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2025

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Home Blog Page 4599

The Ecommerce Model for Africa Is Here As TradeDepot Raises $110M, Disintermediating Banks

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I have written extensively on my admiration of B2B Ecommerce in Africa. I have also been consistent that I do not like B2C ecommerce business models like the type run by Jumia. Africa’s B2C ecommerce has a marginal cost problem and if you examine the cost, you will realize that there is nothing “electronic” in the model.

That noted, I have made the case that a new generation of ecommerce companies will rise and they are going to be B2B. By Q1 2023, they would have larger market capitalizations than Jumia which is the largest in the continent now.

Today, we are reading that TradeDepot has raised $110 million: “TradeDepot, a Nigeria- and U.S.-based company that connects consumer goods brands to thousands of retailers and helps with distribution, has raised $110 million in new equity and debt funding as it looks to bring in more retail stores and expand its buy now, pay later service across the continent.”

`In this business are Supplias, Omnibiz, Alerzo, and Mintyn. All these firms are just focusing on Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja and have growth ahead. They are yet to get to Ovim, my village in Abia state. It would take time to digitize African retails and I see this to be decades-long!

I am also bullish on the B2B business model that we invested in Africa’s largest downstream digital tech in the oil and gas. TradeGrid is growing in triple digits quarter by quarter. Tekedia Capital members who invested in it are smiling. We also pushed that business model for a new startup that we’re unveiling in January. Again, Tekedia Capital members came really big on it.

Good people, it is about marginal cost. B2B solves that problem at scale. That is why these companies are raising millions of dollars. Pay attention because what these companies are doing will make our banks very irrelevant in the near future: “just as any B2B e-commerce platform offering BNPL services, TradeDepot does not provide these merchants with cash advances. Instead, it sends the products directly to them while they pay in installments. The monthly effective interest rate stands at almost 5%.” Yes, that is 5% monthly and every retailer wants it because there is no paperwork since it is Buy Now Pay Later.

Depending on how you look at it, that is a 60% annual interest on trade financing – and the company has $110m to take more traditional bank customers.

 

The dying declaration of Silvester; the legal implication

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The dying declaration of Silvester; the legal implications.

A dying declaration is a statement made by a person who is unavailable to testify in court  typically because of the declarant’s death, who made the statement under a belief of certain or impending death. It is the last statement; oral or written made by a person in his or her dying bed before he dies.

Whatever a person says in his or her dying bed which is referred to as a dying declaration is presumed to be true and regarded as a credible piece of evidence. Therefore, the purported statement made by Junior in his dying bed about being beaten, harassed and bullied by his colleagues and them forcing him to drink poisonous chemicals which eventually led to his death will be presumed to be true and credible. 

The statement will be held to be credible piece evidence useful for the prosecution’s case and useful to the court while passing their judgements in this case. 

This evidence (dying declaration) is held to be so strong at law that it requires no corroboration to lead to conviction. So, the dying declaration of Silvester that he was beaten and poisoned by his colleagues needs not be corroborated by any other piece of evidence for there to be conviction as the conviction of the accused can be based on the dying declaration alone. 

CloudTrucks, A Tech-based Trucking company, Raises $115m in Series B Round

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CloudTrucks, a tech-driven trucking company based in the US, announced that it has raised $115 million in a Series B funding round led by Tiger Global to facilitate intelligence-based trucking services. Other participants in the round include Menlo Ventures, Flexport and angel investors Michael Ovitz and Opendoor CEO Eric Wu.

Founded 2019 by Tobenna Arodiogbu, George Ezenna and Jin Shieh, the company has witnessed record-setting growth for a two-year old startup. CloudTrucks raised $20.5 million in a Series A funding round last year, bringing the total capital raised to $141.6 million.

CloudTrucks uses technology to streamline administrative bottlenecks—making it easier for drivers to run their business and produce more revenue, especially in the United States, one of the largest trucking markets in the world.

In the U.S., trucking is responsible for most of the overland freight movement, with the market being worth 791.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. At that time, there were over 947,000 truck drivers employed in the U.S., which is less than the industry requires. Currently, the market is grappling with driver-shortage amidst government’s struggle to accelerate both domestic and international supply chain.

CloudTrucks says the new funding will enable it to expand existing services, create new ones and help small trucking businesses and entrepreneurs streamline administrative bottlenecks and keep more revenue. Areas of priority includes expanding its technology to meet the needs of more drivers, grow its existing team, and broaden its digital integration with brokers and shippers.

CEO Tobenna Arodiogbu, says the idea is to change the status quo in the trucking industry with modern techniques that will benefit owner-opeartors. He says the trucking industry has been rapidly changing and getting much more complex, while the owner-operators, the lifeblood of the trucking industry, were being left behind. So the company wanted to change this by building something from the ground up to ensure that owner-operators — and really all trucking entrepreneurs — have the tools to succeed and thrive in the industry.

“Nearly every sector of the economy relies on drivers to transport its goods and we are eager to use this latest round of funding to continue optimizing the trucking business—especially as our country needs new truck drivers more than ever,” he says. “We’ve seen the number of loads completed on our platform grow 8x since last year, and we recognize the importance of providing a complete business-in-a-box solution for drivers to make the most of every run.”

CloudTrucks’ determination to solve the challenges in the trucking industry is seen in the number of new products it has launched recently. Over the past year, CloudTrucks has launched these three new products: CT Cash, Flex, and Business Intelligence. CT Cash is designed for drivers who are looking to get paid faster and alleviate cash-flow constraints, providing instant pay and cash card options in addition to receiving cash advances.

Similar to Virtual Carrier, CloudTrucks’ existing product for independent owner-operators, the new Flex product line is designed exclusively for small trucking businesses and those drivers who are not looking to drive under CloudTrucks’ authority. In addition, CloudTrucks’ Business Intelligence dashboard provides a comprehensive breakdown of a driver’s performance, personal expenses and revenue for drivers to better determine how they can yield the most profit.

“CloudTrucks has always seen the trucking industry as the backbone of America and has made it its mission to create world-class tools and services that empower truck drivers to make a greater profit with fewer headaches,” said John Curtius, Partner, Tiger Global Management. “We’re excited to see the company continue to transform some of the industry’s broken practices like antiquated payment services and processes.”

Great Testimonials On Tekedia Mini-MBA Edition 6

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Testimonials are coming for the just concluded Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA edition 6. They have been superb. Thank you DR HENRIETTA OJURI for joining us.

Registration for the next edition which begins Feb 7 2022 continues here.

Tekedia Institute offers Tekedia Mini-MBA, an innovation management 12-week program, optimized for business execution and growth, with digital operational overlay. It runs 100% online. The theme is Innovation, Growth & Digital Execution – Techniques for Building Category-King Companies. All contents are self-paced, recorded and archived which means participants do not have to be at any scheduled time to consume contents. Besides, programs are designed for ALL sectors, from fintech to construction, healthcare to manufacturing, agriculture to real estate, etc.

 

 

 

Thank You Abia State for Considering Me for an Award – Ndubuisi Ekekwe

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Thank you the Good People of Abia State (Nigeria) for considering me for one of the state’s awards. I received your letter today with joy through the Abia Diaspora Commission, led by Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Ogbonna-Erondu, with a really good citation: “a  good Ambassador of Abia state.”

Abians, we have a higher call to do more. We are great people and we have to work harder to transform Abia state. That is how the greatest awards will come: abundance, opportunities and shared prosperity in God’s Own State.

To All ABIANS, thank you. I accept the award and expect to receive it on Dec 30th 2021 as communicated.