UAfrica.com expands into Africa with MTN
UAfrica.com, a South African e-commerce technology company, has launched the first phase of its expansion plan into the rest of Africa through a partnership with mobile operator, MTN.
UAfrica.com recently raised $1.5 million (R15.5 million) from bidorbuy.com, and its MD, Andy Higgins.
The group provides multi-channel cloud based e-commerce services to SMEs across Africa and has been operating in the e-commerce space since 2004.
Andy Higgins, founder and former MD of bidorbuy.co.za, joined the team in 2012, following which, the company rebranded as uAfrica.com in order to facilitate a broader focus on all aspects of e-commerce.
The first phase targets Nigeria with a trial Proof of Concept (POC) partnership with MTN Business customers who will be able to develop their own online shops through uAfrica.com.
Phase two will see uAfrica.com launch its services in Kenya and later on in Uganda with key business partners established in both these regions.
“UAfrica.com’s goal is to enable 1,000 online stores outside of South Africa in the next 12 months,” said Higgins.
“We have also identified Nigeria as one of our biggest markets in Africa and predict that in time they will outgrow South Africa and become our biggest market in Africa, so we’re thrilled to have launched our pilot project to such an enthusiastic response with our Nigerian partners.” Higgins said.
UAfrica.com said it will target SMEs, specifically, to support local entrepreneurial merchant start-ups within the market.
Initially uAfrica.com will offer basic online storefront services followed by additional services around payments, logistics and marketing support and will later launch a multi-channelled selling solution to these customers.
An important element of uAfrica.com’s basic product offering is the ability to trade via their mobile devices as research shows that many potential first-time e-commerce customers will use their devices to first engage in the online retail environments.
In May, uAfrica.com partnered with Shopify to provide its services to the South African market.
Shopify is an e-commerce platform that enables individuals and businesses to create online stores.
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