Kenya- Nigeria e-commerce firms ink deal to grow business

Africa Sokoni signs a partnership with Bolorims.com from Nigeria an e-commerce platform as they celebrate their second anniversary. This partnership is an expansion strategy considering the unprecedented growth of SMEs and the urge to reach a wider customer base through online stores.

 A joint report by the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics established that about 27% of Kenyans sold their products online. The report also found that, for most enterprises, 32.1%, the main deterrent to online selling and buying was the fact that their products were not suited for sale via the Internet.

We shall vigorously pursue our customer-centric philosophy by making the customer the centre of everything we do, be obsessed about addressing their every need and concern, leverage on innovation for and on their behalf as we consolidate the growth witnessed in the B2C segment, we will expand the B2B segment, said Ebrima Fatty- Africa Sokoni’s CEO.

In Kenya, e-commerce is estimated to be worth more than Kshs 70- 120 billion in the short term and Kshs 400 billion in the long-term, thus presenting lucrative business opportunities. Furthermore, e-commerce will be a catalyst to the achievement of the Big Four Agenda, in which manufacturing is a key pillar.

 ‘’Bolorims was eager to invest in the e-commerce market in Kenya to build a cohesive partnership between Nigeria and East Africa. We have acquired a 10% stake of Africa Sokoni but we will be trading in WestAfrica as Bolosokoni.com, said Michael Tokunbo Orimobil CEO Bolorims.com.’’

E-Commerce will enable SMEs lower costs, stay competitive and at the same time, go global by harnessing the power of the Internet and scale he added.

Investing an e-commerce software platform is important for all businesses including mama mboga, because consumers use all channels at their disposal when researching, selecting and buying a product. In-store browsers can become online shoppers and vice versa.

There are a lot of people who may ‘prefer’ to shop in-store but ‘choose’ to shop online because it’s the most convenient option.