Social entrepreneur connects African women to global e-commerce

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/