AI Tools for Zimbabwean Business

Nyasha: Hello. This is AI Tools for Zimbabwean Business from Executive AI Studio, for Thursday the twenty-second of October. I'm Nyasha, an AI presenter. This week: turning a day of WhatsApp orders into one order list, with Claude, the AI assistant made by Anthropic. Our AI correspondent Farai is here to walk us through it.

Nyasha: Farai, who is this for?

Farai: Any business that takes orders on WhatsApp. A butchery in Chitungwiza, a bakery that delivers in Bulawayo, someone selling school uniforms from home. The orders arrive all day, each in its own chat, and some come in at ten at night. One customer wants two trays of eggs. Another wants five loaves delivered to Avondale. A third writes half the order in Shona. At closing time, someone scrolls back through every chat and copies the orders out by hand. It takes time, and an order gets missed.

Nyasha: And a missed order is a customer who may not come back.

Farai: So this week, Claude reads the orders and builds the list. A person still checks it before anything is packed.

Nyasha: What do I need to start?

Farai: A phone and the Claude app. On Android, open the Play Store and search for Claude by Anthropic. The app needs Android eight or newer. On an iPhone, search the App Store for the same name. The iPhone app needs iOS eighteen or newer.

Nyasha: Is Claude offered in Zimbabwe?

Farai: Yes. Zimbabwe is on Anthropic's own list of supported countries.

Nyasha: And what does it cost?

Farai: The free plan is enough for this task. The free plan covers the web, the computer app and the phone app, and it lets Claude create files, which we need at the end. Every plan has usage limits that reset on a rolling five-hour window. If you keep running out, the Pro plan costs twenty US dollars a month, billed monthly. Anthropic says Pro gives at least five times the usage of the free plan in each five-hour session.

Nyasha: Right. Walk me through it.

Farai: Step one. Collect the orders as screenshots. When an order comes in on WhatsApp, take a screenshot, the way you normally do on your phone. Make sure the customer's name and the whole order are on the screen. Anthropic's guidance on images is plain: make sure each image is clear and not too blurry.

Nyasha: So one screenshot for each order.

Farai: Yes. Step two. At closing time, open the Claude app and start a new chat. Tap the plus button in the chat box and add your screenshots. Claude's help page allows up to twenty files in one chat. On a busy day, put the morning's orders in one chat and the afternoon's in another.

Nyasha: Step three is what we type.

Farai: Here is the instruction. I'll read it slowly. These screenshots are today's WhatsApp orders. Make one table with these columns: customer name, items, quantity, delivery place, payment method. Do not guess. If anything is unclear or missing, write CHECK in that row. Then add up the total quantity of each item.

Nyasha: The key part: do not guess, and write CHECK when something is unclear.

Farai: That line matters most. Without it, AI can fill a gap with something that sounds right. With it, Claude marks the gap, so you know where to look.

Nyasha: Step four?

Farai: Step four. Read the table. You should see one row for each order, and a total for each item underneath: twelve trays of eggs, say, and thirty loaves. Count the rows. If you added fifteen screenshots and see fourteen rows, ask Claude which order is missing.

Nyasha: What if some customers pay in US dollars and some in ZiG?

Farai: Add currency to the list of columns in your instruction. Claude reads it from each message, and you can ask for a separate total in each currency.

Nyasha: And the rows marked CHECK?

Farai: Step five. Clear them. Message those customers on WhatsApp and confirm. Then give Claude the answer in plain words, for example: row four is two kilograms of beef, delivered to Mabelreign. Claude updates the table.

Nyasha: And then I have my list.

Farai: Step six turns it into a file. Type: make this an Excel spreadsheet I can download. Claude can create Excel spreadsheets on the free plan, in the phone app as well. You can download the file or save it straight to Google Drive. Send it to whoever packs the orders, and the totals tell you how much stock to set aside for tomorrow.

Nyasha: What does AI get wrong on a job like this?

Farai: Three things. First, misreading. Anthropic's own guidance says Claude can make mistakes with low-quality, rotated or very small images. A blurry screenshot can give you a wrong number. Second, language. If a customer writes in Shona or Ndebele, read that row against the message yourself. Third, anything that was never in a screenshot. A voice note or a phone order won't appear in the table at all. Before anything goes to a customer, check every quantity and every delivery place against the original message.

Nyasha: And what should never go in?

Farai: National ID numbers, bank details, customers' health information and passwords. Customers sometimes send bank details in the same chat as their order, so crop the screenshot before you upload it. And in Claude's privacy settings, you can turn model training off. Anthropic says it then won't use your new chats for future model training.

Nyasha: Where else does this skill help?

Farai: Anywhere you have a pile of pictures with numbers in them. Photograph the week's paper delivery notes from suppliers. Upload them and ask Claude for a table of date, supplier, items and amount, with CHECK wherever Claude is unsure. Then the week's purchases sit in one spreadsheet, ready to compare with what you sold. The same check applies: compare each amount with the paper before you pay anyone.

Nyasha: So, to recap. Install the free Claude app. During the day, screenshot each WhatsApp order. At closing time, start a new chat and add the screenshots. Ask for one table with name, items, quantity, place and payment, and tell Claude not to guess and to write CHECK when unsure. Count the rows, clear every CHECK with the customer, then ask for an Excel file. And crop out ID numbers and bank details before you upload.

Nyasha: This show is brought to you by Executive AI Studio. We build AI assistants for Zimbabwean businesses. Find us at executiveai.studio.

Nyasha: Every page we used is linked in the episode notes. This episode was researched and written by AI. I'm Nyasha. Thanks for listening. See you next Tuesday.