Why Kenya’s Ajua acquired AI/ ML fintech startup WayaWaya

Why Kenya’s Ajua acquired AI/ ML fintech startup WAYAWAYA

Kenyan firm Ajua — an integrated consumer experience management platform for African business — in April acquired Nairobi-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) fintech startup WayaWaya for an undisclosed amount.

WayaWaya has developed the Janja platform which enables borderless banking and payments across apps and social media platforms. The platform helps both individuals and businesses with intelligent messaging, across a number of social platforms, including Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Telegram, and others, and allows its users to automate customer support and make cross-border payments.

The acquisition will see WayaWaya founder Teddy Ogallo join Ajua as VP of Product APIs and Integrations. Ajua said in a statement that the deal will enable the consumer experience firm to automate much of the customer experience journey by integrating the janja.me product into its product stack, closing the customer experience loop as the smart AI and ML built by WayaWaya gives SMEs the ability to automate responses and give the customer what they want, when they want it.

WayaWaya founder Teddy Ogallo and Ajua CEO Kenfield Griffith

Launched in 2012 as mSurvey by founder and CEO Kenfield Griffith, Ajua aims to solve the customer experience gap for businesses on the continent to drive business growth. Ajua combines technology with customer experience, and has built a number of products that deliver real-time customer feedback at the point of service, for small and large businesses across Africa, powering customer experiences for businesses with over 45-million customers. Current Ajua partners and clients include GoodLife Pharmacy, Standard Chartered, FBNQuest, Safaricom, Total, Coca-Cola and Java House.

Ajua’s acquisition of WayaWaya comes hot on the heels of Ajua’s partnership with Nigeria’s MTN for MTN EnGauge, an agile application that offers innovative customer engagement solutions. Ajua explained that the platform enables businesses access to digital payments using a unique USSD code, CRM tools, customer feedback channels, debt management and tracking, business and product promotions through mobile and social media channels.

Through its new product roll-out with MTN, Ajua is generating more data for its thousands of users, much of which can now be better automated and monetised through the products and services WayaWaya has built, including cross-border digital transfers, payments services and intelligent finance bots.

Griffith said the acquisition of WayaWaya is an important milestone for Ajua, as the firm makes a significant leap in ensuring the customer experience journey for businesses across the continent is seamless.

“Integrating WayaWaya’s technology significantly complements our product suite and gives us the ability to automate our clients’ businesses and grow their revenues, which is an extremely powerful proposition for our customers of all sizes, across Africa. From our experience in this area, we understand the CX fundamentals that drive growth for our customers and we want to bring this intelligence to SMEs across the continent,” he added.

“The additional reach this acquisition brings allows Ajua to scale significantly within the SME vertical, as we provide our customers today, and in the future, the tools they need to grow in Africa and beyond. We continue to be bullish on the point that customer experience and customer engagement are the engine for growth for businesses across the continent and they are disciplines that are critical factors in driving productivity and revenue growth,” said Griffith.

Ogallo said Ajua’s focus on introducing and scaling customer service and customer experience for the continent, as well as how they help businesses deliver excellence for their customers is something he along with his team have long admired. “Seeing how WayaWaya’s technology can complement Ajua’s innovative products and services, and help scale and monetise businesses, is an exciting opportunity for us, and we are happy that our teams will be collaborating to build something unique for the continent,” he added.