Tell5 is an AI-powered WhatsApp operations platform that turns customer messages into orders, insights, and revenue — starting with Africa's informal economy.
The idea was born from a simple observation: every African small business runs on WhatsApp, but most messages fall through the cracks.
Tell5 was created by Francis David, a full-stack engineer and product builder from Nigeria who has spent years building tools for African businesses. He started his career building command-line tools and internal dashboards in Enugu, later moving into fintech, logistics tech, and marketplace infrastructure.
Francis has founded multiple products—from booking platforms to data-scraping engines—and has written code across the stack: Python, Golang, JavaScript, and Rust. But he noticed a pattern: the tools small businesses actually use (WhatsApp, spreadsheets, voice notes) were being ignored by the tech industry in favor of complex ERP systems that feel foreign to African merchants.
He saw a kiosk owner in Lagos managing 200+ orders daily via starred messages. A fashion designer in Aba sending manual price lists to every customer. A restaurant in Port Harcourt losing track of delivery addresses because they were buried in chat history.
These are not edge cases — they are the majority. And they deserve tools that meet them where they already are.
Tell5 is Francis's bet that the next generation of business software won't be a dashboard — it will be a conversation.
Our values shape every line of code and every product decision we make.
Business software should live inside the apps people already use, not force them to learn new ones. WhatsApp is the starting point, not an afterthought.
African businesses are not miniature versions of Western ones. We build for mobile-first, low-bandwidth, cash-based, high-trust economies — on their own terms.
We prioritize what actually moves the needle for a business owner. AI should reduce friction, not add complexity. Every feature must justify its existence.
Every business on Tell5 makes the network stronger. Discovery, referrals, and supplier matching should work for micro-businesses the way they work for enterprise.
From a side project to a platform powering WhatsApp operations for African businesses.
Francis starts building an AI agent that can read WhatsApp messages, classify them by intent (order, inquiry, complaint), and help businesses respond faster.
Working MVP with Twilio SMS, then Baileys WhatsApp integration. Multi-provider AI classification (Gemini, Groq, Mistral, OpenRouter) with fallback behavior.
Dashboard, business profiles, discovery engine, MongoDB MCP, ADK agent integration, knowledge base, and conversation management with CSV export.
Tell5 becomes available as a free-tier SaaS platform. Businesses connect their WhatsApp number, set up AI-powered auto-replies, and manage operations from a single dashboard.