Ex-Googler Builds Shopify for Africa's Social Sellers

In Africa, small business happens in DMs and WhatsApp chats, not fancy websites. Now a startup called Yelen is turning those scattered conversations into real businesses with tools that rival what big retailers use.

Ibrahima Sylla left his job at Google in 2024 with one goal: make a bigger impact. After trying several ideas, he landed on something that clicked when he talked directly to sellers across francophone Africa.

"They told us about difficulties with collecting payments and managing sales across WhatsApp and Instagram," Sylla says. What started as a solution for one client has grown to thousands of users in less than a year.

Yelen lets social sellers do everything in one place. Merchants can create an online storefront, import their Instagram posts as products, manage orders from WhatsApp and Facebook, and collect payments through cards or mobile money across 20 African countries.

The platform holds payments until orders are fulfilled, protecting both buyers and sellers. Customers get a store link, browse products, and pay securely while sellers track everything from a single dashboard.

Launched in June 2025 and based in Côte d'Ivoire, Yelen partnered with co-founder Christian Okoth to build features sellers actually need. They're adding tools to help merchants source products from China and manage shipping, creating a complete business ecosystem.

The pricing works for businesses at any stage. Free accounts pay 10% per sale, while subscription plans drop that to 5% or zero depending on the tier.

The Ripple Effect

Yelen represents something bigger than software. Across Africa, millions of entrepreneurs are building businesses in WhatsApp threads and Instagram comments, juggling customer questions, payment screenshots, and handwritten order lists.

By giving these sellers professional tools that work the way they actually sell, Yelen is formalizing an entire economy. Sellers can focus on growing instead of scrambling to remember who paid and who didn't.

The platform's organic growth through referrals shows real product-market fit. When one seller succeeds and tells another, that's how sustainable change spreads.

What makes this especially hopeful is the context: these aren't people waiting for perfect conditions or expensive infrastructure. They're already hustling, already serving customers, already building. Yelen just gives them the tools to do it better and grow faster.

From a single client to thousands of merchants across multiple countries in under a year, Yelen proves that solving real problems for real people creates real momentum.