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Nigeria’s OmniRetail is targeting countries in Francophone Africa

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

B2B e-commerce platform believes the likes of Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal offer better and less volatile growth prospects.

OmniRetail, the Nigerian-based B2B e-commerce platform, has signalled its strategic move into the markets of Francophone Africa by appointing Steve Dakayi as its Country Lead for Côte d’Ivoire.

Cote d’Ivoire is the first French-speaking African nation it is targeting. Others in its Francophone expansion strategy include Cameroon and Senegal.

“Dakayi joins OmniRetail after shutting down BetaStore, a B2B e-commerce startup he founded in 2020. The former BetaStore founder has worked in e-commerce for a decade and was commercial and fulfilment lead for Jumia,” reports TechCabal, the African-focused technology publication.

Photo: OmniRetail

It quotes Amber Yadav, OmniRetail Head, Retail Division as saying: “As a company and philosophy, once you have gotten your foot in properly, you start looking into expansions. “We are looking at new geographies that make more sense in Francophone Africa like Cameroon, Senegal, Cote d Ivoire. That is the reason for our expansion.”

Significant growth in the middle class

Dakayi told TechCabal: “Francophone Africa is very underestimated. “Some of the latest trends we have observed is significant growth in the middle class. This has led to increased purchasing power and new habits in terms of consumption. These are key growth drivers.”

According to Trendtype, the emerging markets consultancy, Francophone markets have proven to be more resilient to inflationary rises during the past two years because of the currency peg to the Euro. Consequently, consumer spend is under less pressure than in markets such as Nigeria and Ghana.

“OmniRetail will also benefit from the exit of Wasoko, which had established operations in Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire before retreating in Q2 2023,” says Trendtype.

The consultancy adds: “OmniRetail is arguably the star performer in online food retail outside South Africa and has garnered recognition as the fastest-growing company in Africa.”

Founded in 2019, OmniRetail focuses on building digital solutions for Africa’s vast informal retail sector.

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