★ ★ ★ ★ ★ What clients say
"Tradewind cut our Nigeria CAC by almost two-thirds. They built a WhatsApp onboarding flow that actually fits how Nigerians use the internet."
Ifeanyi Eze
Head of Growth, Kuda Bank
"1.4 million paid subscribers in 14 months across Kenya and Ghana. They get African EdTech in a way no global agency we hired ever did."
Adaeze Nwosu
CMO, uLesson EdTech
"Reaching informal SMBs in their own language, with content that respects them, was the unlock. Our merchant signups doubled."
Kayla Morrison
Marketing Lead, Yoco Payments
TM

Tradewind Marketing

Africa-focused growth for fintech & marketplaces

Cape Town, South Africa · African market entry + WhatsApp marketing

Visit website →
Clutch Clutch 4.8 (27) Google Google Reviews 4.9 (41)
Categories: Marketing agencies B2B SaaS specialists Automation agencies
30+
Clients served
4
Years active
4.5x
Average ROI
$28M+
Revenue generated
420k+ WA conversations
Leads delivered
16
Active retainers

About Tradewind Marketing

Tradewind Marketing helps global tech companies launch and grow across African markets. They specialize in WhatsApp-first marketing strategies - the dominant channel across the continent.

What sets them apart

Tradewind builds its strategy on a single observation: in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, and Ghana, WhatsApp is the dominant commerce surface, not Instagram or TikTok. The team has staff in Lagos, Nairobi, and Cape Town who operate verified WhatsApp Business API funnels with chatbot plus human-handover pricing tuned for low-bandwidth users. They run mobile-data-light ad creative (under 1 MB Reels with hard-coded captions) and Meta campaigns optimized for cents-per-conversation rather than CPM, which is the right unit of economics across the continent.

Industries served

  • FinTech
  • Marketplaces
  • EdTech

Services

  • Market research
  • WhatsApp marketing
  • Mobile-first content
  • Community moderation

Case studies

Real client engagements with measurable outcomes.

Kuda Bank cut Nigeria CAC by 64% via WhatsApp onboarding

FinTech

Client: Kuda Bank

-64% CAC
78% KYC completion
71% WA-led signups

Challenge

A Nigerian neobank was paying $4.20 blended CAC across Meta and Google for new account signups. Drop-off inside the in-app KYC flow was 58%, mostly on slow connections.

Approach

Tradewind moved the entire top-of-funnel onto WhatsApp: ads clicked through to a WA Business chat that walked the user through pre-KYC, captured BVN (bank verification number) safely, then handed to the app for the final identity step. Used 200 KB MP4 ad creative tuned for 3G.

Result

CAC dropped from $4.20 to $1.51 (-64%) in 4 months. KYC completion rate went from 42% to 78%. WhatsApp now handles 71% of all new account starts.

uLesson hit 1.4M paid Kenya subscribers via mobile-first creator program

EdTech

Client: uLesson EdTech

1.4M subscribers
-15pt refunds
2.3x LTV

Challenge

A pan-African EdTech needed to scale paid subscribers in Kenya and Ghana. Existing Meta funnel was English-only and converting at 0.6%, with high refund rates from parents who did not understand the product before paying.

Approach

Built a 60-creator program with Kenyan and Ghanaian teachers and parents producing demo content in Swahili, Twi, and English. Routed all ads to a WhatsApp consult that explained the curriculum match before billing. Layered M-Pesa and MTN Mobile Money as primary payment options.

Result

1.4M paid subscribers added across Kenya and Ghana in 14 months. Refund rate dropped from 19% to 4%. WA-led conversions had 2.3x lifetime value vs ad-direct conversions.

Yoco Payments doubled SMB merchant signups via Cape Town SMB outreach

FinTech

Client: Yoco Payments

+2.1x signups
81% same-day approval
38% pipeline share

Challenge

A South African card-reader fintech needed to reach informal SMB merchants (spaza shops, salons, food trucks) who did not respond to digital ads in English-only formats.

Approach

Produced 40 short-form ads in isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, and English, each shot inside actual partner merchant locations. Built a WhatsApp signup flow with FICA document upload and same-day shipping confirmation. Trained a 6-person community-moderation team for after-hours coverage.

Result

SMB merchant signups grew 2.1x year-on-year. Same-day approvals went from 22% to 81%. Tradewind's WA pipeline now drives 38% of Yoco's monthly net new merchants.

Meet the team

The people who'll be running your account. Names with are Inflowave-verified.

TN

Thandiwe Nkosi

Founder & CEO · 15y exp

South African, ex-Standard Bank digital lead. Built Tradewind to be the agency that actually understands African unit economics.

LinkedIn
AO

Adebayo Okonkwo

Lagos Country Lead · 11y exp

Runs the Nigeria team. Specializes in WhatsApp Commerce and BVN-aware fintech onboarding flows.

LinkedIn
WM

Wanjiru Mwangi

Nairobi Country Lead · 9y exp

Heads the Kenya operation. Deep experience with M-Pesa integrations and Swahili-first creator programs.

LinkedIn
Pv

Pieter van der Merwe

Head of Performance · 12y exp

Ex-Yoco growth lead. Builds mobile-data-light Meta creative for sub-1MB delivery and runs cents-per-conversation optimization.

LinkedIn

Qualifications & certifications

Meta

Meta Business Partner

Meta · 2023

Meta

WhatsApp Business Solution Provider

Meta · 2024

Google Ads

Google Ads Certified (Africa)

Google · 2024

Inflowave

Inflowave Verified Agency

Inflowave · 2026

Notable clients

  • Kuda Bank (NG)
  • Jumia Marketplace
  • uLesson EdTech
  • Yoco Payments (ZA)

Want to work with Tradewind Marketing?

Reach out directly at hello@example-tradewindmarketing.com or visit their website to start a conversation.

Visit Tradewind Marketing →