Nile's launch heralds a new era in African e-commerce

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Designed specifically for Africa’s mobile-first market, Nile integrates the full shopping journey — from product discovery to secure checkout — directly into WhatsApp and Instagram DMs, the platforms where African consumers spend most of their time.

Instead of browsing a website or navigating multiple tabs, shoppers simply click a Nile link, which opens a conversation with Sabrina, Nile’s AI-powered shopping assistant.

Sabrina guides users through product exploration, answers queries in real time, recommends alternatives, and processes payments — all within a single chat thread.

Turning chat into commerce

Nile’s seamless chat-based shopping experience mirrors how Africans already communicate, buy, and sell informally every day. What distinguishes Nile is its ability to formalise this behaviour at scale.

When brands or creators share Nile-linked videos or posts, they gain end-to-end sales attribution, allowing them to see exactly which creators, campaigns, and content formats convert to actual purchases — a first in Africa’s growing creator economy.

“Our mission with Nile is to unlock a new retail era for Africa — one where social media becomes the mall, and creators become the merchants,” says Joy Des Fountain, founder and CEO of Nile.

“The creator economy here is vibrant, but the missing piece has been scalable infrastructure that turns engagement into income. Nile builds that bridge, making content instantly shoppable and conversation a powerful new sales channel.”

A fast-growing retail opportunity

Africa’s social commerce market is expected to surpass $9bn by 2030, reflecting a rapidly shifting consumer landscape shaped by social platforms, chat behaviour, and creator influence.

In South Africa alone, approximately 93% of internet users are active on WhatsApp, making it the ideal entry point for Nile’s social-first model.

“This is the future of retail in emerging markets,” adds Des Fountain. “Fast, social, informal, and powered by conversation.”

A new chapter for African commerce

With Nile, Africa joins global markets pioneering conversational commerce — but with a uniquely local approach shaped by mobile usage, creator culture, and community-driven buying behaviour.

By bringing discovery, conversation, and conversion into one space, Nile aims to become the infrastructure powering the next wave of African e-commerce: social, seamless, and accessible to both shoppers and sellers.