The major investors of Nigeria’s ecommerce powerhouse has revealed that the company is on its way to profitability. Commenting on Konga’s outlook, Kinnevik AB which holds a 34% stake valued at about $15 million as at September 30, 2016, revealed that it has already committed to double digit multi-million dollar investment in the e-commerce platform this year.
In its interim report for the first 3 quarters of the year 2016, Kinnevik said Konga’s active customers per end of August increased by 5% compared to last year, due to Konga’s focus on operational efficiency. said Konga is progressing well on its path to profitability and reached break-even before overhead costs for the first time in September 2016.
Shola Adekoya, Konga’s CEO, had already revealed that Konga was getting multi-million dollars investment from Nasper and Kinnevik at the beginning of the year 2017.
Adekoya said, “We kicked off 2017 with a multi-million dollar investment from Naspers and Kinnevik, and it gave me pause to reflect on the progress of both Konga, and the wider ecommerce industry in Nigeria. With 38 percent of Nigerians now connected to the internet – a figure that’s on the rise fueled by a growing middle class – our ecommerce industry clearly has potential.”
“Reaping these online rewards isn’t straightforward. To encourage Nigerians to make more online transactions the ecommerce industry must find innovative solutions to the table stakes of online sales, such as fast and easy payments and refunds, and trouble-free deliveries and returns.
“Perhaps it’s the passion and commitment involved in bringing Nigeria’s strong trading culture online that makes our country an attractive proposition for investors”.
