How to access WhatsApp’s Business API in South Africa

Global customer engagement company, Clickatell has announced that it is officially an authorised WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, and it is partnering with several large banks to roll out chat banking capabilities on WhatsApp across Africa.

While WhatsApp has a global reach of over 1.5 billion users, in the past if businesses wanted to make use of WhatsApp’s API they had to deal with the Facebook-owned company directly, which proved to be slow and difficult.

However, Clickatell says it is now authorised to give businesses access to the WhatsApp Business API, which it has already done with Absa, to roll-out the group’s recently announced ChatBanking via WhatsApp.

“WhatsApp Business API provides the ability to send out notifications and conduct 2-way conversations with consumers right within WhatsApp,” the group said. “Clickatell has integrated the API into its Connect, Touch and Transact SaaS solutions, which makes it easy for businesses to build a significant presence on WhatsApp.”

With Clickatell’s integrations, a business can immediately start sending out notifications and conduct real time 2-way customer interactions. Current customers on WhatsApp Business solutions include Absa Bank, GTBank, First Bank of Nigeria and United Bank of Africa.

The group said it is working with several other large businesses across online commerce, retail, digital entertainment and financial services to enable their presence on WhatsApp.

Read: Absa launches WhatsApp banking in South Africa – here’s how it works