When Chioma Nnanna set out to solve her own marketing headaches, she didn’t imagine it would lead to building Socella, an AI-native platform designed to transform how small businesses manage social media. What began as a personal frustration has evolved into a startup that blends artificial intelligence, automation, and design thinking to simplify the daily grind of content management for entrepreneurs and brands.
“I ran a small business for a few years, first as a side-business and then briefly full-time,” Nnanna recalls. “Solving my own business problems led me to product-building in tech.”
That journey, from entrepreneur to tech founder, laid the foundation for Socella (socella.com), a new entrant in the growing space of AI-driven marketing tools. Unlike general-purpose AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Socella’s in-house AI agent, Nia, is trained specifically for social media operations. Users interact with Nia through a conversational interface, allowing them to schedule posts, manage engagement, and refine their brand’s online presence, all without juggling multiple apps or dashboards.
“Unlike horizontal AI like ChatGPT, Nia is specialized for social media,” she explains. “Users interact through chat.”
From digital marketing to product innovation
Before founding Socella, Nnanna built a career in digital marketing and corporate communications, experience that shaped her product vision. But it wasn’t just her professional background that drove her, it was a string of failed small business attempts that sharpened her sense of what tools founders actually need.
My background is in digital marketing and corporate comms. I’ve also run a few failed small businesses that made me interested in building tech that solves problems in this vertical.
Chioma Nnanna
That hands-on perspective led to a core philosophy: build forthe realities of modern entrepreneurship, not just enterprise clients. In markets like Nigeria, where adoption of paid SaaS products can be a challenge, this meant balancing usability, affordability, and value.
“It’s hard to sell tech to Nigerians,” she admits. “That was a big challenge initially.”
Building in public, iterating in motion
Socella’s early months were defined by experimentation and continuous learning. The company’s MVP now serves paying users in beta, with early traction validating the demand for AI-powered social media support tailored to small businesses.
Unlike many founders who build in stealth, Socella’s team embraces a “build in public” philosophy, sharing updates, product milestones, and lessons from the fundraising journey online.
“We stay motivated by focusing on refining the product and solving for bottlenecks,” Nnanna says. “We continue to build in public, sharing our journey and selling to customers as we have been doing.”
Navigating the realities of fundraising in Africa
Socella’s next chapter involves raising capital to accelerate product development, launch a free tier, and expand its team. But, as Nnanna notes, fundraising in Africa comes with unique hurdles.
African investors have good intentions but often lead from a place of fear, which can be hard for innovation. International investors are wary of markets they don’t understand, understandably so. So raising as an African can be very hard.
Chioma Nnanna
Despite these headwinds, Socella’s focus remains clear: to partner with a few angels and at least one institutional fund who understand the vision of building Africa’s first AI-native social media operations platform.
The road ahead
Once funding is secured, Socella plans to launch a free tier, make strategic hires, and invest in marketing to reach a wider audience of small and medium-sized businesses. The startup is also participating in venture programs that support early-stage African founders.
“We’re working towards launching our offer for SMBs and startups who want to take the bold step of building in public,” Nnanna adds.
As the global AI wave reshapes marketing, Socella is positioning itself as more than just another SaaS tool, it’s a reflection of a growing movement of African founders building AI-first solutions for real-world business needs.
And at the heart of it all is one founder’s belief that solving your own problems can lead to innovations that change how others work too.
Chioma Nnanna is the co-founder & CEO of Socella, an AI-native social media operations platform based in Nigeria. The startup is currently in beta with paying users and is seeking investment to scale across Africa.
