‘Konga Has Grown Tremendously Since Its Acquisition’
The Co-chief executive officer of Konga, Nnamdi Ekeh, has said the e-commerce firm has made significant strides and has been positioned as an industry leader.
Ekeh, said this during an interview with CNN’s Marketplace Africa on the sidelines of the first Creative Africa Exchange, held in Kigali, Rwanda, recently,
The Konga CEO was one of the speakers at the event.
He disclosed that Konga’s omni-channel structure, which sees it taking a percentage of the retail outlay in the online (formal) and offline (informal sector), which enables it retain inventory in diverse states and locations in Nigeria, were factors that placed the company at the forefront.
According to him, ‘‘Konga is best positioned as the leader in the Nigerian e-commerce market. We are not just an e-commerce company but we run an omni-channel model with over 30 physical stores spread across Nigeria. So, we are closest to the people.
“Also, we are seeing huge growth in the business and in our customer base. Between last year and this year, the business grew by almost eight times.’’
Speaking about transparency and integrity in business, Ekeh said: ‘‘The key is growing your revenue while being able to manage your costs. That is the only way for sustainable growth. In the last year, we have been able to grow revenue by eight times but we have also been able to reduce our costs by 65 per cent.”
Sharing his thoughts on how Konga is creatively resolving the challenge of logistics, which has hobbled other players in the market, Ekeh, noted that the company had relied on its deep understanding of the Nigerian terrain – a factor which he emphasised has distinguished Konga in the marketplace.
According to him, ‘‘The starting point for us was identifying the problem. There is a huge problem in Nigeria where the informal market is so huge, so massive; in fact, almost 98 per cent of the market. This means that people don’t have access to quality products; they don’t have access to quality after-sales services.”