E-Business
Konga as e-Commerce Global Game-Changer
By Ray Umukoro
When global economy pundits describe Africa as the next frontier, they are merely reacting to strong stimulus coming from the continent, especially in the areas of improving agro-economy, commerce, internet penetration and increasing capacity to harness the abundance of raw materials within the continent.
Among these stimuli is e-commerce.
Africa is witnessing quantum leap in internet penetration and increased deployment of internet-enabled handheld mobile devices. This is the fuel driving up e-commerce on the continent once considered a clear outsider in the tech-driven e-commerce ecosystem.
At the cusp of the growing e-commerce market in Africa is Konga, trading under the name konga.com. Since its acquisition in 2018 by Zinox Group, in one of the most discretely executed corporate ‘coups’ and seamless acquisitions on the continent, Konga has continued to beat the odds and confound book-makers.
Within the first two years after its acquisition, Konga had re-invented itself, growing its turnover by over 800 percent, cut inherited serial losses and re-focused its corporate values by being more customer-centric, while deploying superior technology to achieve more. Leveraging light-years-ahead technology, Konga has been able to run lean and mean, delivering last mile in real time ahead of the competition and offering a new threshold of value-for-money in a manner never before witnessed in Nigerian e-commerce bourse.
E-commerce business all over the world comes bundled with several complications. It’s expensive usually with initial huge losses. It’s technology-demanding and requires conscious long-term investment and patience. To ride the tide, operators must work round these treacherous complexities which include heavy investment in back-end technology, innovativeness to adapt to fast-changing consumer tastes and technical paradigm shifts. All of these would require seamless and steady retooling of strategies.
In Africa, e-Commerce is largely the playground of the youths. A huge chunk of the patronage comes from the youths, the nouveau riche, the upwardly mobile, dashing generation of purpose-driven, career-minded men and women who have little time to spare on making physical, in-shop purchases. Konga appeals to this group because its leadership is driven by young men and women who understand the tapestries and nuances of multi-tasking and time-management in the modern era.
Konga’s ownership is truly Africa. This gives it a head-start in the continent’s e-Commerce space. It has been able to combine indigenous manpower with a network of quality foreign technical service providers. An e-Commerce house is as good as its back-end. Top e-Commerce outposts in the world who have remained at the cutting edge of competition despite the inevitable turbulence share a common denominator.
They are the ones that spend big on infrastructure. Back-end infrastructure and manpower capacity drive the process. Konga understands this and has spared nothing in upscaling its infrastructure and upskilling its staff to global standard. Within the first two years of its acquisition, the investors quietly and deliberately built top-notch nationwide facilities and restructured the firm’s technologies to fit into the new vision and ambition of emerging as a global brand.
On May 1, 2018, barely three months after its acquisition, Zinox merged Konga.com with its omni-channel retail outfit, Yudala. The product of that mega-merger was a swifter, bigger company which retained the brand name, Konga. This was how arguably the biggest e-Commerce and retail company in Africa was born. But beyond that, Konga has continued to astound market watchers with its innovativeness in payment services, delivery to last mile and a steady decline in inherited market churn.
Statistics clearly show that soon after the acquisition, Konga customer churn dropped considerably. Customer churn is the rate at which customers stop doing business with an organisation. It’s the percentage of subscribers who discontinue their subscriptions to a service within a given period.
In the e-Commerce market, customer churn has been a big issue as some customers after experiencing unsavoury transaction with an e-Commerce house, not only discontinue patronage but enlist to share their ugly experience with friends and people in their network (professionals, business associates and partners etc.) and, in the process win them over to also discontinue patronage of that organisation. This has been one of the downsides of some e-Commerce companies: their inability to retain existing customers, let alone grow their customer base.
A couple of factors are responsible for this. Lack of customer satisfaction, late and untimely delivery of goods to clients, foisting substandard products on customers and poor customer care service are among the reasons for customer-hesitancy and eventual withdrawal of patronage.
This is at the root of the poor marketplace performance of many e-Commerce outposts. The new owners of Konga have overcome these drawbacks, using high-end technologies, leveraging on their affiliations with global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and clear understanding of the Nigerian environment.
A handy advantage of the new Konga is the combination of the online e-commerce strength of Konga.com and the nationwide branch network of Yudala. This has helped them to deliver a truly omni-channel retail for the first time in Africa.
The heavy behind-the-scene investment in infrastructure within the first 18 months of acquisition coupled with the reliance on physical Experience Centres (neighbourhood well-stocked physical Konga stores) largely ignited the fire of sustainability and profitability. This explains the miracle of Konga breaking even barely three years after the acquisition.
A combination of these factors plus the company’s ability to disrupt the market form the basis for the new push by Konga to list at the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Analysts believe that with its strong showing in Africa, Konga listing on the LSE would raise the bar for African investors hunting fortunes in the global market. It’s considered the game-changer for African investors.
Konga, as an African brand, has shown capacity to adapt, innovate and create value for both customers and investors. Going global will only help its team of young outliers rack up return on investment as well as improve the continent’s business profile on the global investment index.
Data from Statista, a renowned statistics portal, reported that the total value of e-Commerce in Africa grossed $16.5 billion in 2017 and is expected to hit $29 billion by 2022. It’s no surprise that Konga has become the fastest-growing e-Commerce house in Africa.
This further underscores the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) e-Commerce Index Report 2018 which placed Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya as accounting for more than half of the online shoppers in Africa.
Nigeria is reputed as Africa’s largest business to consumer e-commerce market in terms of both number of shoppers and revenue and Konga is at the core of this market volume. This is what it’s taking to the global market: an ingrained ability to re-invent itself at all times, innovate through the contours of competition and grow its customer base. When tomorrow comes and Konga, the e-commerce heartbeat of Africa, lists at the LSE, Africa would have made a bold statement: We are not the continent ruined, we are the continent ready to roll.
Author: Ray Umukoro, pan-Africa ICT blogger, writes from Lagos
LG Electronics has reaffirmed its commitment to advancing innovation and smart living across Africa by participating as a supporting sponsor at the Africa Technology Expo (ATE) 2026, where the company is showcasing its latest portfolio of premium consumer electronics and home appliance innovations.
The two-day expo, themed around strengthening Africa’s enterprise technology ecosystem through collaboration and innovation, has brought together industry leaders, technology innovators, multinational companies, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to explore opportunities for cross-border partnerships and digital transformation across the continent.
As one of the supporting sponsors of this year’s event, LG’s interactive exhibition booth has become a major attraction, offering visitors firsthand experience of the company’s latest AI-powered technologies designed to enhance everyday life while delivering greater comfort, convenience, energy efficiency, and connectivity.
Among the innovations on display are the latest LG QNED TV, delivering exceptional picture quality and immersive entertainment; the iconic MoodUP™️ Refrigerator, which combines intelligent cooling with customizable LED door panels; the innovative LG WashTower™️, an all-in-one premium laundry solution that maximizes space and efficiency; the energy-efficient LG ARTCOOL Air Conditioner and LG Air Tower, designed to provide smarter climate control; alongside LG’s advanced Dehumidifier and other intelligent home solutions.
Speaking on LG’s participation, Mr. H.S. ji, Managing Director, LG Electronics West Africa, said: “Africa Technology Expo provides an excellent platform to engage with innovators, businesses, and consumers who are shaping the future of technology across the continent. At LG, innovation goes beyond creating advanced products, it is about developing meaningful solutions that improve everyday life.
“Our participation reflects our commitment to supporting Africa’s digital transformation while introducing intelligent technologies that make homes and workplaces smarter, healthier, and more energy-efficient.”
The Africa Technology Expo was established to foster stronger collaboration among African businesses, emerging enterprises, and multinational organisations. During the opening ceremony, the organisers emphasized the need for deeper continental collaboration to unlock Africa’s innovation and economic potential, noting that previous editions of the expo have facilitated approximately $192 million in business deals among participating companies.
LG’s presence at the event aligns with this vision by demonstrating how cutting-edge consumer technology can support economic growth, digital inclusion, and sustainable development across Africa.
Visitors to the LG booth are participating in live product demonstrations, interactive experiences, and expert consultations, gaining valuable insights into how LG’s AI-powered ecosystem seamlessly connects home appliances and entertainment products to deliver a smarter lifestyle.
As technology continues to reshape industries and everyday living, LG remains committed to driving innovation that empowers consumers, supports enterprise growth, and contributes to Africa’s evolving digital economy.
Nigeria’s weak data protection guardrails may undermine the recent directive by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to banks, fintech firms, and other payment service providers to store payment transaction data generated within the country local servers.
CBN said that the new rule will start from January 1, 2027, as part of new measures to strengthen oversight of the fast-growing digital payments ecosystem.
This will also provide the country greater control over critical data infrastructure, allowing authorities to easily access records, conduct audits, enforce compliance, and investigate, especially in cases where criminal offenses are involved, reducing delays often caused by intermediation between local and foreign entities.
Apart from data sovereignty, the CBN added that moving transaction records from foreign servers will help drive investments in local data centers and cloud storage capacity.
Though reliable estimates are hard to come by, it is believed that Nigeria loses over N60 billion in hosting data in foreign servers.
But a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs), has raised concerns over safety measures in place to protect data of Nigerians, despite having data protection laws in place.
The coalition, comprising Media Rights Agenda, Paradigm Initiative, Digital Rights Lawyers Initiative, and Accountability Lab Nigeria, among others, released the “Protected From the State, Not By It: Nigeria’s Data Protection Crisis Is a Crisis of Implementation,” where they criticized regulators’ failure to effectively enforce data protection laws, which led to rising cases of digital fraud and rampant illegal sale of sensitive information.
There have been leaks of sensitive voter, financial, and personal records.
For instance, there was alleged unauthorized access to the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during a nationwide CVR exercise.
INEC earlier released the preliminary findings of its investigation into the matter, saying that it found no external breach of its systems and that the personal information of over 90 million registered voters was not compromised.
Despite this, CSOs argued that the incident underscored the lack of oversight, adding that it showed that while data privacy laws are in place, sensitive information can be easily moved from a secure government database and into the hands of private political entities.
The coalition also pointed out regulators’ failure to conduct human rights impact assessments on public surveillance systems before related programs were deployed, urging the government to act on these issues by subjecting public institutions to the same compliance requirements as private organizations.
“This is the asymmetry at the heart of the crisis: citizens are under-protected from data abuse and over-exposed to state monitoring and punishment,” the CSOs stated.
Additional report by coingeek
Visa, a multinational firm into payment card services says Artificial intelligence enabled scams have emerged as the fastest-growing source of consumer payment fraud globally as cybercriminals increasingly target people.
Visa stated this in its Mid-year 2026 Biannual Threats Report released on Wednesday in Lagos.
The report said scammers were increasingly using AI tools and social engineering tactics to manipulate consumers into authorising fraudulent payments themselves.Premier League Fixtures
It indicated that from July to December 2025, Visa identified nearly one billion dollars in scam-related activity, making scams the largest category of consumer payment fraud.
According to the report, fraudsters now impersonate trusted brands and institutions, create a sense of urgency and deceive victims into completing seemingly legitimate transactions.
The report said stronger network-level security had reduced opportunities for direct system compromises, forcing criminals to shift their focus to exploiting human trust.
It revealed that fraud involving device tokens declined by 9.6 per cent between July and December 2025, compared with the same period in 2024.
The report identified accelerating scams, growing use of AI in fraud, migration of attacks from technology to people, and evolving ransomware trends as key developments shaping payment security.
It stated that global ransomware activity rose by 26 per cent during the review period compared with the corresponding period in 2024.
However, only 23 per cent of ransomware victims paid ransoms, the lowest level on record, reflecting improved resilience and recovery capabilities, according to the report.
Commenting, Mr Paul Fabara, chief Risk and Client Services officer, Visa, said that payments at network level continued to get safer, but threats were evolving faster than ever
Fabara said criminals were increasingly using deception, urgency and AI-enabled tools to exploit trust, requiring stronger collaboration across the payments ecosystem.
Also, Andrew Uaboi, vice president and Cluster head, Visa West Africa, said AI had significantly lowered the barriers to entry for fraudsters.
“What once required deep technical skill can now be executed with a prompt,” Uaboi said.
He said intelligence-driven defence and coordinated action across the ecosystem were becoming increasingly critical to protecting consumers from emerging threats.
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