TLDR
- Ajua has merged with local feedback platform Rate My Service (RMS) to combine product capabilities and expand into more African markets
- RMS CEO Ashkay Shah becomes CTO of the merged company, overseeing product development, while Ajua CEO Nyasha Mutsekwa remains
- The merger aims to strengthen East African operations before re-entering West Africa, including Nigeria, where Ajua shut down during the pandemic
Kenyan consumer experience startup Ajua has merged with local feedback platform Rate My Service (RMS) to combine product capabilities and expand into more African markets. Financial terms were not disclosed.
RMS CEO Ashkay Shah becomes CTO of the merged company, overseeing product development, while Ajua CEO Nyasha Mutsekwa remains in his role. Both companies said there are no layoffs planned.
Ajua, founded in 2012 as mSurvey, offers customer engagement tools integrated with mobile money systems and operates across multiple African markets. RMS builds real-time feedback and analytics solutions, a capability Ajua lacked. The combined entity now claims an 80% share of Kenya’s customer experience market, serving 45 clients.
Mutsekwa said the merger aims to strengthen East African operations before re-entering West Africa, including Nigeria, where Ajua shut down during the pandemic. The company sees opportunities in Nigeria’s large market, where customer service quality scores lag behind regional peers.
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Key Takeaways
Ajua’s merger with RMS is part of a wider trend of consolidation among African technology firms seeking scale and product depth to compete with regional and global rivals like Africa’s Talking and Emalify. Ajua brings market access, payments integration, and cross-country experience, while RMS contributes advanced feedback analytics. The combined proposition targets both customer and employee experience measurement, areas increasingly prioritised by businesses seeking retention and operational efficiency. Nigeria’s underperforming customer service sector–scoring 61.8% in a 2023 national index compared with Ghana’s 73%–offers room for growth. Ajua’s history of acquisitions, including its 2021 purchase of WayaWaya for AI and payments automation, suggests the company is building a diversified toolkit to serve a wider client base. By consolidating East Africa first, Ajua and RMS position themselves to take advantage of fragmented but growing demand for customer experience solutions across the continent.