# An AI agent for businesses in Kenya

> An AI agent for Kenyan businesses that answers on WhatsApp, your website and Telegram from your own content, in English, Swahili and Sheng, books in EAT and hands off to your team.

Canonical: https://heykiko.io/ai-agent/kenya
Last updated: 2026-11-07

Kiko learns your website, price list and documents, then answers your customers on WhatsApp, your website chat and Telegram in English, Swahili or Sheng. It books appointments in East Africa time, captures leads, and hands the chat to your team when a person is needed.

## What Kiko does for Kenyan businesses

- **Answers from your own content**: Kiko reads your website, PDFs and price lists and answers only from them (retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG), with the page or file each answer came from. It doesn't make up a price or a phone number. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/train-on-your-website)
- **Support that hands off**: When a customer asks for a person, or your knowledge doesn't cover the question, Kiko hands the chat to your team in a shared inbox with the whole conversation. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/human-handoff)
- **Sales and leads**: Kiko answers product questions, recommends from your catalogue and asks interested customers for their details, so your sales team in Kenya gets a lead with the conversation attached. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/lead-capture)
- **Bookings in your time zone**: Kiko offers your real open times in East Africa time (EAT, UTC+3), books the one the customer picks and adds it to your Google Calendar. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/appointment-booking)
- **Answers from your database**: Connect your own database and Kiko can look up an order, a stock level or a delivery date, read-only, with what it may read decided in code. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/database-answers)
- **Requests that need approval**: Refunds, complaints and custom quotes become cases your team approves, with the customer kept up to date. [Learn more](https://heykiko.io/features/cases-and-approvals)

## A sample conversation: A salon booking in Swahili

A customer asks in Swahili on WhatsApp. Kiko answers from the salon's price list and books a slot in East Africa time.

- **Customer**: Habari! Bei ya knotless braids ni ngapi? Jumamosi mko na nafasi?
- **Kiko**: Nzuri! Knotless braids za urefu wa kati ni KSh 3,500, kama saa nne. Jumamosi tuna nafasi: (8:00 AM / 1:00 PM)
- **Customer**: 8:00 AM
- **Kiko**: Sawa! Umewekwa Jumamosi saa mbili asubuhi.

Kito Beauty, Nairobi is a sample business; the names and prices are made up.

## Languages your customers in Kenya write in

Kenyan customers switch between English and Swahili, and younger customers write in Sheng. Kiko replies in the customer's own mix.

- **Swahili**: “Habari, bei ya huduma ni ngapi? Mnafungua saa ngapi?” gets an answer in Swahili.
- **Sheng and mixed messages**: Kiko understands Sheng and English-Swahili mixes and answers in a friendly, matching tone.
- **English for professional services**: Fix the reply language to English for a law firm, a clinic or a school.

## Where customers in Kenya reach you

In Kenya, WhatsApp is how customers ask prices, book and follow up, often from an Instagram or TikTok post. Your website reaches people searching on Google, and Telegram is used for groups.

- **WhatsApp straight from social posts**: Customers tap from your posts and ads into WhatsApp; Kiko answers each one at once on your business number.
- **Website chat for Google searchers**: A visitor comparing options can get a price and a booking on your site.
- **Telegram for communities**: Groups on Telegram get the same answers from the same agent.

## What WhatsApp costs in Kenya

Meta's rates per delivered message (Rest of Africa), from its USD rate card effective 1 October 2026. Meta bills them to your own WhatsApp account; HeyKiko adds nothing to them.

| Message | What it's for | Rate |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Marketing | Offers and announcements, to customers who opted in | $0.0225 |
| Utility | Booking reminders, order and delivery updates | $0.004 |
| Service | Replies inside the 24-hour window, after 1,000 free a month per number | $0.004 |

For a salon in Nairobi with 600 chats a month and about 4 replies each, 2,400 replies are 1,400 paid after the free 1,000: $5.60. Adding 600 reminders and updates ($2.40) and 300 offers ($6.75) brings Meta's bill to about $14.75 a month.

Work out your own month in the [cost calculator](/tools/whatsapp-api-cost-calculator). Source: [Meta](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/pricing)

## Questions from businesses in Kenya

### Can an AI agent reply to customers on WhatsApp in Kenya?

Yes. Connect your business number through Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform and Kiko answers every message from your website and documents, in English, Swahili or Sheng, day and night.

### Can it answer in Swahili and English in the same chat?

Yes. Kiko follows the customer: if they switch from English to Swahili, it switches too.

### Can it share our M-Pesa details?

Yes. Add your Till or Paybill number to your knowledge and Kiko shares it when a customer is ready to pay; your team confirms the payment.

### How much does WhatsApp cost in Kenya?

Kenya is in Meta's Rest of Africa market, among its cheapest: since 1 October 2026, $0.0225 per marketing message and $0.004 per utility message, with 1,000 free service replies a month per number.

### What does HeyKiko cost for a Kenyan business?

Plans start at $29 a month, billed in USD, after a 14-day free trial with no card.

## Related

- [WhatsApp AI chatbot](https://heykiko.io/channels/whatsapp-ai-chatbot)
- [Appointment booking](https://heykiko.io/features/appointment-booking)
- [HeyKiko in Nigeria](https://heykiko.io/ai-agent/nigeria)