Onboarding and KYC
Verify your business once - your details, KYC documents and a digitally signed service order form.
Mobile networks and regulators ask who is sending before they register a sender ID or open a route. Onboarding collects that once, in about 5 minutes, and we attach it to every registration we make for you.
Open it in the dashboard at Account > Onboarding & KYC (sms.esmsafrica.io/account/onboarding). Your progress is saved as you go, on a phone or a computer.
Onboarding is recommended before you request a sender ID. The networks in most countries need these documents, so a completed onboarding gets sender IDs approved faster.
What you need
| Organisation | Individual | |
|---|---|---|
| Certificate of Incorporation | Required | Not needed |
| Tax certificate (TIN or tax compliance) | Required | Required |
| Passport or national ID of the person signing | Required | Required |
| Details of the authorised representative | Required | Your own details |
| Signed service order form | Signed online | Signed online |
Files can be PDF, JPG or PNG, up to 10 MB each.
The steps
- Type - an organisation or an individual. Individuals skip the certificate of incorporation.
- Details - company name, industry, registration and tax numbers, physical and postal address, and the authorised representative: name, job title, mobile, office phone, email, email for invoices and passport or ID number.
- Services - the products you will use (SMS API, SMPP, Verify, Two-way SMS, eSMS Mail, eSMS Links), the destination countries, the traffic types (OTP, transactional, marketing), the expected monthly volume and how you will use the service. A sample message and the sender IDs you want help the review.
- Documents - upload the KYC files.
- Review - we generate your service order form as a PDF, with the eSMS pricing schedule for your countries from today's rates. Read it before you sign.
- Sign - draw your signature (mouse, pen or finger) or type your name, accept the Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy, and agree to sign electronically. We email you a 6-digit code to confirm it is you, then you sign.
You receive the signed PDF by email straight away. Our team reviews it, usually within one business day, and emails you the outcome: approved, changes requested (with the reason) or not approved.
The signed PDF
The signed service order form has three parts:
- The form - your details, services, the list of KYC documents with a SHA-256 fingerprint of each file, the declaration and the signatures.
- The pricing schedule - per-SMS prices in USD by monthly spend tier for every country you selected, and your contracted price where you have one.
- The signature certificate - the reference (for example
ESMS-SOF-7KQ4-M2XD), the signer's name and email, when the form was created, viewed, confirmed by email code and signed (UTC), the IP address, the approximate location, the device, the fingerprint of the signed content and a QR code. When eSMS Africa countersigns, the countersignature is added to the certificate and a new copy is emailed to you.
Verifying a document
Scan the QR code on the certificate, or open https://sms.esmsafrica.io/verify-document/<reference>.
The page shows only whether the document is genuine, the reference, the signing date and whether it was
countersigned. It never shows the document's contents or personal details.
To check that a PDF has not been changed, drop it on the verification page. Its SHA-256 fingerprint is computed in your browser (the file is not uploaded) and compared with every copy eSMS Africa issued.
Changing your details
A signed form is locked. Any change means signing again:
- Under review - choose Withdraw and edit, make the change, review and sign again.
- Changes requested or not approved - edit the form; it becomes a new revision that you sign again.
- Approved - contact support. Changes are reviewed again.
Earlier signed versions stay on record and still verify, marked as replaced by a newer version.
Security and privacy
- Documents are encrypted at rest (AES-256) and never have a public link. Viewing or downloading uses a link that works for 5 minutes, only for you.
- Photo metadata such as GPS location is removed from images. PDFs are rebuilt without scripts, embedded files or form actions.
- Only our compliance team can open your documents, and every view is recorded in an append-only audit trail.
- The data export in your account includes your onboarding data. If you delete your account, ID images are deleted; the signed contract is kept as a legal record for as long as the law requires.
For developers
GET /api/onboarding/status returns your onboarding status with any credential, including an API key:
{ "status": "approved", "label": "Approved", "approved": true, "reference": "ESMS-SOF-7KQ4-M2XD" }Statuses: not_started, draft, pending (signed, under review), approved, needs_changes, rejected.
Filling in and signing the form is done in the dashboard only.