Overview: Today, we discuss Konga, the Nigerian e-commerce company. We’ll explore the Konga story across 5 areas:
- We'll give some context about the Nigerian e-commerce sector
- Konga's early history
- Product & Monetization strategy
- Konga sale
- Overall outlook
This episode was recorded on July 3, 2022
Companies discussed: Konga, Jumia, Naspers, Kinnevik, Jiji, OLX, Amazon, Takealot, Yudala & Zinox
Business concepts discussed: Ecommerce, marketplaces, classifieds, fundraising strategy, Blitzscaling risks, market readiness & Africa expansion
Conversation highlights:
- (01:13) - Konga background and why we’re talking about it
- (09:19) - Nigeria background and context
- (14:00) - Nigeria commerce context c. 2012
- (17:00) - Background on Sim Shagaya
- (29:02) - Konga launch strategy and fundraising
- (45:55) - Konga monetization
- (50:51) - Competition with Jumia
- (1:04:35) - Konga’s business lines
- (1:08:10) - Konga’s declining fortunes and sale to Zinox
- (1:27:00) - Lessons for startups from Konga
- (1:39:28) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:53:57) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
- (1:57:34) - Recommendations and small wins
Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:
- Recommendation: Eboys - Book about the history of Benchmark
- Recommendation: Different kinds of smart (Morgan housel blog post). Article so good that I subscribed to his entire blog
- Small win: Listening to 20MinVC episode with Fabrice Grinda (OLX founder) the day after I published Afrobility OLX episode
- Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at olumide@afrobility.com
- Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at olumide@afrobility.com
Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:
- Recommendation: Business Breakdowns Podcast - Amazon Aggregators
- Small win: in-person meetings with friends at work
- Other content: Chinese E-Commerce to Surpass 50% of Total Retail Sales | BoF - link
Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email info@afrobility.com, we’d love to partner or get your feedback.
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