Sylvia Duruson
Tappi, the innovative digital commerce SaaS solution tailored for Africa’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), has announced its expansion into Côte d’Ivoire. Building upon its rapidly growing operations in Kenya and Nigeria, tappi’s latest country launch features an extension of its existing partnership with the telecom giant, MTN. This move marks a significant step forward in the startup’s mission to drive the digitalization of MSMEs across the African continent.
For a monthly fee of just $8, Côte d’Ivoire’s MSMEs will gain access to tappi’s SaaS and enterprise-grade tools, empowering them to generate SEO-optimized websites in under 2 minutes, distribute online ads, and secure access to a host of additional digital services. Through tappi’s partnership with MTN Côte D’Ivoire, the telecom’s 17 million customers in the country will also be able to access these services via integrated data bundles, bolstering their capacity to get online, build trust, and reach new customers.
Kenfield Griffith, tappi’s CEO and co-founder, commented on the expansion, stating, “With a strong GDP growth rate of 6.9%, Côte d’Ivoire represents the ideal market to empower MSMEs primed to digitize and significantly expand their customer base. It will also act as a critical gateway to access Francophone Africa’s 150 million consumers as we identify future growth opportunities across the region.”
Griffith added, “Alongside MTN, we are proud to kickstart this mission with one of our top partners, integral to tappi since day one and equally committed to digitizing MSMEs across Africa. With over 17 million customers in Côte d’Ivoire alone and a robust mobile money network, we firmly believe MTN holds the perfect reach, scale, and infrastructure to seamlessly provide technology to MSMEs ready to grow their businesses.”
Since its inception in 2022, tappi has been on a rapid growth journey, capturing verified reviews on over $3 million in consumer transactions and engaging with over 150,000 consumers. According to UNECA, SMEs form over 98% of total businesses in Côte d’Ivoire, but many face major difficulties building a trusted online presence due to complex tools, the requirement for international credit cards, or listing websites in places where trust is difficult to gauge.
Djibril Ouattara, CEO of MTN Côte d’Ivoire, stated, “MTN strives to lead the way in delivering a bold new digital world, guided by our Ambition 2025 strategy. We believe in providing the benefits of a modern connected life to all, with a focus on supporting MSMEs as the future drivers of digital business and economic growth. Through connectivity, communication, collaboration, and cloud solutions, we aim to empower businesses for sustainable growth.”
With its powerful end-to-end digital commerce stack, tappi facilitates a seamless online business profile creation process through an intuitive chat experience. Leveraging payments, messaging, and AI, the platform is rapidly emerging as the SEO backbone to boost revenue for MSMEs across the continent, helping businesses gain visibility, consolidate payments with verified reviews to build online trust, and pay for online ads with mobile airtime.
