This ex-Google, ex-Anka founder is building Shopify but for social sellers in Francophone Africa

📰 Techpoint Africa

Ibrahima Sylla is building Yelen, a platform to help social sellers in Francophone Africa manage their businesses on WhatsApp and Instagram

intermediate Published 26 Mar 2026

Action Steps

Identify the target market and understand their pain points in social selling
Develop a platform that integrates with popular social media channels like WhatsApp and Instagram
Design a user-friendly interface for social sellers to manage payments, customers, and operations
Test and refine the platform with a pilot group of social sellers

Who Needs to Know This

E-commerce and social media teams in Africa can benefit from this platform to streamline their operations and reach a wider audience. Product managers and founders of social selling platforms can learn from Yelen's approach to structured storefronts

Key Insight

💡 Building a platform that integrates social media channels with e-commerce functionality can help social sellers in Africa streamline their operations and grow their businesses