There are more than 10 million informal shops in African cities. These are known as Spaza Shops in South Africa, Dukas in Tanzania, Tuck Shops in Zimbabwe, and Kiosks in Kenya. These shops sell over $180 billion worth of goods every year. These informal shops form a critical part of the economy, which is why Sokowatch , a B2B e-commerce startup wants to help them revamp their supply chain by unlocking efficiencies and reducing stock outages. By solving the logistical challenges for shop operators in this market, Sokowatch helps drive down the cost of basic goods for the consumers. Sokowatch enables informal retailers to order products at any time via SMS or mobile app and receive free same-day delivery to their store. This makes it easier for shopkeepers to source goods and helps manufacturers ensure that their products are consistently available to consumers. Sokowatch has been using 178 fossil fuel-powered tuk-tuks and has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda, where its operations have enabled them to generate a lot of data. Leveraging this historic purchasing data, Sokowatch evaluates retailers to provide them with access to credit and other financial services typically not available to informal businesses. According to […]
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