The Co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Konga Group, Nick Imudia, has disclosed that the financial result of the e-commerce company shows Konga is edging closer to becoming the most profitable e-commerce business in Africa.
E-Commerce companies in Nigeria (and Africa at large) have generally struggled overtime to make profit. Not only does the online retail sector have a high-entry barrier, cost of sale is usually high; thereby making profitability nearly impossible. This challenge has led to companies such as Efritin shutting down operation.
When Konga is expected to become profitable: According to Imudia, there’s no reason why Konga will not beat the hurdle by 2021 and attain the number one e-commerce company in Africa. This will be achieved, despite the presence of strong competitors like Jumia.
Recall that Jumia is preparing to raise fund through initial public offering (IPO) on the United States New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Mr Imudia’s confident about Konga being the first profitable e-commerce venture is linked to the company’s strides within the last twelve months. He said the recent financial result has shown that Konga will keep the promise it made to the stakeholders. Adding that the growth of the company earned Konga a rating from Early Metrics.
“There is no reason why Konga cannot emerge as the first profitable e-Commerce company in Africa. We are determined to set this record in the e-Commerce world.
“Over the past 18 months since the business was acquired by the Zinox Group, there has been a huge transformation which has repositioned Konga as one of the most viable ventures not just in Africa but globally, as justified by our elevated rating by Early Metrics.”
He said the achievement will change the outlook of the e-commerce sector for good.
Imudia addresses Konga’s expansion drive
On the company’s expansion plan, Imudia said a lot is being put in place to ensure Konga’s expansion drive hit no bumps. He said the company is stabilising the operation in Nigeria before Konga makes move for neighbouring countries.
“We understand this market more than any competitor and have been investing creatively nationwide to resolve issues like warehousing, delivery logistics and payment headaches including working with Microsoft in the past five months to deploy the most robust technology platform that will manage our aggressive expansion.
“We are almost there and few weeks from now, the nation will start feeling the power of Konga before we start rolling out to other English-speaking West African countries.”
Why Konga is not raising fund like Jumia
Konga is not going the way of its rival, Jumia. Imudia said Konga‘s management has enough resources to drive the company’s ambitions. Therefore, the company doesn’t need investors’ funding for now.
He said making the company profitable first is the priority before the company then begin to consider accepting investment, as Imudia disclosed that a number of investors have already shown interest in Konga.
“As you know our investors are people who take commercial decisions and are not into losing money as a lifestyle. The management of Konga has enough resources to drive the company’s ambitions of becoming number one in Africa.
“As a result, it is not looking to rush to take investor funds, even though we have received quite a number of very good offers from potential investors in the past few months.
“We want to make it profitable first and then invite value-adding investors, not just cash investors. I am sure you know the capacity of our investor, they are experienced, successful and have combined local knowledge and international network of over 35 years.”
According to Imudia, Konga has grown more than 750 per cent since acquisition by Zinox Technologies.
Where are the numbers? What are the numbers? Year in and year out, we keep hearing how mr eke’s businesses is the largest this and that but we never see any numbers.
Please, show us the facts and figures.
I’m in support of this…numbers don’t lie.
The quotes come across as a very beautiful PR stunt. Who rejects cash investors anyways?