WABA (WhatsApp Business Account)

Definition

A WABA (WhatsApp Business Account) is the account inside a Meta Business portfolio that groups everything a business uses on the WhatsApp Business Platform: one or more phone numbers with their display names, message templates and their approval status, messaging limits, billing and privacy settings. Business verification and official-business status apply at WABA level, while the quality rating is measured per phone number. A WABA is created during Embedded Signup or manually in Business Manager. It belongs to the business, not to the software vendor connected to it, which only holds delegated access that the business can revoke.

What you need to know

For a brokerage the WABA question comes down to ownership and contents. The Meta Business portfolio and the WABA must be in the firm's name, with at least two administrators (a principal plus a director or operations lead), so that nothing depends on one individual or on a supplier. A vendor such as ORIS operates as an authorised application on the WABA; the brokerage can remove that access and keep its number, templates and billing history.

The WABA holds the templates. A firm serving several markets or languages manages one template set per language, since the language code is part of a template's identity. It also holds the numbers: a multi-branch brokerage can attach one number per branch to the same WABA and keep a single governance, or run separate WABAs when the branches are distinct legal entities, as is common with group structures in South Africa or Kenya.

Business verification happens at portfolio level and governs the climb through messaging-limit tiers and the display of the firm's name instead of a bare number. It requires official documents (company registration, proof of address, sometimes a utility or phone bill) and takes from a few days to several weeks. The South African setup guide lists the documents accepted in practice, and the quality rating entry explains what is measured per number.

Concrete example

A Cape Town brokerage group with three branches creates one WABA in the holding company's name, attaches one number per branch and manages one English and one Afrikaans template set. The portfolio admins are the two directors. When the Stellenbosch branch changes manager, the number stays in the WABA and the conversations stay in the shared inbox.