CHUI eSOKO

CHUI eSOKO

Entrepreneurs

Alex Irakoze

Alex Irakoze

Project Manager and Founder

Alex Irakoze is a Project Manager and Founder at IA eSOKO.
Victoir Barherenduba

Victoir Barherenduba

Cofounder & CTO

Victoir Barherenduba is a Cofounder & CTO at IA eSOKO.

Team

Nikhil Kassetty

Nikhil Kassetty

Fintech Advisor and Researcher

Nikhil Kassetty is a Fintech Advisor and Researcher at IA eSOKO.
$ 0 K

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Idea

CHUI eSOKO is an AI-powered commerce engine designed to make commerce in East Africa as simple as sending a WhatsApp message. The company’s core idea is to place real-time product and service discovery directly into the communication channel already used by the majority of citizens and businesses. By leveraging WhatsApp as the primary interface, CHUI eSOKO aims to eliminate the need for websites, mobile applications, or physical visits, enabling instant access to local commerce through a single, familiar digital touchpoint.
Solution

Challenge

CHUI eSOKO is addressing the deep structural inefficiencies of commerce in East Africa, where markets are fragmented, information is outdated, and discovery is largely manual. Customers waste significant time calling multiple vendors, browsing informal WhatsApp groups, or visiting stores in person, while merchants lack a centralized platform to publish real-time stock and service availability. Despite WhatsApp accounting for over 90% of commercial communication, transactions remain unstructured, non-searchable, and inefficient—creating a critical gap that CHUI eSOKO is purpose-built to close.

Solution

CHUI eSOKO is a unified, real-time commerce discovery and execution platform that operates entirely through the WhatsApp Business API. Using AI-driven semantic search and real-time matching algorithms, the platform converts unstructured WhatsApp conversations into structured, commerce-ready data. Users can search for products or services using natural language and instantly receive relevant, nearby, and available results, while merchants gain a lightweight Shopify-like storefront that synchronizes live inventory and availability without the cost or complexity of traditional e-commerce systems.


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CHUI eSOKO's News (1)

Equitypilot Selects IA Esoko To Accelerate Mobile-First Commerce In Burundi
22 Jan 2026

Equitypilot Selects IA Esoko To Accelerate Mobile-First Commerce In Burundi

Bujumbura, Burundi & Dubai, UAE — Jan 22, 2026

East African commerce remains highly fragmented and mobile-first, with the vast majority of consumer-seller interactions happening informally over WhatsApp. IA ESOKO addresses a persistent pain point: customers and SMEs spend excessive time locating available stock and services across scattered channels. By converting unstructured WhatsApp conversations into structured, searchable commerce data, IA ESOKO removes friction and unlocks immediate local discovery and transactions.

What the Startup Delivers?

CHUI eSOKO is an AI-driven commerce engine that operates through a single WhatsApp Business API number. Key capabilities include semantic natural-language search (e.g., “pharmacy open near me”), real-time matching to merchant inventory and availability, and in-chat ordering with transaction processing. The platform targets local SMEs grocery shops, pharmacies, restaurants, hotels, second-hand markets and on-demand services offering tiered merchant subscriptions, optional customer subscriptions, and modest transaction fees.

Why Now?

Mobile-first behavior, high WhatsApp penetration, and increasing demand for instant local commerce create a narrow window to digitize informal markets without forcing consumers or merchants onto new apps. IA ESOKO’s approach building directly in WhatsApp and layering semantic AI meets users where they already transact and offers merchants a lower-cost alternative to full e-commerce builds.

Program Plan (first 30–60 days)

Through EquityPilot, IA ESOKO will focus on product hardening and initial commercial rollout in Burundi. Priorities include scaling natural-language understanding for local languages and dialects, building robust real-time inventory APIs, onboarding the first 1,000 active merchants, and establishing multilingual customer support and payment integrations with dominant mobile-money providers. The program will also refine go-to-market materials and merchant onboarding playbooks for rapid replication across neighboring markets.

Competitive landscape

Current competitors include traditional listing websites and informal WhatsApp groups. IA ESOKO’s advantage is the conversion of unstructured messaging into commerce-ready data plus real-time inventory matching and in-chat order execution features absent from dispersed listings and group-based commerce.

Funding readiness note

IA ESOKO is operating toward an initial pre-seed milestone and has outlined a $50,000 pre-seed request to deliver a 3–6 month runway for product scaling and merchant acquisition in Burundi before regional expansion.

Leadership Comment

“Hesham Zreik, Founder and CEO of FasterCapital, said: ‘We’re excited to support IA ESOKO through EquityPilot. Our team will focus on execution milestones and connecting the startup with the right ecosystem stakeholders.’”

Next 90 Days

IA ESOKO aims to validate merchant subscription uptake, demonstrate search-to-order conversions via WhatsApp, finalize payment integrations for local mobile-money rails, and deliver an initial dashboard of KPIs (merchant MRR, TPV, MAU, and integration rate) to EquityPilot mentors and investors.

About IA ESOKO

IA ESOKO is an AI-integrated commerce discovery platform enabling real-time product and service search and execution over WhatsApp in East Africa. The company converts informal chat-based listings into structured inventories and connects consumers to local merchants and service providers instantly. IA ESOKO’s model blends merchant subscriptions, consumer subscriptions, and transaction fees to monetize bilateral marketplace value.

About FasterCapital

FasterCapital is a global venture builder and online incubator dedicated to co-funding and co-founding innovative startups. Established in 2014, we are now #1 venture builder in terms of number of startups that we have helped, money invested and money raised. It supports startups worldwide through various programs, including funding assistance, business development, and technical support. The EquityPilot program is designed to help early-stage startups build scalable solutions with mentorship, strategic guidance, and network support.

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