Co-founder of cokodeal.com, Mr. Femi Aguda has stressed on the importance of Cocodeal to Nigeria export markets. In this interview with Deinde Afolabi, he also speaks on development of cokodeal, disclosing that it is open to individual and private venture funding.
Excerpts:
Can we meet you?
Good day Sir. I am Femi Aguda, the Co-founder of Cokodeal limited, Africa’s ecommerce for locally produced export goods. I have been with Cokodeal.com since its early days. It was some interesting moments of dreams, we are happy today that people use what we at sometime called dreams. I also founded leapbud.com, a blog site for African startups. Working in Cokodeal has been challenging, thrilling and exciting, as we have great teams both in the UK and Nigeria and we are developing more on our Nigeria team to meet expected growth.
Sir, can you enlighten us more on what cokodeal.com stands for?
Cokodeal.com is a website for exporters of locally produced goods in Nigeria and Africa at large. It was designed for Nigeria businesses producing locally to sell to Nigerians and export to a global market. As a matter of fact, cokodeal is known today as the biggest promoter of “made in Nigeria” goods, as most goods Nigerians imports from China are produced locally somewhere in Aba or Onitsha of the same quality and standard. If we can get these locally produced goods to Nigerians, it will reduce importation and encourage wholesale purchase from these producers which will invariably drive more production.
At the unveiling of cokodeal.com in Lagos earlier this year, Mr Mike Dola in his speech itemized several positive impacts this innovation will have on the African market and how it will boost the Nigerian economy. How far have you gone on this?
As of today, we have signed up individuals, businesses, government agencies. We have successfully connected them with big buyers. We have built a bridge that enables ordinary people and small businesses to access new market for their exports. Cokodeal.com is a gateway to export for Nigerians and Africa at large. Recently, we have some orders from Europe for one of our clients and some from ECOWAS countries. It has been a successful impact so far and we aim to help hundreds of thousands more in the days ahead.
It’s interesting to know you are already having testimonies. But at the moment cokodeal.com seems not to have gotten a place at the upper echelon of Ecommerce on the search engines. What are you doing about this?
Quite well, it takes time for such Internet based ventures to grow; presently, we are technically improving our search and registered business listings. We are forging partnerships with marketing experts as such we will embark on an aggressive campaign soonest. But such publicity requires a huge budget, so we are discussing with partners and seeking new investors to raise the needed fund to boost our market reach.
Is the company open to investors?
Yes. It is open to individual and private venture funding. We have secured some investment from individual partners. We are open to investment from large corporate bodies to enable us achieve the growth we are hoping for. This will enable us dominate the export market for locally produced goods in Nigeria and cover Africa eventually.
Is the investment opportunity for Africans alone?
No! It is not continent biased. To us, the world is one global family. We have discussions going on with partners in UK, Netherlands, Nigeria and other African Nations.
But how structured and prepared is cokodeal limited to handle the logistics of goods delivery when it eventually attains the level of growth you are envisaging?
Thank you; we have created a unique market niche for promotion of locally produced goods to find our clients buyers globally. We do not intend to handle delivery for now locally, only exportation of goods is where we support the manufacturer to meet all required demands for a successful export. Delivery is sorted between the seller and the buyer, ours is to connect them and aid a seamless transaction. Instead of paying attention to delivery, we are paying attention to business success of our customers. Our goal is to optimize and create a seamless transaction to enable our clients have lots of customers to drive their individual business growth, which often translate to a better life for their family.
What are your assessment of the company’s growth rate for now and the response of your prospective subscribers?
It is a growing organisation with its challenges, we have about 120% absorption growth rate and for our subscribers, a few understand the success it can bring them by keying into the vision while about one third see it as just another online merchants with no full understanding of what they will benefit.
What are your greatest challenges so far?
Majority of local producers are not ICT literate, which comes with its challenges for them to register free on the site, upload product images and business contacts. Ecommerce is alien to their understanding of trade. To the few who know about ecommerce, cokodeal.com contradicts what they are used to; like home delivery, pay on delivery. So people need more education on the opportunities that abounds in the ecommerce.
How do you intend to overcome these challenges?
The best way we presume is to get all transactions from our site monitored and ensure safety of our customers. If they have successful deals, they will share it socially, which we call social proof to engage others with doubt by sharing it on our community forums online. More also, we will invite association heads to enlighten their groups at different regions.
What are your plans for the months ahead?
We will run aggressive advertisement and campaign on both the print and electronic media with greater attention on social media. We wish to integrate more business owners from prime commercial zones of Nigeria on our platform. We hope to get into partnership with relevant government agencies to further assist local producers in terms of education, orientation and sensitization.
It is interesting speaking with you. Thanks for your audience.
Thank you for having us from cokodeal.com
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