One of Nigeria’s core problems is that we have many “companies”. Of course, the smarter people in the developmental organizations flip everything as signs of vitality and economic progress, and governments push them as evidence of great policies generating the dividends of democracy. Unfortunately, for this village guy from Ovim whose finest leadership moment remains being elected the inaugural President of his village age grade (Uke Udo, the Peace Age Grade), it is an illusion: our weakest link is that we have many companies in Nigeria.

According to SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria), about 59 million Nigerians are currently employed by 41 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSEMEs).

No matter how you look at it, it is not a healthy ecosystem. Simply, these companies are not growing or expanding. Until we can reduce the paralysis for most to move from micro, small, and medium to large, we will continue to struggle with paucity of good jobs, development paralysis and stasis on the advancement of human welfare. 

Yes, it is like farming where we produce mass hunger with 65% of our working population when the U.S. uses less than 2% to feed itself, and enough to export to the world.

Nigeria needs to find a way to avoid celebrating what should not be celebrated. We need to get annoyed with them. Yes, unless we see them as problems, we will think those things are actually “progress”.  No way, Nigeria does not need everyone to be a business owner!

Of course, I recommend that SMEs register with SMEDAN as even the many we have, we need to know about them.

“On that, we were able to register MSMEs with the SMEDAN unique identification number. The registration is seamless that you can just go into the website www.smedanregister.com and you will be able to register, get your unique identification number and print your certificate. That has been a very good effort and up-till-date we were able to register over three million MSMEs that have full details of their location, the kind of products and services that they provide and their contacts,” Director-General, Dr Dikko Radda said, at the 27th regular valedictory meeting of the governing board of the agency, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

There needs to be a plan to make sure that some of these SMEs transition into big companies.

On a clearly marked paid Konga statement which was posted on Nairametrics, I picked a line which revealed that Forbes estimates Konga to be worth $2 billion: ‘’‘While the brand eyes its listing on the stock market to fulfill its potential in the marketplace, there are reports that it boasts over $2 billion valuation…” Yet, Konga did not clearly confirm that number in the same piece. 

Read the press release below….

Konga, Nigeria’s leading omnichannel e-commerce group has been identified as a strong player on the verge of dominating the African e-commerce scene.

Forbes, a globally renowned media company, focusing on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle, revealed this in a special feature published in its Forbes Africa edition late last week.

In addition to hailing the remarkable growth trajectory that has seen Konga become the first African e-commerce player to hit profitability, Forbes equally referenced the various thriving subsidiaries that have transformed the Konga Group into a formidable, flourishing e-commerce ecosystem, while also highlighting the pivotal role of KongaPay, a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licensed fintech platform as a leader in the Nigerian e-wallet space.

Following its 2018 acquisition by the Zinox Group and the tremendous growth it has recorded, Konga, Forbes noted, would potentially attract over a $2bn valuation when it eventually decides to go public, as widely envisaged.

‘‘While the brand eyes its listing on the stock market to fulfil its potential in the marketplace, there are reports that it boasts over $2 billion valuation, thanks to its new acquisition by Zinox.

‘‘Konga has continued to show promise in the online marketplace. After its acquisition, a review of the company’s performance shows the brand experienced over 800% growth. This surpasses expectations in e-commerce sectors across the continent. The new phase of Konga, driven by young, ambitious and innovative individuals, has seen it rake over $3oom in investments, according to reports.’

‘‘Efficient management of these investments has driven the brand to succeed in the e-commerce space, placing the brand on a profitable footing. The transformation has seen the brand recording significant progress in its online and offline transactions. Data shows that Konga fulfilled to the last mile 85% of all orders placed on its online and offline platform. The brand has also navigated and found a lasting solution to issues with logistics, one of the great hindering factors with e-commerce in Africa,’’ the article read in part.

In a chat with Co-CEO, Konga Group, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh who is rounding off his MBA studies at Oxford, Forbes also beamed its focus on the future of e-commerce in Africa, with Prince Ekeh who heaped praises on his Co-CEO, Nick Imudia and the entire Management and staff of the Konga Group for their resilience and dedication, revealing that the future remains bright.

‘‘E-commerce in Africa is set to take off to unprecedented heights in the next decade and players who are well-positioned will reap the fruits. Like I mentioned before, we have already seen triple-digit annual growth numbers and yet there is still so much market share left to capture as we transition people into the e-commerce era.

‘‘I also believe blockchain and decentralized finance will play a great role in improving financial inclusion in the continent which will give people more access to digital services like e-commerce. As economists, we were trained to look at indicators and so far, most critical indicators trend positively: Population, youth population, mobile penetration growth rates, connectivity growth rates. If these indicators continue to improve, I have no doubt that Africa will house one of the biggest e-commerce players in the world, and my job is to make that Konga,’’ Prince Ekeh disclosed.

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