Entrepreneur watch, Feature Articles, ICT, Kenya | BY
Kate Douglas |
September 4, 2012 at 17:42
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Ella Peinovich is a MIT graduate and one of the three
founders of
Kenyan-based SasaAfrica, a women owned and operated
social enterprise, which
offers an innovative e-commerce platform for female
artisans, vendors and
entrepreneurs in Africa to create sustainable
micro-enterprises using mobile
phones.
Ella Peinovich is one of the founders of SasaAfrica
This year Peinovich has been selected as one of five
finalists for BiD
Network’s Women in Business Challenge that focuses on
women entrepreneurs in
emerging markets. How we made it in Africa talks with
Peinovich about social
entrepreneurship and the role of Africa’s greatest
untapped resource: women.
How did the idea for SasaAfrica come about?
I had been working within the informal settlements around
Kenya over the
past three years and saw the amazing cultural capital of
the goods produced
by the artisan community there and the disproportionately
low economic value
placed on their work. I was determined to create the
tools and services that
could enable these women to expand their access to
consumers in a lasting
and sustainable manner.
Can you give us an example of how SasaAfrica works?
SasaAfrica is an e-commerce platform for the developing
world that promotes
more equitable and distributed international trade by
connecting offline
artisans in the developing world to online global
consumers. Vendors, with
no need for the internet, create personal online
storefronts and populate
them with product information and images with the use of
SasaAfrica’s
accessible SMS-based mobile phone registry. Global
consumers can then buy
directly from the vendors on the SasaAfrica e-commerce
website,
revolutionising the supply chain into a person-to-person
exchange.
SasaAfrica acts as a facilitator for the transaction,
converting
international credit card purchases into mobile money
payments. Our
innovative tracking tools ensure efficient and secure
delivery of the goods.
In this way, SasaAfrica connects enterprising women of
the developing world
to global e-commerce, even if they do not have access to
the Internet, a
computer, or a bank account, allowing the most remote
female entrepreneurs
to be incorporated into global trade.
How does SasaAfrica make a profit?
SasaAfrica makes a profit in two ways: 1) a small listing
fee; charged to
the artisans and taken out at the time of sale. The
listing fee covers the
cost of product registration and payment transfers
associated with each
product sold. And 2) a percentage of each sale; charged
to the web consumer.
We have found an amazing market opportunity, where by
cutting out the
middlemen we are able to save over 75% in logistical
costs compared to
traditional export supply chains. In this way, vendors
can charge more,
consumers pay less, and Sasa profits by creating this
entirely new
marketplace.
Generally, who are your target customers?
Eighty-four percent of women in sub-Saharan Africa work
in the informal
economy, which excludes them from financial rights and
representation. Most
of these women end up in self-employment, earning
subsistence incomes with
little or no growth opportunity. Many turn to craft
production which
provides an entry-point into the economy for
under-resourced groups. For the
tens of millions of women in the craft sector, a simple
tool that would
multiply their income with little to no upfront
investment would be
immediately welcomed.
SasaAfrica seeks to recruit these millions of women as
customers of our SMS
business tools, granting them access to the international
marketplace and
increasing their earnings on average by a factor of 20.
Moreover, our tools
empower women to grow their businesses as formal
entrepreneurs, gaining
access to financial rights and representation through the
use of the
platform. Registering as a SasaAfrica vendor begins the
process of formal
registration, which, as the vendor earns traceable income
on the SasaAfrica
platform, can be leveraged to access loans, open a bank
account, and even
register as an independent entity.
Drawing from your experience, what advice would you give
to other foreigners
who are interested in setting up businesses in Africa?
Be prepared to be amazed! Our team has worked all around
the world and we
find Africa the most exciting business context we have
yet engaged. Kenya is
incredibly dynamic to work in as we are surrounded by
world changing ideas
and disruptive innovations daily. I would advise any
entrepreneurs planning
to work in Africa to come ready to learn. Africa has so
much to teach the
international business community and has spawned some of
the most exciting
innovations of the last decade. Additionally, I cannot
tout enough the
importance and opportunity of social entrepreneurship to
create entirely new
markets and profitable models by aligning their business
to a wide-spread
social need, contributing to Africa’s long-term social
and economic
development.
What would you say are the main traits required to be a
successful
entrepreneur in Africa?
Tenacity: To hear “this is impossible” almost daily and
to continue to prove
that all is indeed possible. There is always a way.
Creativity: Every day provides new and unexpected
challenges. The best
entrepreneurs are able to take those challenges and turn
them into
opportunities.
Compassion: Being sensitive to the needs of others is an
opportunity to do
well by doing good.
As a women empowerment activist, what advice would you
give to other budding
women entrepreneurs on the African continent?
At SasaAfrica, we believe that women are Africa’s
greatest untapped
resource. It is truly time for African women to embrace
their natural
resilience, creativity, and intelligence to become
economic leaders. The
social capital that women innately build can be leveraged
to build Africa’s
next generation of business models and opportunity that
will benefit all
Africans
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/social-entrepreneur-connects-african-wome
n-to-global-e-commerce/19893/
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