During the pandemic, like many founders, Segun Awoniyi was trying to solve his own problem.
At the time, he had launched a clothing brand and needed an online store. Shopify seemed like the obvious solution, but the monthly subscription costs raised a simple question. If paying for these tools felt expensive for him, what did it look like for thousands of small businesses trying to sell online in Nigeria?
That question led to the launch of FinRik, a no-code e-commerce platform built for small businesses. The product gained paying users almost immediately. Merchants signed up, created stores, and began building an online presence.
But something interesting started happening.
The websites existed.
The sales did not.
Many of the businesses still preferred to close deals on WhatsApp. Customers wanted conversations. They wanted reassurance. They wanted to ask questions before making payments. The storefront had become important, but the transaction itself was still happening elsewhere.
For Segun, that observation would eventually change the direction of the company.
Nigerian SMEs Never Really Left WhatsApp
For years, conversations around small business digitisation in Africa focused heavily on websites, mobile applications, and online storefronts.
Yet for many Nigerian businesses, commerce still happens inside conversations.
Products are shared through WhatsApp Status. Orders happen through direct messages. Payments are discussed before they are made. Trust is built through conversation rather than interfaces.
The average small business owner may not understand SaaS, dashboards, or product ecosystems. But they understand WhatsApp.
As digital commerce evolved, many businesses found themselves paying for tools they rarely used while continuing to operate inside messaging applications. Websites became digital brochures while customer relationships remained conversational.
This was not simply a technology problem.
It was a trust problem.
The founders realised they had spent years trying to localise Shopify when the real opportunity was much closer to home.
The Pivot That Led to Ava
After the currency fluctuations and economic uncertainty that followed the 2023 elections, many businesses struggled. Margins became thinner. Small merchants needed financing, bookkeeping tools, and better visibility into their businesses.
At the same time, Shagu noticed that many former users of their e-commerce products had returned to selling almost entirely through WhatsApp.
Instead of fighting that behaviour, the company decided to build around it.
That decision led to Ava.
Ava is a bookkeeping and business management platform that operates directly on WhatsApp. Businesses can record sales, track expenses, create invoices, send payment links, and monitor transactions without leaving the platform they already use every day.
The company later introduced Ava Analytics, an AI-powered data analysis layer capable of processing business data, identifying patterns, and helping businesses make better financial decisions. The long-term vision is to help merchants understand not only how their businesses perform, but whether they qualify for financing and how they can improve operations.
Building on WhatsApp Comes With Its Own Problems
The biggest challenge turned out to be speed.
Users expect messaging applications to respond instantly. If a chatbot delays for a few seconds, many assume the product is broken and simply leave.
Trust also became another major hurdle.
Many business owners initially believed their financial information was stored directly on WhatsApp rather than on secure backend infrastructure. The company had to spend time educating users about how the system actually worked.
For Segun, these lessons reinforced something he already believed.
Small businesses care less about typography, product aesthetics, or startup buzzwords. They care about trust, sales, and reliability.
Looking Beyond Nigeria
Today, Ava serves thousands of businesses through direct community engagement rather than paid advertising. The team works closely with merchant communities, collects feedback continuously, and improves the product based on real usage patterns.
Looking ahead, the company sees opportunities beyond Nigeria.
One market stands out.
Brazil.
Like Nigeria, Brazil is heavily dependent on WhatsApp as a communication and business tool. For Shagu, expansion should follow user behaviour rather than assumptions.
“Every expansion should be based on data,” he explained. “Not really based on what you feel or what you want.”
The broader ambition for Ava is not simply to build another business software product.
It is to build around where small businesses already work.
For years, African startups tried to move merchants away from WhatsApp.
Ava is betting that the smarter approach may be to meet them there.