The Chief Executive Officer of Konga, Nnamdi Ekeh, has disclosed that the e-Commerce company has taken an unusual path by offering its merchants, loans and credit facility. Ekeh said Konga was committing significant funds by partnering with Simple-Fi.
The online marketplace said the financial provision is in line with its effort to support its merchants. Konga is one of the two top e-commerce platforms in Nigeria. The company competes with Jumia but none of them is profitable yet.
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The essence of the credit facility: Speaking about the credit facility, Ekeh said Konga wanted to assist the merchants to increase their product offerings to customers despite being the biggest marketplace after it merged with Yudala. The move came at a period Konga held its annual shopping event in Nigeria, Konga Yakata.
Merchants will have access to a soft loan that will enable them to store more consumer-driven goods. Accessibility to credit facilities has been an issue in Nigeria. Banks have often favoured the oil and gas sector and recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria directed banks to increase their loan provision to the real sector.
Ekeh said the partnership with Simple-Fi would allow merchants to secure loan at a very low and convenient interest rates of 2.08%. This is lower than what some banks offer. Reacting to the credit support initiative, Ekeh stated, “Konga Yakata is around the corner and our intention is to make it the best ever in the history of the company for our customers. For all of us at Konga, nothing comes in the way of ensuring our customers are satisfied.
“This is why we have taken the uncommon step of providing credit facilities to merchants on the Konga platform in preparation for Konga Yakata 2019. We understand that our customers will be looking forward to the widest assortment of genuine products across multiple categories on Konga.
“This is why we are committing significant funds into expanding the carrying capacity of our merchants for the sales fiesta. No other sales event comes close to Konga Yakata. Therefore, it is only fitting that Management has decided to go all out and make it a memorable one for our teeming customers,”
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He added that, “We have partnered with Simple-Fi to make these loans available at very low and convenient interest rates of 2.08% only. Merchants on the Konga platform can also take advantage of flexible repayment plans.”