Women check their messages on WeChat in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Users can book taxis, buy bonds, shop, order food and almost anything else and pay for all these things by linking the WeChat account to a bank account. [Photo by Liu Mei / For China Daily]

In Africa, Tencent has teamed up with Naspers, the continent's largest media company, to introduce WeChat, and it is estimated to have about 6 million registered users in South Africa already, the Financial Times reported recently.

WeChat is also widely used by university students learning Chinese and business people developing ties with their Chinese partners.

For Albadawe Abdalla, dean of the Chinese department at the University of Khartoum in Sudan, WeChat has almost become a must in his daily work and life. Like many companies or organizations in China, Albadawe helped set up a discussion group on WeChat, and invited all teachers in his department and some Sudanese students to join.

"Whenever we need to make an announcement, we just deliver it through WeChat, and whenever we are planning an event, we, again, discuss it on WeChat," says the 34-year-old.

Albadawe cited a recent example of how WeChat helped him spread news.

"We just made an announcement about registration for the upcoming Chinese Bridge competition," says Albadawe, referring to the annual Chinese proficiency contest for non-native Chinese speakers.

"I am pretty sure this announcement can well find those who would like to participate in the contest," he says.

The professor keeps all China-related contacts on his WeChat account, saying that he gets a response almost immediately after sending a message to his Chinese friends.

The dean also encourages his Sudanese students to use WeChat for typing Chinese characters, downloading reading material and communicating with Chinese friends and teachers.

Mohamed Abdel Fatah Al Tahir, a fourth-year student in Albadawe's department, goes beyond improving his Chinese.