Why we built this
Every business deserves a 24/7 sales team
Across Ghana — and across Africa — millions of entrepreneurs run thriving businesses entirely through WhatsApp. They share product photos in group chats, negotiate prices over voice notes, and collect payments through mobile money.
But they do it all manually. Every message replied by hand. Every order tracked in a notebook. Every payment chased individually. It works — until it doesn't.
Relay was built to change that. Not by replacing WhatsApp — but by supercharging it. We give entrepreneurs an AI that knows their products, speaks their language, and handles the operational grind so they can focus on growth.
SMEs in Ghana alone run on WhatsApp
of orders placed via messaging apps
avg. time lost daily to manual replies
Merchants onboarded
Orders processed
Customer satisfaction
Avg. AI response time
What drives us
Principles we won't compromise
Merchant First
Every feature we ship starts with one question: does this make life easier for the merchant? We don't build for vanity metrics.
Local by Design
We're not adapting a Western product for Africa. We're building from the ground up for mobile-money, intermittent connectivity, and the way people actually communicate here.
Radical Simplicity
If you can send a WhatsApp message, you can use Relay. Complexity is a feature we actively remove. Setup in 15 minutes, no manual needed.
Trust & Transparency
Flat pricing, no hidden fees, no lock-in. We comply with Ghana's Data Protection Act. Your customers' data stays yours — always.
The people
Built by merchants, for merchants
We've all run informal businesses or helped family members who do. This isn't academic for us.
Kofi Owusu
Co-founder & CEO
Former head of digital at Fido Finance. Built his first WhatsApp bot in 2021 to manage his mother's fabric shop.
Abena Asante
Co-founder & CTO
Ex-engineering lead at Hubtel. Obsessed with building for low-bandwidth environments and mobile-first UX.
Emmanuel Mensah
Head of Product
Spent 3 years researching informal trade across West Africa. Believes the best product insight comes from the market.
Nana Boateng
Head of Growth
Built distribution networks for fintech products across Ghana and Nigeria. Knows every market in Accra by name.