# Stop typing the same WhatsApp messages by hand. Let your systems send them — WhatsApp API for developers in Ethiopia **Your POS, online shop or app sends the WhatsApp message; your team sees it, and every reply, in EliteTeQ Inbox.** The EliteTeQ API connects your own software to the WhatsApp Business number in your inbox. Send order updates and receipts with approved templates, add leads from your website, and get a webhook the moment a customer writes back. There is no Meta developer app to set up yourself: the number is already connected in EliteTeQ Inbox. It works with your +251 number and customers anywhere in Ethiopia. - REST API with JSON, keys and scoped permissions - Signed webhooks for every message and contact change - Free sandbox with 1,000 requests a month - Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month Create my account: https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/signup (Free sandbox · API in early access) ## How much WhatsApp work is still typed by hand? > Our POS knows when an order is ready, but someone still types the WhatsApp message. Your POS calls the API with an approved template, such as order_ready, and the customer gets it at once. The message and any reply show in the inbox for your team. > Leads from our website form never reach the WhatsApp team. Add each lead with the API. It lands on the pipeline in the first stage, with its source, ready for a teammate to message. > Our system has no idea what customers say on WhatsApp. Subscribe to the message.received webhook. Every customer message is posted to your system, signed so you know it came from EliteTeQ, and retried if your server is down. *Your team should talk to customers, not retype receipts.* ## Your systems send. Your team sees every reply. The EliteTeQ API connects your POS, online shop or app to the WhatsApp Business number already in your inbox. Messages your system sends, and every customer reply, show in EliteTeQ Inbox, so your team can pick up the conversation. With EliteTeQ Inbox, you can: - Send approved templates like order_ready from your own system - Add website leads straight to the pipeline - Get a signed webhook when a customer writes back - Test keys that check everything but never send - OpenAPI file and Postman collection - Keys limited to the permissions you choose Less copying and pasting. More time for customers. Start in the Sandbox: https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/signup ## How to start with the API The API is in early access: message us and we switch it on for your account. 1. **Create a test key** — In Settings → Developers, create an et_test_ key with only the permissions you need. Test keys check everything but never save or send. 2. **Build against the docs** — Use the API reference with its built-in console, the OpenAPI file or the Postman collection. 3. **Switch to a live key** — Swap in an et_live_ key. Messages now go to real customers from your connected WhatsApp number. 4. **Watch usage and webhooks** — See every request with its ID, and test or resend webhooks, in Settings → Developers. ## What is the EliteTeQ API? The EliteTeQ API lets your own software use the WhatsApp Business number connected to EliteTeQ Inbox in Ethiopia. With an API key you can add and update contacts, move them through pipeline stages, send text messages or approved WhatsApp templates, read message history, and receive signed webhooks when customers write, read or reply. Plans start with a free sandbox; API Starter is $29 a month for 50,000 requests. - Contacts, groups, stages and messages over REST - WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram from one API - 8 webhook events, signed and retried - Keys limited to the permissions you choose ## EliteTeQ Inbox at a glance | | | |---|---| | Product | EliteTeQ Inbox, by EliteTeQ Softwares Limited (Nairobi, Kenya) | | What it is | A WhatsApp team inbox and CRM | | Channels | WhatsApp Business (official Cloud API, works alongside the WhatsApp Business app), Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, Facebook and Instagram comments | | Works on | Any browser; installs on Android and iPhone | | Price | From $29 a month; $59 Growth; $99 Business with unlimited people; a year costs 10 months | | Free trial | 7 days, every feature open | | WhatsApp numbers | 1 to 3 included by plan; up to 20 per business (Meta’s limit once the business is verified with Meta) | | In Ethiopia | +251 WhatsApp Business numbers, office hours on Addis Ababa time (EAT) | | Languages | Customers write in Amharic, Afaan Oromo and English | | Setup | About 40 minutes, or done with you on WhatsApp | | Last reviewed | 2026-11-01 | ### Send an approved template ```bash curl -X POST https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/api/v1/contacts/{id}/messages \ -H "Authorization: Bearer et_live_…" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"template": {"name": "order_ready", "params": ["Selam", "#1042"]}}' ``` ## API plans US dollars a month, on top of any EliteTeQ Inbox plan. The Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month. | Plan | Monthly fee | API requests a month | Good for | |---|---|---|---| | Developer Sandbox | Free | 1,000 | Build and test with test keys that check everything but never save or send. | | API Starter | $29 | 50,000 | One integration: your POS, shop or website sending order and receipt messages. | | API Growth | $99 | 250,000 | Several systems connected, or a busy store syncing contacts all day. | | API Business | $299 | 1 million | High volume across branches, apps and back-office systems. | | Enterprise API | Custom | Negotiated | Custom volume, limits and support, agreed with you. | Every call to the API is one request; webhooks EliteTeQ sends are free. Meta’s charges for template messages are separate. ## What you can build The same inbox your team uses, reachable from your code. ### Send messages from your system Send a text inside the 24-hour window, or an approved template any time: order ready, payment received, delivery on the way. The answer tells you if it was sent, is waiting, or failed and why. - Text or approved templates with parameters - Delivery and read updates arrive as webhooks - Messages show in the inbox next to your team’s replies ### Keep contacts and the pipeline in sync Create and update contacts, set their stage, category and tags, or update many at once. Your CRM, shop or website and the inbox stay the same. - Create, search and update contacts - Move leads between stages - Batch updates and groups ### Hear about every conversation Webhooks post to your server when a contact is created or updated, a chat is assigned, or a message is received, sent, delivered, read or fails. - Signed with your webhook secret - Retried after 1, 5, 15 and 60 minutes - Test and resend from Settings → Developers ## Typing it by hand vs the API The message is the same; nobody has to remember to send it. | By hand | With the EliteTeQ API | |---|---| | Someone copies the order number into WhatsApp | Your system sends the template the moment the order is ready | | Website leads sit in an email inbox | Each lead lands on the pipeline at once | | No record of WhatsApp in your own system | Every message arrives by webhook | | One shared login for the integration | Separate keys, each with only the permissions it needs | ## For businesses with their own systems Shops with a POS or online store, distributors with an ordering system, and developers building for clients in Ethiopia. - [Beauty salons](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/beauty-salons/) - [Restaurants & cafés](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/restaurants-and-cafes/) - [Clothing stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/clothing-stores/) - [Electronics stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/electronics-stores/) - [Mobile phone shops](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/mobile-phone-shops/) - [Pharmacies](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/pharmacies/) - [Hardware stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/hardware-stores/) - [Wholesale & distribution](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/industries/wholesale-distribution/) ## More than a shared inbox. A better way to manage your customer relationships. A shared inbox helps your team see messages. EliteTeQ goes further, connecting every conversation to lead management, team coordination and sales visibility. - **Designed for teams:** Employees work with their own logins, roles and responsibilities. - **Conversations connected to customers:** Every message sits with the customer’s history and their stage on your pipeline, not as an isolated chat. - **Visibility for management:** See how your team handles enquiries, how fast they reply and where follow-ups are needed. - **Grows with your business:** Start with a small team, then add people, numbers and a bigger plan as you grow. - **Easy to get started:** Register online, explore every feature on the free trial, and set up your workspace without waiting for a salesperson. ## EliteTeQ Inbox in Ethiopia The API sends from your connected +251 WhatsApp Business number, so customers in Ethiopia see your business name as usual. Meta’s charges for template messages are billed to your Meta account, separately from API requests. In Ethiopia, many customers also use Telegram, which EliteTeQ Inbox does not connect to yet. For businesses in Addis Ababa and beyond that sell on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, it puts those chats in one list the whole team shares. Customers in Ethiopia write in Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrinya and English. Your team replies in the customer’s language inside the 24-hour window; template messages can currently be created in English. Office hours are set day by day for each number. A common setup in Addis Ababa: weekdays open, Saturday mornings open, Sunday closed. Anyone who writes while you are closed gets your away message, at most once every 12 hours, and the chat waits at the top of the list for the morning. - **Numbers:** +251 (e.g. +251 91 100 0000) - **Office hours:** Run on Addis Ababa time (EAT) - **Weekend:** Saturday and Sunday - **Templates:** English - **Price:** From $29 a month, in US dollars - **Paying:** Card, charged in Kenyan shillings at the day’s rate ## Selling on WhatsApp in Ethiopia Customers in Ethiopia pay with telebirr, CBE Birr, M-Pesa, cards and bank transfers, so when a sale closes on WhatsApp the customer may confirm payment in the chat, and your team needs to see that message quickly. ### [Hawassa](https://eliteteqpos.com/hawassa/) Sidama Region · a lakeside city with a major industrial park Hawassa combines a lakeside leisure and hospitality trade with a large industrial park, which gives it two distinct customer bases: weekend and holiday visitors, and a substantial wage-earning workforce with regular pay cycles. That makes demand more predictable than in agricultural towns, and rewards systems that handle both fast table service and everyday convenience retail. The industrial park provides a large wage-earning workforce on regular pay cycles while the lakeside draws weekend visitors — two predictable but unrelated demand curves. A shop or distributor in Hawassa can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system. ### [Addis Ababa](https://eliteteqpos.com/addis-ababa/) Addis Ababa · Ethiopia's capital and the seat of the African Union Addis Ababa concentrates Ethiopia's formal retail, hospitality and institutional trade, with a large diplomatic and international-organisation presence alongside the vast Merkato trading area. Mobile money use is growing quickly alongside cash. Merkato trades at enormous scale while the diplomatic and international-organisation districts carry a quite different basket, and both sit in one city. A shop or distributor in Addis Ababa can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system. ### [Dire Dawa](https://eliteteqpos.com/dire-dawa/) Dire Dawa · an eastern trade and rail city Dire Dawa is a commercial city on the rail corridor toward Djibouti, which makes import and transit trade a large share of its activity and ties restocking to freight schedules. Cash dominates settlement, with cross-border influence on pricing from the Djibouti corridor. The rail corridor toward Djibouti makes import and transit trade central, tying restocking to freight rather than local demand. A shop or distributor in Dire Dawa can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system. ### EliteTeQ Inbox in every city of Ethiopia - [Addis Ababa](https://eliteteqpos.com/addis-ababa/): Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital and the seat of the African Union - [Dire Dawa](https://eliteteqpos.com/dire-dawa/): Dire Dawa, an eastern trade and rail city - [Adama](https://eliteteqpos.com/adama/): Oromia Region, a commercial town on the central industrial corridor - [Hawassa](https://eliteteqpos.com/hawassa/): Sidama Region, a lakeside city with a major industrial park ## Questions businesses ask us **What counts as a request?** Every call your system makes to the API counts as one request, whether it reads or sends. Webhooks EliteTeQ sends to you don’t count, and Meta’s charges for WhatsApp template messages are separate. **Is this Meta’s WhatsApp API?** No. It is EliteTeQ’s API on top of the official WhatsApp Business Platform. Your number is connected once in EliteTeQ Inbox, so you don’t need your own Meta developer app, and messages sent through the API appear in the inbox for your team. **Do we need an EliteTeQ Inbox plan?** Yes. The API works on an active EliteTeQ Inbox account, and API plans are added on top. The Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month. **Is there a free sandbox?** Yes. Test keys check every request exactly like live keys but never save or send anything, with up to 1,000 requests a month. **How fast can we call it?** Each key allows 120 requests a minute. Above that, the API answers with a rate-limit error and the number of seconds to wait. **Can we message any customer from the API?** A free-form text needs the customer to have written in the last 24 hours on WhatsApp (7 days on Messenger and Instagram). Otherwise send an approved template, and only to customers who agreed to hear from you. **Is the API available now?** It is in early access. Message us on WhatsApp and we switch it on for your EliteTeQ Inbox account. **Is there a WhatsApp API for businesses in Ethiopia?** Yes. The EliteTeQ API lets software used in Ethiopia send WhatsApp messages from a connected +251 business number, add leads to the pipeline and receive webhooks when customers write. It runs on an EliteTeQ Inbox account: the Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month, and API Starter adds 50,000 for $29 a month. **Can our POS or online shop in Ethiopia send WhatsApp order updates?** Yes, with an approved template such as order_ready or delivery_update. Your system calls the API when the order changes, the customer gets the message on WhatsApp, and any reply lands in the inbox for your team. Meta’s charge for the template is billed to your Meta account at its rate for Ethiopian numbers. Sources for the WhatsApp rules on this page (Meta): - [WhatsApp Business Platform pricing (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing) - [Messaging limits (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messaging-limits) - [Message templates (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/overview) - [Business phone numbers and limits (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/business-phone-numbers/phone-numbers) - [About the WhatsApp Business Platform (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/about-the-platform) ## Connect your systems to WhatsApp in Ethiopia The API is in early access. Message us and we’ll switch it on for your account. Be first on the API: https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/signup ## More about EliteTeQ Inbox EliteTeQ Inbox: smarter business, better conversations. - [EliteTeQ Inbox overview](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/) - [Shared WhatsApp inbox](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/whatsapp-team-inbox/) - [WhatsApp CRM & pipeline](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/whatsapp-crm/) - [Facebook & Instagram inbox](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/facebook-instagram-inbox/) - [Click-to-WhatsApp ad leads](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/click-to-whatsapp-ads/) - [Pricing](https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/pricing/) ## Talk to EliteTeQ about EliteTeQ Inbox - WhatsApp or call: +1 214 423 5355 (https://wa.me/12144235355?text=Hi%20EliteTeQ!%20I%E2%80%99d%20like%20early%20access%20to%20the%20EliteTeQ%20WhatsApp%20API%20to%20connect%20our%20own%20system.%20I%E2%80%99m%20in%20Ethiopia.) - Email: info@eliteteqpos.com - Web: https://eliteteqpos.com/et/inbox/api/