Logistics and delivery time have led to sudden death of many e-commerce State —Adeshina Adewumi, Co-founder One Kiosk

What inspired you to start your e-commerce business?

One Kiosk was launched out to address three main issues. Firstly is the challenges facing E-commerce business models from high cost of logistics and poor turnaround time for delivery which has led to the sudden death of many e-commerce businesses. Secondly is the nonexistence of sound distribution network for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa which is one of the major causes of why most small businesses close up and lastly is the unemployment challenges in Africa.

From observation and playing a bit within this ecosystem, we decided to build a new model that connects customers with merchants using GPS and AI technology. Secondly provide a secure, credible and cost-effective platform for MSMEs to distribute their offerings to a wider pool of customers within their neighbourhood or area of presence with ease and lastly create employment opportunities within the value chain of the first and second solution mentioned already.

The untapped potential for the e-commerce space inspired me to start something that questions the status quo, especially when it has great potential to create one million jobs within five years and already projected that by year 2025 would account for 10 per cent of African countries Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

What was your initial start-up capital, how where you able to raise it and how would you say your business has grown since starting?

From experience, we have always loved to start lean. So we basically bootstrapped our way through with our savings until Sterling Bank discovered us through the Pitch Nigeria programme and committed about $3,000 for us. We have also since then attracted several local and international investors but we want to grow our solution further before we start utilizing external investor’s  funds.

What is the number of employees you have currently?

The One Kiosk team has six people and coincidentally we currently do not have a female on the team. I think we need to balance the equation soon.

Where do you currently source the products you display on the One Kiosk Africa platform?

One Kiosk Africa is different from other e-commerce platforms, with over 15,000 already subscribed users and merchants, we simply match customers to stores near their location to fulfill their needs (groceries, gadgets and lots more).

When was your business established?

One Kiosk was birthed in October 2018 and project commenced immediately, although we only got registered in January 2019.

How would you evaluate Nigeria’s e-commerce industry?

The e-commerce industry gave birth to most of the innovations we have now in Nigeria, especially around payments (Fintechs). Jumia and Konga set the pace but their model were or are rather too expensive to sustain over time. The e-commerce industry right now estimated around $16 billion with a projection that by 2025 Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya would be leading a market worth over $75 billion.

It  has been quite challenging for e-commerce businesses in the country with some of them closing shop what do you intend to do differently to remain in business?

The ecommerce business in Nigeria has been challenging due to the copy and paste models we have tried in time past. As previously stated, we are doing what startups do… Disrupt! Our model addresses most of the concerns that has killed e-commerce stores in time past among which include poor turnaround time for delivery (what is the use if I cannot get it timely) we deliver in 59 minutes, high cost of logistics due to long distance and processes, we only connect you to the nearest merchant closest to you within a one to two kil radius, so no high associated logistics cost. On the part of poor management, we would continue to grow and build capacity to scale quickly and grow as the market moves in technology and delivery.

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Our research and publications have shown that over 65 per cent of internet users shop online with 24 per cent likely to do so in the future. In Africa, Nigeria accounts for 89 per cent of internet users that are potential online shoppers followed by South Africa with 70 per cent and Kenya with 60 per cent. The recent survey conducted by Ventures Africa shows that out of every 500 adults involved in the survey, 53 per cent of those who have shopped online indicated that faster delivery of goods would encourage them to shop more often online. 40 per cent indicated that safer ways to pay was a key driver while 31 per cent indicated lower product costs as a driver to do more shopping online.

What are some of your expansion plans?

In the next 12 months, we look forward to be serving at least half a million customers and communities through the One Kiosk Africa platform. For our merchants, we intend to have introduced workable offerings to increase their capacity to efficiently take charge of the delivery systems either by absorbing our One Pro-delivery members or building their own system. In five years, that’s by 2024, we expect to have grown to over 3.5 million users in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Egypt and created over one million direct and indirect jobs through our platform value chain.

What are the major challenges you have faced since starting your business?

Infrastructural gaps and getting our technical team together was a huge challenge but with freelancing platforms like Proville.net, we were able to achieve more.

How do you think the government can address some of these challenges?

Andela and platforms like Proville are already addressing the technical skill gap required so the government should encourage them to do more. On the other hand, there is need to start implementing all the talks in terms of infrastructure and the right policies to support startups in Nigeria. This would go a long way to attract foreign investors for our local businesses and startups.

Have you won any award or source for any international grants?

Not yet, but I must reiterate that the One Kiosk brand is already global with various shortlisting already in the pipeline; we have also been privileged to attract a huge pool of potential international investors within a short time. By Q3 2019, those grants are expected to start coming for us to expand our operations and market penetration.

What is your advice for other entrepreneurs?

Consistency and Patience! We live in a world where everyone wants to shine without paying the price required to shine. Consistency always pays off at the end of the day and patience is a rare virtue.