Moulaye Taboure
The E-commerce platform, Afrikrea, has introduced an all-in-one SaaS solution to provide seamless e-commerce, payments and global shipping online service for traders.
The platform, ANKA which means “Ours” in Bambara and Djoula aims to serve thousands of micro retailers and businesses on the continent and around the world, as it continues to power e-commerce for Africa.
ANKA, the first global e-commerce aggregator of services for African micro retailers, reduces the friction of the global sales process for the over 7,000 sellers on the Afrikrea platform, as well as open new routes to market for sellers.
Merchants who use ANKA will be able to sell via a customized online storefront (like Shopify), social media platforms or by links such as on Gumroad and also the Afrikrea marketplace among others.
This is carried out via an omnichannel dashboard with a single inventory, orders and messages management.
Moulaye Taboure, Co-Founder and CEO of Afrikrea, said entrepreneurs currently lose time and energy managing multiple channels of sales, and also lose money through the intermediaries needed to ship their orders or get access to their funds.
“ANKA enables them to sell anywhere as well as get paid – seamlessly, from one place,” he said.
Using ANKA, the largest e-commerce exporter service, vendors can search for competitive shipping rates; this is not limited to sales on the Afrikrea platform.
Thus, drop shippers looking to create jobs, produce goods and ship from the continent will also have the opportunity to manage their flow of business and get paid globally using the platform.
Taboure said, “In much the same way that international technology companies like Shopify and Alibaba have been central to inspiring and powering a new wave of global online retailers, and have created wealth for thousands of entrepreneurs via access to amazing e-commerce software, we plan to achieve much the same, but for the growing and dynamic African market.
By handling a safe and seamless process for our vendors – sales, payments, shipping – we expect to grow with them and power commerce for thousands more online marketplaces and sellers who have a passion for Africa”.
ANKA costs EUR10 (approximately $12) a month and the platform will also connect with MPesa, Orange
and MTN, so customers looking to pay merchants can do so via mobile money, mobile banking, PayPal and a host of international payment cards.
Merchants will also be able to transfer the funds from their wallets in any method of their choice, including their dedicated physical VISA card.
From there, they can instantly pay or withdraw funds at an ATM as and when they prefer.
Founded in 2016, Afrikrea as a marketplace for selling and buying African-inspired clothing, accessories, arts and crafts has increased its transactions to over $15 million in 170 countries worldwide, with sellers from 47 out of 54 African countries.
The platform currently records over 500,000 visits a month with the majority of customers located in Europe and North America.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri