For many entrepreneurs, the biggest challenge is not having a great product or service. It is finding customers, building credibility, managing operations, and growing a business with limited resources. Increasingly, South African SMEs are solving these challenges using a tool they already have in their pocket: WhatsApp.
What started as a messaging platform has evolved into one of the most powerful business tools available to entrepreneurs. For many SMEs, particularly those starting out, WhatsApp has become a storefront, customer service desk, marketing platform, sales channel, networking tool, and business management system all in one.
According to DataReportal’s Digital 2025 South Africa Report, WhatsApp Messenger is South Africa’s most-used mobile application, while WhatsApp Business continues to rank among the country’s most downloaded business tools. Its accessibility, affordability, and ease of use make it particularly valuable for entrepreneurs operating without a website, marketing budget, or physical storefront.
“WhatsApp has become indispensable infrastructure for South African entrepreneurs,” says Palesa Moeletsi, SME Business Development Support Manager at FNB.
“What we are increasingly observing through our SME development programmes is that entrepreneurs are not only using WhatsApp to communicate. They are using it to market their products, engage customers, build business networks, access opportunities, and generate sales. For many SMEs, it is becoming the primary platform through which they run significant parts of their business.”
For entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses, WhatsApp offers far more than messaging. Business profiles provide credibility through trading information and product catalogues. Broadcast lists allow businesses to market directly to customers. Quick replies improve customer service, while labels help entrepreneurs manage leads, orders, and customer relationships more effectively.
More importantly, WhatsApp is helping SMEs access something many entrepreneurs struggle to find: community.
This has become increasingly evident through Monetise Your Business, FNB’s national entrepreneur development initiative delivered in partnership with Hetty the Entrepreneur.
What began as a series of community workshops has evolved into a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem connecting more than 13,000 entrepreneurs across 43 WhatsApp communities.
The success of the initiative has reinforced the growing importance of WhatsApp as a business enablement tool. Beyond communication, entrepreneurs are using the platform to market their products, source suppliers, identify business opportunities, access peer support, collaborate with other business owners, and connect with potential customers.
The Monetise Your Business programme uses WhatsApp as the foundation of a broader business education ecosystem. Through community workshops, webinars, podcasts, networking opportunities, market access platforms, and digital learning content, entrepreneurs are connected to practical business knowledge and ongoing support long after a formal intervention has ended.
“WhatsApp is our core anchor and primary communication platform,” says Hetty the Entrepreneur.
“Whether we’re announcing a workshop, releasing a podcast episode, or hosting a masterclass, WhatsApp is often the starting point. It is where entrepreneurs first hear about opportunities, where they register, and where they stay connected long after a session ends.”
The platform has also enabled something even more valuable than communication: collaboration.
Entrepreneurs share customer referrals, recommend suppliers, exchange business advice, identify opportunities, celebrate successes, and support one another through challenges. In many instances, the groups have evolved into digital business networks that continue creating value long after the original engagement.
“We see the real-world financial impact of these networks every day,” says Hetty.
“For instance, an entrepreneur specializing in stone kitchen countertops was approached by a client for a full kitchen revamp. Needing a skilled woodworker to complete the job, he reached out to his local MYB WhatsApp community partnered with a carpenter in the group. Together, they successfully collaborated on a joint order valued at more than R100,000.”
“In another community, the founder of a local juice company was ready to scale but needed a specific food safety certification to qualify as a retail supplier. Through her regional MYB WhatsApp group, she connected with a compliance consultancy that guided her through the certification process. Today, her juices are officially stocked on the shelves of two local SPAR supermarkets.”
“These aren’t simply networking chats; they are active trading floors where entrepreneurs are finding customers, securing partnerships, accessing expertise, and unlocking new growth opportunities.”
The lesson for SMEs is simple: you do not always need expensive technology to grow your business.
Often, the most powerful business tools are the ones already in your hands. The lesson for SMEs is simple: you do not always need expensive technology to grow your business. Often, the most powerful business tools are the ones already in your hands.
If WhatsApp is where SMEs are increasingly marketed, sell, network, and transact, then it is also where support ecosystems and financial services need to meet them. This thinking informed FNB’s launch of eWallet on WhatsApp, allowing customers to register, send and receive money, make EFT and PayShap payments, buy prepaid products, and withdraw cash through a platform they already use daily.
South Africa has no shortage of entrepreneurial talent. What entrepreneurs often need is greater access to knowledge, customers, markets, networks, and financial tools. WhatsApp is helping bridge those gaps. Through Monetise Your Business, we continue to see entrepreneurs use the platform to learn, connect, trade, collaborate, and grow.
For many South African SMEs, WhatsApp is no longer simply a communication tool, it is becoming the digital backbone of their business.