been integral to the startup. He also cited the telco's robust customer base in Côte d'Ivoire and the money network as advantages in reaching MSMEs.
MTN Côte d'Ivoire CEO Djibril Ouattara stated that the telco plans to empower businesses and provide them with access to long-term growth through connectivity, communication, collaboration, and cloud solutions. Ouattara also mentioned that MTN aims to be a digital leader through its Ambition 2025 strategy.
