Andhika Mahardika and Asri Saraswati want the world to know about Indonesian spices.

Passionate about farming and supporting their community, in 2014 they founded Agradaya, a business that sources raw spices such as ginger and turmeric from more than 150 local farmers to produce essential oils, herbal drinks, and extracts which sell across Indonesia, Singapore, and Myanmar.

Using their personal WhatsApp numbers to connect with customers and manage nine employees, Andhika and Asri needed a way to keep their personal and professional lives separate and build an efficient operating system.

They found a solution in September 2018, when they transitioned Agradaya communications to the WhatsApp Business app.

“It is easier to manage customers because everything is centralized on one number, and we have an official administrator for our WhatsApp Business number,” says Shah Aburrojab, Agradaya’s chief marketing officer.

“It is easier to manage customers because everything is centralized on one number, and we have an official administrator for our WhatsApp Business number”

The WhatsApp Business app has helped Agradaya process customer inquiries and orders more efficiently. Today, 70 percent of Agradaya’s inquiries come via the private messaging service with Shah fielding up to 20 messages for product information and seven orders every day.

“Before switching to WhatsApp Business, our system to record transactions was not integrated, so we often had difficulties confirming payments,” says Shah, explaining that the app’s labels feature has made it easier for Agradaya to mark and follow up on transactions. He adds the away messages feature is particularly useful when the team is offline visiting farmers.

Customers also like interacting with Agradaya via WhatsApp.

“It’s paperless and faster,” says a vegan food store owner who sells Agradaya products in the nearby city of Yogyakarta.

“It takes about 30 minutes from our place to Agradaya, but with WhatsApp, I just tell Agradaya that we need more stock, and they deliver the goods to us,” explains a local restaurateur.

With the WhatsApp Business app helping to better organize their business, Andhika and Asri have more time to fulfil Agradaya's mission: to give back to local farming communities by taking their offerings to the global marketplace.