Shatta Wale is betting on WAYA to break into Ghana’s messaging market

Shatta Wale is taking another step outside music, this time with a messaging app. The Ghanaian artist is behind WAYA, a platform that lets users chat, send voice notes and photos, create groups and make voice calls. WAYA is still being tested. Shatta Wale announced it in July and invited Android users to try the app before it is made available more widely. That puts the musician in a market where the main players are already well established.

Getting people to download it is the easy part

Shatta Wale has something most new app founders would like to have: an audience. He can put WAYA in front of people who already know him and may be willing to try something he is building. But that only gets the app so far. People use messaging apps because their contacts are there. If your friends, family and customers are already on WhatsApp, there is not much reason to move unless another app gives you something worth switching for. WAYA will have to find that reason.

This is not Shatta Wale’s first business

The musician has been building businesses outside music for some time. In 2021, he launched Shaxi, a ride-hailing service in Ghana. WAYA is a different challenge. A ride-hailing customer can use one app today and another tomorrow. Messaging is tied to a person’s network. The more contacts an app has, the more useful it becomes. That makes the first group of users particularly important.

What makes WAYA different?

WAYA is being positioned as an African messaging platform. The app offers the features people would expect from a messaging service, including chats, calls, voice notes, groups and photo sharing. But those features are already available on several established platforms. So the question is not whether WAYA can send a message. It is whether Shatta Wale and his team can give users a reason to make it part of their everyday communication. That could come down to the product itself, how it handles African markets and whether it solves problems users have with the platforms they already use.

The artist advantage only goes so far

Shatta Wale’s following should help WAYA get attention. It can also help with early testing, which is where the app currently sits. But a large following does not guarantee a large technology business. The company will eventually need people who use the app regularly, not just people who download it because Shatta Wale is behind it. It will also have to keep the service running, deal with security and privacy, support users and keep improving the product. Those are very different demands from running a music career. It is too soon to tell whether WAYA can take on the established messaging platforms. For now, Shatta Wale has a product in testing and an audience to put it in front of. The bigger test will come when the curiosity around the app wears off. If users start bringing their friends, families and customers onto WAYA, the business could have something to build on. If they go back to the apps they already use, the artist’s name will only carry it so far.