Privacy notice

Who we are

ansa is made by B-KODA LTD, a company registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Registration number: RC 9939431. Based in Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

This notice covers ansa Business (the app and website businesses use to sell), the ansa shop (shop.ansa.africa, where people buy), ansa Delivery and the ansa Rider app (both still being tested), and this site. For the information it describes, B-KODA LTD decides what is kept and why: in the words of the law, we are the data controller. We follow the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and the rules the Nigeria Data Protection Commission makes under it.

To ask anything about your information, write to [email protected]. Our Data Protection Officer, who checks that we keep to this notice and to the law, is Olamide Akeredolu-Martins, who reads that address too.

The short version

• We keep what is needed to run a sale or a delivery, and nothing we have no use for.
• We do not sell information about you, and we show no adverts.
• We use no tracking or analytics tools. Nothing follows you around the web.
• Some of the companies that help us run ansa keep information outside Nigeria. We name them below.
• You can have a copy of what we hold, have it corrected, or have it deleted. You can delete your account at any time, from inside the app or at ansa.africa/delete-account.

If you run a business on ansa

We keep:

• The name you ask us to call you; the phone number or email address you sign up with (or both, if you give both), and the date you confirmed each with a code; your password, in a form we cannot read back; and your ansa ID (a short code such as AN01-K7M2QX9 that names your account; it is not secret. Its first four characters show that it is an ansa ID and the country it was issued in, so anyone you share it with can see that country).
• If you sign in with Google: your Google account ID, your email address and your name, which Google gives us when you agree. We don't receive your Google password or your profile picture, and we don't share anything back to Google. To confirm
• The phones and browsers you are signed in on: the device's name (such as “Tecno Spark 20” or “Chrome on Windows”), which ansa app, when it was last used, and the town it was used from if our network provider tells us. We never keep your internet address. We use this to show you where you are signed in and to warn you when a new device signs in.
• A record of every time someone at ansa looks at your phone number or email, with the reason they gave. You will be able to see it on your account page.
• Codes we send you to confirm your phone or email are kept for one day, in a form we cannot read back.
• Your business's name and type, its description, phone and WhatsApp numbers, area, logo and cover photo.
• Your products, their photos, prices and stock, and every change to stock with who made it.
• If you improve a product photo: your own photo is kept, and each improved version is kept beside it with a note of whether it was cleaned up or redrawn by AI.
• Your orders, sales you record yourself, invoices, and the notes you write on them.
• If you run a made-to-order business (Creative): body measurements and other sizes you record for a client; photos of their work in progress and reference pictures; dates and names for events such as weddings; and, for food made to order, an allergy note the client gave you (health information, kept on that one job and removed from ansa 30 days after the job ends). To confirm The client's private job page never shows their name or allergy; measurement numbers appear only after they confirm the last four digits of their phone.
• A record of the main steps in your business, such as a product added or an order's status changed, and which account took them, so you can see your history and we can put faults right.
• Your bank account (bank, account number and name), if you add one.
• What ansa owes you and what you owe ansa: every sale, fee, refund and withdrawal.
• If you connect Instagram or Facebook: the names and ids of your Page and Instagram account, the id of the person who connected, and a permission to post for you, kept locked. We never see your Meta password and we do not read your messages or your followers.
• If you turn on notifications in the app: a code for that phone (a push token), and whether the phone is an iPhone or Android, so we can tell you when an order is paid or a withdrawal is answered. A notification carries an amount and a customer's first name at most. The code is removed when you switch notifications off, sign out on that phone, or delete your account.
• If you turn on passkeys: the public half of each passkey and the device it was made on. Your face or fingerprint never leaves your device; we never see it.
• If you connect TikTok: your TikTok account's id and display name, and a permission to post your product photos for you, kept locked. We never see your TikTok password and we do not read your messages, your followers or your videos.
• If you connect a Jumia seller account: your Jumia shop's name, a permission to read and update your Jumia listings, kept locked, and those listings' names, photos, prices and stock, so your stock stays the same in both places. We do not bring Jumia's orders or buyers into ansa.
• What you post or share from ansa: the words, which photo, which channel, when, and the link it carried, so you can see what you sent and so we can tell you which channel your buyers came from.
• If your business delivers for others: its CAC registration number, and its NIPOST licence number if you give it, so we can check the business before others can choose it; its prices, the states it serves, its riders, and the most cash you let one rider carry for sellers.

Your bank account is shown on invoices you choose to put it on, to anyone who has that invoice's link, and it is used to pay your withdrawals.

Using ansa on WhatsApp or Telegram

If you message the ansa assistant on WhatsApp or Telegram, we receive what you send: your messages, voice notes and photos, and the phone number or Telegram account they come from. We use them only to do what you ask in your ansa account. Voice notes are turned into text by our speech service, [name of the speech service], and are not kept; messages and their text are kept for 30 days and then deleted. Photos are kept only when you add them to a product. WhatsApp is run by Meta and Telegram by Telegram, and your messages pass through their services under their own privacy policies. The assistant's replies are written by an AI model that ansa runs on its own servers; your messages are not sent to an outside AI company. You can send stop at any time to stop replies, or unlink to disconnect the chat from your account.

If you buy from a business on ansa

When you place an order we keep:

• Your name and phone number, and your email if you give one. We use the email to send you the link to your order and a receipt, and for nothing else. Every email has a link that stops all emails from ansa to that address, except codes you ask for and security alerts about your own account; when you use it we keep only a scrambled fingerprint of the address, so we know not to write to it. The same link turns emails back on if you change your mind. Our emails carry no tracking and no tracked links. They do show the business's logo and photos of what you ordered; your mail app fetches those pictures from where we store photos, which can tell that company a picture was opened. We do not use that to follow what you do.
• Your delivery address and any note for the rider, if the order is delivered. If you choose to, also the NIPOST postcode of the building and a pin on a map marking the exact spot. The pin is only taken when you press “Use where I am now”, and your browser asks you first. Only you and the business you ordered from can see the postcode and the pin.
• Whether you ticked “Send me updates about this order on WhatsApp”. The box starts unticked. If you tick it, ansa sends updates about that order to the phone number you gave, through WhatsApp (Meta), and nothing else. Reply STOP to any message and we stop for good; we then keep only a scrambled fingerprint of the number, so we know not to write to it. To confirm
• What you ordered and what you paid.
• Which link or site brought you to the shop (for example an Instagram post or a QR code). The business sees a short summary of this, never the full address you came from.

The business you buy from sees your name, phone number, address and order, so it can serve you. It keeps a record of you as a customer under your phone number.

Your order has a private link. Anyone who has that link can see the order, so share it only with people you trust.

If you buy while signed in to ansa, the order is linked to your account so that you can find it on your account page, and the checkout form starts with the name, phone number and email from your last order. Choose Use different details at checkout and the order is not linked to you. You never need an account to buy. If you delete your account, the link is removed; the order itself stays in the business's records, as any order does.

A business can ask for a product photo to be improved. A photo that was only cleaned up (its background and lighting tidied) shows the item as photographed. A photo that was redrawn by AI is marked “AI-improved” wherever you see it, with a line saying the real item may look different. To confirm

If you send something with ansa Delivery

ansa Delivery is still being tested. When you send something we keep:

• The name you send under, which the rider and the receiver see (for example “From Ada”), and a phone number the rider can call at the pickup.
• The pickup and drop-off places: the address, area and state, and the pin on the map. Places you save (“Home”, “Mum's house”) are kept with the name and number of whoever is usually there, until you delete them.
• Who it is for: the receiver's name and phone number.
• What it is, how big it is, your notes for the rider and, for an errand, the instructions for the counter and the name it is under.
• The price, who pays it, and any money the rider collects at the door for you.
• What happens to it: each step and its time, where the rider's phone was at each step, the photos at pickup and handover, the rating you give, and the riders you save as favourites.

Before a rider takes the job, the riders it is offered to see only the two areas, what it is, its size, the pay, and any money to collect at the door. Once a rider takes it, that rider and the business they ride for see the places, the names and phone numbers, and your notes.

Errands and health. An errand's instructions are seen by you, the rider and their business, and shown at the counter. Please do not put health details in them, such as what a medicine is for, an illness or a test result. Write only what the counter needs, such as the name it is under and an order or receipt number. The law gives health information extra protection, and an errand does not need it. To confirm

If someone sent you something with ansa Delivery

The sender gave us your name, your phone number, and the address and pin where you would receive it. We did not get them from you. We use them only for that delivery: the rider carrying it and the business they ride for see them, so they can find you and call you. ansa does not message you or use your number for anything else.

The sender can share a tracking link with you. Its page shows where the parcel is going, the name and area the sender gave, the rider's first name, photo, vehicle and plate, the rider's number while they are bringing it, the code to give at the door, any money to pay at the door, and the photos taken at pickup and handover. Anyone with the link can see that page, so keep it to yourself.

To have your details removed from a delivery, ask the sender or write to us. How long we keep them is under How long we keep it.

If you ride with ansa

We keep:

• Your name, phone number, photo, vehicle and plate number, and the area you ride in. The business you ride for sees all of these. A sender and a receiver see your name, photo, vehicle and plate, and can call you, only on a delivery you are carrying for them.
• If you ride on your own: whether ansa has checked you. Until we have, you get jobs only from people who ask for you by name. Today a person at ansa looks at the details above. If we add an identity check (such as your NIN and a selfie), we will change this notice and tell you first. To confirm
• Where you are, only while you are on shift. When you go online, the app sends where your phone is while the app is open, so jobs near you can reach you and the business you ride for can see where its riders are on a map. When you go offline we stop and forget where you were. If your phone goes quiet for half an hour and you are not on a job, we set you offline. The business sees where you are only while you are online for it.
• During a delivery, where you went, so the sender can follow it and so a problem can be looked into. The sender sees you on the map until the delivery is finished, and the receiver once you have picked it up. We delete this trail after 30 days. Where your phone was at each step (arriving, picking up, handing over) is kept with the delivery's record. When you delete your ansa account, those positions are removed.
• The photos you take at pickup and handover, which show the parcel and you, with where and when each was taken. The sender, the receiver and the business you ride for see them.
• The deliveries you carried, what you were paid, and any money you collected at the door for the goods. The business you ride for sees how much each of its riders is carrying for sellers until each seller confirms it reached them.
• The rating and comment a sender gives about a delivery you carried. The business you ride for sees it.

Your phone asks you before the app can use where you are, and you can turn it off in your phone's settings at any time. You can still ride, but the business will not see you on its map and jobs near you may not reach you. To confirm

People who deliver from a link

A business can add a rider who does not use the ansa Rider app. The business gives us the rider's name, phone number, vehicle and optional plate number so the receiver knows who is coming and the business can send each job as a link on WhatsApp. The business should only give us these details if the rider has agreed.

When the rider opens the link and taps Start, we record that the link was opened and started. While the job page is open and the delivery is under way, the rider's phone sends where it is at each step and at most once a minute, so the business, sender and receiver can follow the job. We delete that trail after 30 days, like other delivery positions.

The rider takes the same proof photos as in the app (the parcel and themselves). Those photos show their face. They are kept for the proof period described under delivery proof photos below. The rider also tells us how any money at the door was collected and how a delivery fee was paid, if that applies.

The business sees all of this for its jobs. The sender sees the rider's first name, the photos and positions during the job. The receiver sees the rider's first name, can call them while the parcel is on its way, and sees the photos and position while it is coming to them.

The rider's browser stores one cookie (ride_… on rider.ansa.africa) so only the phone that tapped Start can act on the job; a forwarded link cannot. It lasts 48 hours. Google draws the map on that page, as on our other websites.

To have these details removed, ask the business that added you, or write to us at the contact in this notice. To confirm (lawyer: performing the delivery the rider agreed with the business, or legitimate interest.)

If a business entered your details

A business can record a sale or send an invoice by typing in a customer's name and, if it chooses, phone number. If a business you bought from did this, ansa holds those details for that business even though you never used ansa yourself. The business decides why they are kept, and ansa stores them for it. To confirm An invoice's link shows your name, what you are buying and what you owe to anyone who has the link; it never shows your phone number. To have these details removed, ask the business, or write to us.

If you pay online

Payments are handled by Bachs (bachs.io). When you press Pay, Bachs' payment window opens on our page and Bachs receives your name, your email, the amount and our order number. Card and bank details are entered with Bachs and never reach ansa. We keep what Bachs tells us: that you paid, how much, when, and by which method.

If you pay a business by bank transfer from an invoice, that money goes straight to the business. ansa does not handle it.

If you join the waiting list

We keep your email address, which ansa products you said you were interested in, which page sent you, and when you joined. We use it only to tell you when those products open. To leave the list, write to us and we will remove you.

If you report something

When you report a shop or a product we keep what you wrote, and your email address only if you chose to leave one so that we can write back. The business is never told who reported it.

Why the law lets us use your information

Nigerian law lets us use information about you only for a reason it recognises (Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, section 25). Here is the reason for each thing we do. They are our proposals until our lawyer has checked them.

Decisions made by a computer

A few things on ansa happen by a fixed rule, without a person deciding each time. None of them scores you, builds a profile of you, or sets a price just for you.

• Which delivery jobs a rider is offered. A job is offered to riders who are online, whose vehicle can carry its size, and who are not already on a job. A job open to any ansa rider goes only to riders ansa has checked, within 10 km of the pickup by where their phone last was. A delivery business's cash limit holds back jobs that would take one of its riders over it. The first rider to accept gets the job.
• Delivery prices. Worked out from the distance between the two pins and the price list of ansa or of the delivery business, the same for everyone.
• Locking a sign-in. After five wrong passwords in a row, the account cannot be signed into for 15 minutes. It opens again by itself.
• Keeping Delivery tidy. A delivery no rider takes is called off after 3 hours (or 20 hours for one booked for later the same day), and the sender is told. A rider whose phone has been silent for half an hour, and who is not on a job, is set offline. After five wrong codes at the door the code locks; a rider who finishes without it marks the delivery for the sender to see. A proof photo taken more than 300 m from the pin, counting how exact the phone says its position is, marks the delivery for a person to look at; so does a proof with no position, a very rough one, or a photo that looks older than 10 minutes. None of these stops the delivery.

If one of these affects you and you think it went wrong, write to us. A person at ansa will look at it again, explain how it was reached, and hear your side. To confirm

Who else sees your information

• People who work at ansa. A small number of staff can see accounts, businesses, orders, deliveries and payments in order to fix problems, check delivery businesses and riders, answer refunds and pay withdrawals. What each of them does is recorded.
• Companies that do a job for us. Each gets only what its job needs:
  • Bachs takes online payments.
  • Cloudinary stores photos: products, logos, riders' photos and delivery proof photos.
  • Railway and Vercel run our servers and our database, and keep short records of requests to them.
  • Resend sends emails about an order or a withdrawal, once that is switched on, including the codes we email you to confirm your email address, and security alerts about your account.
  • Meta (WhatsApp) and Termii carry the codes we send to confirm your phone, by WhatsApp or by text, whichever you choose. They receive your phone number and the code, nothing else. To confirm
  • Expo delivers notifications to your phone, through Apple and Google, if you turn them on.
  • Google shows every map in the app and on our websites (including rider.ansa.africa), suggests addresses as you type one, and turns a pin into an address. It receives what you type into an address box and the places and positions on a map. What you type on our websites reaches Google through our servers; the map itself loads from Google in your browser, so Google sees your device's internet address. Google does not get your name or what you ordered. To confirm
  • NIPOST (the Nigerian Postal Service) finds the postcode of the building at a pin on a map, and checks a postcode you type. It receives the position of the pin or the postcode, through our servers. It does not get your name, your phone number or what you ordered. Open
  • Meta, for a business that connects Instagram or Facebook, and for delivering WhatsApp order updates to a buyer who asked for them.
  • TikTok, only for a business that connects TikTok.
  • Jumia, only for a business that connects its Jumia seller account.
  • Photoroom improves a product photo, only when a business asks for that photo to be cleaned up or beautified; the photo alone is sent. To confirm
  We are putting a written agreement in place with each of them, as the law asks. To confirm
• The law. We give information to an authority only when Nigerian law requires us to.

Map data. The outlines of Nigeria's local government areas come from geoBoundaries (CC BY 4.0). They are kept inside ansa; nothing about you is sent to geoBoundaries.

Information kept outside Nigeria

ansa's servers are outside Nigeria. That means everything ansa keeps is stored abroad, which the law treats as sending (“transferring”) information out of Nigeria, even though nothing is sold or given away. Most of the companies above are also outside Nigeria. The law allows this only in certain cases (Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, sections 41 to 43). Here is what goes where, and why:

• Railway (our database and servers) and Vercel (our websites): everything ansa holds is stored with or passes through them. They are bound by contract to protect it and to use it only for us. To confirm
• Cloudinary (photos), Resend (emails), Expo (notifications) and Photoroom (photo help): only what their job needs, under the same kind of contract.
• Bachs (payments): only what is needed to take a payment you chose to make.
• Meta, TikTok and Jumia: only when a business connects them, or a buyer asks for WhatsApp updates, to do what was asked.
• Google (sign-in, and maps): when you choose Google sign-in, the account ID, email and name Google sends us; for maps and addresses, what is typed into an address box and the places and positions on a map, so it can suggest and show them. Not your name or what you ordered.
• NIPOST (postcodes): the position of a pin on a map, or a postcode you type, so it can find or check the postcode. Not your name or what you ordered.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has not yet said which countries protect information as well as Nigeria does. Until it does, the law may require your consent before some of these transfers, and our lawyer is checking this. To confirm

We are confirming with each company the country where it keeps information, and will list them here. To confirm

Cookies and what stays on your device

We use only the cookies and on-device storage that our sites need to work. None of them tracks you or is used for adverts or analytics, so there is nothing to accept or refuse. If we ever want one that is not needed, we will ask you first, and saying no will not stop the sites working.

Your account page (ansa.africa/account) shows the email or phone number you signed up with and the businesses on your account; it adds nothing to what we keep.

How long we keep it

We keep information only as long as we need it for the reason we have it, or as long as the law requires. Where ansa already does this by itself, we say so. A period still being decided is marked, and until it is settled we keep the information as described.

Your rights, and how to use them

The law gives you these rights over information about you (Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, sections 34 to 38). Using them costs nothing. Write to [email protected], from the email on your account if you have one, so we know it is you; we may ask for something more to be sure. We answer within 30 days. To confirm

• A copy of what we hold. We send you what we hold about you, why we hold it and who it has gone to, in a common format you can open on a phone or a computer, such as a spreadsheet.
• Correction. You can change most details yourself in the app: your business, your products and your customers. Tell us about anything else that is wrong.
• Deletion. Delete your account in the app (More, then Delete account) or at ansa.africa/delete-account. Your email, phone and password are removed, your businesses are closed, and your customers' names, numbers and addresses are removed; orders and money records are kept with no names on them. To close one business and keep your account: Business profile, then Close this business. Disconnecting Instagram, Facebook or TikTok in Channels, or removing ansa from your Meta account, deletes what we held from them. You can also ask us to delete particular information. We keep only what the law makes us keep, and tell you what we kept and why.
• Restriction. Ask us to keep your information but stop using it for a time, for example while we check whether it is right, or while we answer an objection.
• Objection. Object to a use we base on our legitimate interests (see Why the law lets us use your information). We then stop, unless we have a strong reason that outweighs yours or need it for a legal claim.
• Taking back your consent, as easily as you gave it. WhatsApp updates: reply STOP. Notifications: More, then Notifications, or your phone's settings. A location pin: your browser's or phone's settings. Emails: the link in every email. The waiting list: write to us. Taking consent back does not undo what was done before.
• Taking your information elsewhere. Ask for the information you gave us in a common format a computer can read, sent to you or, where it can be done, straight to another company you name. Until there is a button for this in the app, write to us.
• A person, not only a computer. For any decision made by a fixed rule (see Decisions made by a computer), ask a person at ansa to look at it again, explain it and hear your side.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (ndpc.gov.ng). You can also go to the Commission without coming to us first.

Keeping it safe

Passwords are stored scrambled, so nobody can read them back. Permissions to post or to update listings for a business are kept locked. Only a few named staff can open the staff dashboard, and what each of them does is recorded. When your account is signed in to on a new device, or the email on it is changed, we email the address that was on the account, so you can act if it wasn't you. If information about you is ever exposed in a way that puts you at risk, we will tell you without delay and report it to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission within 72 hours, as the law requires. To confirm

Children

ansa is for adults. Do not use it if you are under 18. To confirm

Changes

When this notice changes we will change the date at the top. If a change matters to how your information is used, we will tell you in the app before it takes effect.