#53: Konga - How the Ecommerce platform initially grew and eventually reset across Nigeria

Afrobility: Africa Tech & Business

Overview: Today, we discuss Konga, the Nigerian e-commerce company. We’ll explore the Konga story across 5 areas:

1. We'll give some context about the Nigerian e-commerce sector
2. Konga's early history
3. Product & Monetization strategy
4. Konga sale
5. Overall outlook

This episode was recorded on July 3, 2022

Companies discussed: Konga, Jumia, Naspers, Kinnevik, Jiji, OLX, Amazon, Takealot, Yudala & Zinox

Business concepts discussed: Ecommerce, marketplaces, classifieds, fundraising strategy, Blitzscaling risks, market readiness & Africa expansion

Conversation highlights:

• (01:13) - Konga background and why we’re talking about it
• (09:19) - Nigeria background and context
• (14:00) - Nigeria commerce context c. 2012
• (17:00) - Background on Sim Shagaya
• (29:02) - Konga launch strategy and fundraising
• (45:55) - Konga monetization
• (50:51) - Competition with Jumia
• (1:04:35) - Konga’s business lines
• (1:08:10) - Konga’s declining fortunes and sale to Zinox
• (1:27:00) - Lessons for startups from Konga
• (1:39:28) - Bankole’s overall thoughts and outlook
• (1:53:57) - Olumide’s overall thoughts and outlook
• (1:57:34) - Recommendations and small wins

Olumide’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: Eboys - Book about the history of Benchmark
• Recommendation: Different kinds of smart (Morgan housel blog post). Article so good that I subscribed to his entire blog
• Small win: Listening to 20MinVC episode with Fabrice Grinda (OLX founder) the day after I published Afrobility OLX episode
• Interested in investing in Africa Tech with Olumide: Read about Adamantium fund & contact me at [e-mail]
• Founders looking for funding: If you're a B2B founder working on Education, Health, Finance or food, please contact me for funding at [e-mail]

Bankole’s recommendations & small wins:

• Recommendation: Business Breakdowns Podcast - Amazon Aggregators
• Small win: in-person meetings with friends at work
• Other content: Chinese E-Commerce to Surpass 50% of Total Retail Sales | BoF - link

Listeners, Operators & Investors: Email [e-mail], we’d love to partner or get your feedback.

All episodes on Afrobility.com