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WhatsApp has launched a three-week campaign highlighting how Nigerian small businesses are using its Business platform to reach customers, manage orders and drive sales, as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integrated into everyday commerce.
The campaign, tagged “Power your hustle with WhatsApp Business,” follows three entrepreneurs operating businesses in Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja.
Through the initiative, WhatsApp is showcasing the people behind the businesses, their entrepreneurial journeys and the ways digital tools have become part of their daily operations.
The campaign also highlights the growing role of the recently introduced Meta Business Agent, an AI-powered assistant designed to help businesses respond to customers and support sales even when business owners are unavailable.
Three Nigerian Businesses Take Centre Stage
The campaign features Edibles by Lera Ipapanu, a Lagos-based snack business focused on giving familiar Nigerian snacks a modern presentation while offering convenient delivery.
Its founder, Mosumola Oladoye, described WhatsApp Business as the company’s digital storefront, pointing specifically to the Catalogue feature, which allows customers to view products, prices and available sizes.
In Ibadan, WhatsApp is profiling FHR Spices, a natural food seasoning company founded by Aminat Akinyemi.
The business produces seasoning products from selected herbs and spices without artificial additives or preservatives.
For Akinyemi, WhatsApp Business has become an important channel for maintaining customer relationships and generating sales. She also highlighted the role of Meta Business Agent in responding to customer enquiries while she concentrates on production.
The third business is Twinny’s Kitchen, an Abuja-based food-processing company founded by Augustina Onoriode.
The company produces packaged African food products for customers in Nigeria and abroad.
Onoriode said WhatsApp Business has helped the company turn customer interactions into longer-term relationships. She also uses the platform’s Lists feature to organise customers according to categories such as new orders, follow-ups, pending orders and waybill-related activities.
AI Moves Into Everyday Business Operations
A major feature of the campaign is the use of Meta Business Agent, which WhatsApp says is designed to function as an AI assistant for businesses.
The tool can respond to customer questions, recommend products and help progress sales when a business owner cannot immediately respond to messages.
For small businesses that often operate with limited staff, such tools could help reduce the pressure of responding to customers while entrepreneurs handle production, deliveries and other operational responsibilities.
The three businesses featured in the campaign are already using the AI assistant as part of their WhatsApp Business activities.
WhatsApp Expands Beyond Messaging
The campaign reflects the increasingly broader role of messaging platforms in Nigeria’s small-business economy.
Rather than using WhatsApp solely to communicate with customers, the featured businesses are using tools such as product catalogues, customer lists and AI assistance to manage different stages of the sales process.
For small enterprises without the resources to build dedicated e-commerce platforms or customer-management systems, messaging-based tools can provide a relatively accessible way to display products, communicate with buyers and organise orders.
Meta’s Head of Communications, Sub-Saharan Africa, Oluwasola Obagbemi, said Nigerian businesses were using WhatsApp for functions extending well beyond conventional messaging.
According to Obagbemi, the entrepreneurs featured in the campaign are using the platform to find customers, respond to enquiries and complete sales, while Meta Business Agent adds AI support to those activities.
Documenting the Reality of Nigerian Entrepreneurship
Rather than presenting the businesses simply as technology users, WhatsApp plans to document the day-to-day realities of running them.
The stories of the three entrepreneurs will be presented through documentary-style “day in the life” videos, giving audiences a closer look at their businesses and the challenges involved in building them.
The content will be distributed through Meta Africa’s Facebook page and WhatsApp for Business’ social-media channels.
Digital Tools Become More Important for SMEs
For Nigeria’s large population of small businesses, access to affordable digital tools can play an important role in customer acquisition and business management.
The WhatsApp campaign illustrates how platforms initially designed primarily for communication are increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure through which entrepreneurs market products, manage customer relationships and process sales.
The introduction of AI assistance adds another layer to that evolution, potentially allowing small businesses to remain responsive to customers even when their owners are occupied with other parts of the business.
For WhatsApp, the campaign also provides an opportunity to demonstrate how its Business platform is being used within Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
For the businesses involved, however, the value is more practical: turning everyday customer conversations into organised business processes, stronger relationships and, ultimately, sales.
As Nigerian SMEs continue to adopt digital tools, the growing integration of messaging, commerce and artificial intelligence could further reshape how small businesses compete and serve customers in the market.
