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Ghana startup TrustCheck lets shoppers look up businesses, read moderated reviews, and see a 0 to 100 trust score before paying online sellers.
TrustCheck is a Ghanaian review and trust platform for checking businesses, especially social media sellers, before sending money.
It lets users look up a business, read verified customer reviews, and see a trust score out of 100.
TrustCheck was launched in January of this year by Elliot Brenya. The startup is based in Tema.
The product is built for shopping that starts on Instagram, TikTok, X and WhatsApp, where buyers message a seller and often pay using Mobile Money.
On TrustCheck, a trust score is calculated from a business’s rating, review volume, how responsive it is to customers, verification status and any open disputes.
Brenya told Disrupt Africa that “Most of the time it does, but when it doesn’t, there is usually no way to get your money back and no record that warns the next person. TrustCheck is meant to be that record.” He said he was inspired to build the platform after being scammed while buying a mobile device, after relying on fake ratings for the vendor.
All reviews are moderated before going live. Reviewers can attach proof of purchase, such as MoMo receipts or order chats, but only moderators can see this.
TrustCheck also launched a scam check that works for phone numbers, MoMo numbers, social media handles and websites. It also launched a public API, which is a tool that lets other apps request data, that returns a business’s trust score.
Brenya said global review sites were built for “formal businesses with websites and card payments,” while many sellers people worry about are “an Instagram page, a TikTok shop or a WhatsApp number.”
TrustCheck is free for shoppers. It makes money by charging businesses for verification and premium tools, and it runs display advertising.
The startup is bootstrapped so far. It has around 300 registered reviewers and over 50 businesses listed, and 20 businesses have signed up to manage their pages. Brenya said it has secured its first paying business customers, but revenue remains small.
TrustCheck is focused on Ghana for now, and sees West Africa as its next step. Brenya said the problem is similar in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya and other markets where social commerce and mobile money have grown faster than ways to check who you are paying.
Primary Source: Disrupt Africa
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