Disrupt Africa has released a four-part podcast series on the African e-commerce and retail-tech space – how it works, what its dynamics are, and what is happening in the sector.
Co-hosted by Gabriella Mulligan and Tom Jackson, Disrupt Podcast helps keep listeners in the loop on all that’s going on in the African tech startup ecosystem. Following on from the success of its first “podumentary” series, “The essential guide to African VC”, earlier this year, Disrupt Africa has now released another, “A digital future for retail”, on the e-commerce space on the continent.
Produced in partnership with Omnibiz and MarketForce, and featuring special guests from those companies, the series really digs into African e-commerce – where it has come from, where it is now, and where it is going.
Episode one – which is available now – looks at the challenges and opportunities presented by the e-commerce and retail-tech space in Africa. The three subsequent episodes, to be released each week, discuss how there has been a move away from efforts to achieve a consumer-facing Amazon for Africa, with entrepreneurs instead favouring B2B e-commerce; address the funding landscape; and look to the future, with partners sharing their predictions.
“Thanks to headliners like Jumia, Konga, and Takealot, the African e-commerce space has never been far from the limelight, but the sector has had its shares of ups and downs over the years, and business models have changed dramatically. This podcast series digs into all of this – the trials and the tribulations, the challenges and the opportunities, and we thank our partners – and interviewees – for making it happen,” said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.
“We are excited to partner with Disrupt Africa on the first African retail-focused podumentary. The overall African retail-tech ecosystem has seen immense evolution over the last decade. The inspiring and innovative challenges we are solving and the support the ecosystem is receiving is worth all the attention. We are positive that the outcome of this partnership will be rewarding for all stakeholders,” said Deepankar Rustagi, Omnibiz founder and CEO.
Tesh Mbaabu, MarketForce’s co-founder and CEO, said his company was “delighted” to partner with Disrupt Africa on this deep-dive into the African retail-tech space, “a space we are very passionate about”.
“We look forward to sharing our experience as operators in the African e-commerce scene, and hope that the lessons we have gathered so far will provide useful insights to anyone looking to get involved in the space,” he said.
About Disrupt Africa
Disrupt Africa is the one-stop-shop for all news, information and commentary pertaining to the continent’s tech startup – and investment – ecosystem. With journalists roaming the continent to find, meet, and interview the most innovative and disruptive tech startups, Disrupt Africa is a true showcase of Africa’s most promising businesses and business ideas. Its research arm releases in-depth reports on various aspects of the African tech startup ecosystem, and Disrupt Podcast is one of the leading Africa-focused business podcasts on the continent.
About Omnibiz
Omnibiz is a tech-first B2B E-commerce company focused on transforming traditional retail in Africa. Through a deep understanding of our customer owing to our extensive experience in FMCG retail and platform tech for SMBs in Nigeria, we have been able to create a decentralised approach to digitize retail. By activating networks of logistics and warehousing partners on our platform, we take the retailers’ business to the next level, quadrupling their revenues in six months. We currently are in key cities in Nigeria and are scaling in other geographies with similar challenges. For more information, visit www.omnibiz.com.
About MarketForce
MarketForce is a US and Kenya-based technology company, building the operating system for retail distribution in Africa. MarketForce provides an all-inclusive B2B Commerce and Fintech platform (dubbed “RejaReja” – Swahili for ‘retail’) that empowers neighbourhood merchants in Africa to source, order and pay for inventory digitally and conveniently, access financing, collect digital payments and make extra money by reselling digital financial services such as airtime, electricity tokens and bill payments. Launched in 2018, MarketForce is a fast-growing YC-backed company currently operational in 5 markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 200,000 merchants and 100 consumer brands trading on the platform.
Disrupt Podcast
