(A column highlighting scientific, technological, engineering, and design innovation in Africa)
Nigerian serial entrepreneur Sim Shagaya, CEO, founded Konga Online Shopping Ltd. in July 2012 as a one-stop online retail company and marketplace. He aims to make Konga “a powerful force for the economic growth of Africa,” he says.
The former head of Google Africa, Shagaya is also the founder and executive chairman of DealDey Ltd., Nigeria’s biggest daily deals site, offering discounted prices on products and services.
Today, Konga is Nigeria’s largest online mall, with revenue growing 450 percent from 2013 to 2014 on sales in a host of product categories, including phones, tablets, computers and related accessories; electronics; home; fashion; beauty, health and personal care; baby, kids and toys; sports and fitness; books and stationery; games, music, movies; and automotive and industrial.
“Yakata” (Nigeria’s equivalent of Black Friday in the United States) sales brought in more than $3.5 million, up 1,440 percent from 2013. The company has raised about $100 million in investment financing since its launch, including more than $40 million in in its latest financing round in October 2014. It plans to expand throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, beginning in 2015.
“American retail pioneer Sears grew because it empowered rural Americans. We cannot simply target urban Africans and wealthy Africans and claim we have succeed,” Shagaya is quoted as saying by the local press.
In 2014, Konga launched an online marketplace for small and medium-sized retailers via its SellerHQ marketplace. To date, more than 10,000 traders have registered on the site, selling their products to customers via the Konga platform. Konga has its own logistics company, KExpress, set up in 2014 after third-party couriers proved unable to handle the volume of Konga’s daily orders.
Educated in the United States, Shagaya holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University, a master’s in engineering management from Dartmouth College, and a master’s in business administration from Harvard University.
