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Konga: Leading the African e-Commerce Resurgence
By Bosun Idowu George, a freelance e-Commerce researcher, writes from the UK.
In early January 2018, a mega acquisition that would alter the equation in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, was about to go down.
On one side and spearheading this landmark acquisition was the Zinox Group, a Nigerian-headquartered but globally renowned technology group that had overseen over three decades of sterling and unmatched leadership in the Sub-Saharan African business terrain. On the table was Konga, one of the latter-day pioneers of the new wave of e-Commerce in Nigeria which, incidentally, was first ignited by Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of the same Zinox Group with his BuyRight Africa, the continent’s first e-Commerce platform, which struggled over 12 years ago with the absence of a structured payment system.
And on the other side of the negotiating table was Naspers, a South African-based serial investment firm and AB-Kinnevik, another investment firm with its headquarters in Sweden.
Both firms had overseen years of huge investment in Konga which, however, had failed to yield the desired ROI. For all its boundless potential, the world-class technology infrastructure driving its operations and its solid human capital, the previous owners of Konga were just not able to crack the e-Commerce bug. Despite making useful in-roads and expanding the scope of e-Commerce in Nigeria, Konga was struggling to stem losses and carve a sustainable path to profitability. For these investors, the question was whether to persist with pumping massive sums into the business and see out the e-Commerce waiting game, or cut their losses and walk away.
Naspers and AB Kinnevik plumped for the latter.
So, in stepped the Zinox Group and the announcement of its acquisition of Konga – a piece of news which reverberated around the globe and which, till date, is still widely regarded as one of the most brilliant acquisitions ever recorded in the African nay global business space.
In acquiring Konga, the jury was still out on whether the new owners – credible, ethical local-based but global business people with a track record of outstanding entrepreneurship – could succeed where Naspers and AB Kinnevik, with its war chest of funds, failed. Can Konga, under its new owners with a loss of about N34bn in her balance sheet as was rumoured, finally rise up and fulfil the latent potential it showed sufficient promise of, when it pioneered the marketplace structure which, reports say has now been adopted by the likes of Amazon, Alibaba and Jumia, among others?
For many e-Commerce watchers, it would take nothing short of a miracle.
But indeed, a miracle was afoot within the four walls of Konga, right from the day it came under new ownership. Three years down the line, investigations show that Konga is now seemingly reborn, a flourishing retail behemoth and a fitting standard-bearer for the African continent which has remained in need of an ethical, trustworthy brand it can count on in the e-Commerce space.
In tracing the trajectory of this beautiful bride of African e-Commerce and how it is now the toast of investors keen to get a slice of the business, it is important to state that, at the point of acquisition, Konga was perhaps written off by many industry experts.
As an avid e-Commerce researcher and enthusiast, I had followed keenly the narrative around the business from my base back then in the United States, especially from the foreign media right after its acquisition. The overriding sentiment then was one of quiet pessimism. However, one of the first things that caught the eye and which made Konga a business to watch was the merger of its operations,barely three months after its acquisition, with that of Yudala, another e-Commerce start-up with an excellent business model launched by tech whizkid Prince Nnamdi Ekeh, scion of the serial entrepreneur, Leo Stan Ekeh. Again, the assumption of another renowned corporate executive in Nick Imudia, a former VP at Nokia as Co-CEO calmed nerves, especially in the assurance that innovation, experience and quality corporate culture would drive the vision because of the ownership of the new Konga.
Having said that, many proud entrepreneurs would have persisted with running both entities side-by-side, as a merger would have definitely involved giving up a few things on both sides. In the case of Yudala, it gave up its name and took on the Konga brand name while for Konga, it shed its blue colour for Yudala’seye-catching and striking fuchsia pink.
However, the grand merger of both companies,as decided by its new owners turned out to be a masterstroke, one in a long list of many brilliant strategies that has seen Konga rise to the summit of the Nigerian and African e-Commerce market.
For in merging these two powerhouses, Nigeria now had a powerful e-Commerce engine – a platform that can today take on all comers and give even the likes of Amazon and Alibaba a good run for their money, should they eventually expand their operations to Nigeria in search of the much-touted lucre that the country’s predominantly youthful and aspirational population holds.
No other e-Commerce player in Africa boasts the sheer reach at the disposal of Konga, arising from its composite nature. For the savvy online shoppers, it offers a cutting-edge online platform, complete with a surfeit of payment and fulfilment options while for the many others who are still stuck in their die-hard traditional shopping predilection, the physical Konga stores dotting the landscape are a ready-made answer.
In examining the way and manner Konga has quietly risen like a phoenix and its transformation into a viable brand that may list on the NYSE and the London Stock Exchange, it is essential to cite this template of its new owners as one to be adopted by budding entrepreneurs or studied in global business schools.
Prioritising a sound structure, solid corporate governance and ethics over quick gains or hype, as is often the fare in the sector, the new Konga is an investor’s wet dream, a reliable entity that is today worth its weight in gold.
For all who come in contact with the brand, there is no denying the place of its outlook as an ethical brand. Konga boldly declares that its policies leave no room for cooking the books, falsifying sales figures or fraudulent practices. Merchants on its marketplace platform face blacklisting or other sanctions when fake or sub-standard items or products are traced to them. Better still, Konga has in place strong partnerships with a number of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) which ensure that it remains the most trusted source for genuine products in the entire e-Commerce ecosystem.
With the foundation of the new Konga strongly rooted as an ethical company, the management has gone about its business of shoring up other aspects of the business.
In addition to ramping up its operational efficiencies and reducing losses to the barest minimum, as stated by Prince Nnamdi Ekeh during a recent interview monitored on Arise TV, the new owners have also invested strategically in a few verticals that have raised the bar. Among these is the capacity of Konga to reach shoppers at the last mile wherever they may reside, a factor made possible by strengthening Kxpress, an internally-owned, digitally-driven delivery channel, through which Konga has demystified the challenging pain-point of logistics which has driven many other players out of the market.
Furthermore, Prince Nnamdi Ekeh also referenced the company’s massive warehousing facilities which have undoubtedly empowered it to effortlessly close and deliver big tickets or service heavy projects. Konga was recently in the news for making available tons of laptops at reduced prices for Nigerians at the height of the global scarcity of units; a scarcity occasioned by supply chain breakdowns exacerbated by the COVID-19 lockdown. It also boasts a reliable mobile wallet – KongaPay – licensed by Nigeria’s Central Bank which delivers a number of useful services for subscribers, including paying for online shopping, airtime/data recharge, money transfer, utility bills payment and many others.
But it is in the expansion of its wings that Konga has truly shown its strength.
Today, Konga is not just known for its first love – retail – but has grown into an e-Commerce group that also has in its fold, a travel and tours agency, Konga Travels, which has racked up a number of local and international awards within a couple of years of its existence, in addition to its other existing subsidiaries – Kxpress and KongaPay.
Konga has also grown 800 per cent since its acquisition as proudly announced by Prince Ekeh in the course of the Arise TV interview, propelling it to the cusp of history as Africa’s first profitable e-Commerce player.
All these without any form of external investment…
But that is not all.
In Konga Health and Konga Food, two new subsidiaries which reports in the media say will disrupt the medicare and food delivery ecosystems, the management of this e-Commerce miracle is also preparing the grounds for long-term dominance.
Africa has long suffered from the absence of an ethical, reliable platform it can fall back on in the global e-Commerce race.
That is no longer the case.
In Konga, the evidence is there for all to see that finally, Africa now has a strong voice, an ethical leader that Nigeria and the rest of the continent can look up to.
Gugu Gumede and S’Dumo Mtshali, the power couple in Netflix’s telenovela, The Polygamist, will be guest on this week’s edition of African Voices, which is sponsored by Globacom on Cable News Network (CNN).
The 22-episode sitcom focuses on the misadventures of an adulterous spouse who unknowingly entangles his family in the difficulties of polygamy.
The film depicts a series of intrigues, betrayals, and other events that shattered the harmony of a once-perfect marriage.
The fictional couple in Johannesburg are interviewed by the programme’s anchor, Larry Madowo, for a 30-minute show in which they discuss their personal experiences and the difficulties they have in the film industry, such as coping with popularity and typecasting and advocating for more actor protections.
Gumede, a 34-year-old South African who attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles to study acting, portrayed Joyce Gomora in the telenovela.
In addition to her part in The Polygamist, Gumede has portrayed Mamlambo, a prophetess on “Uzalo”, the most watched television program in South Africa, and Mandisa in “Generations”, one of the country’s most popular series.
Mtshali, a 43-year-old South African actor who portrayed Jonasi Gomora, gained notoriety in 2010 after competing in and winning the SABC1 reality program, “Class Act”. In the same year, he landed his first major part in the drama series “Intersexions” on SABC1.
Among other films, he has starred in “Inside Story” (2011), “Avenged” (2013), “iNumber Number: Jozi Gold” (2023), “Back of the Moon”, and “The Four of Us” (2025).
This special double-cast episode will feature on DSTV channel 401 on Saturday at 8a.m. It will be repeated same day at 11a.m., Sunday at 3.30a.m.,6p.m., Monday at 3a.m. and 5.45p.m. as well as on Tuesday,5.45p.m.
The repeats continue next week Saturday at 7.30a.m., 11a.m.;Sunday 3.30a.m., 6p.m.,and on Monday at 3a.m.
By Blaise Udunze
From a general observation, comparisons are powerful political tools. They simplify complex realities, inspire supporters and shape public perception. Another side of this is that they can also become misleading when symbolism replaces substance.
The latter appears to be the objective behind two recent interventions in defense of his excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Respectfully, it was observed that veteran journalist Martin Oloja likened Tinubu’s political journey to that of football icon Lionel Messi. He portrayed him as a resilient strategist whose patience and tactical brilliance eventually produced victory. As this now appears to be a trend, Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma further elevated the narrative, comparing Tinubu to Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. He didn’t stop at that; rather further argued that today’s painful reforms would eventually transform Nigeria just as Lee transformed Singapore. They are compelling analogies.
Unfortunately, it was observed that both began to unravel once governance, not politics, was used as the standard of measurement.
It is a known fact to the world that Lionel Messi is celebrated not because he endured criticism or finally lifted the World Cup after years of disappointment. He is celebrated because his greatness is measurable. His goals are counted. His assists are recorded. His trophies are displayed and not just that, his records speak louder than the opinions of his admirers, which may have taken a different turn now after the outcome of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The same is also true of Lee Kuan Yew. History has shown that he is not revered because he introduced difficult reforms or enjoyed the support of loyal political allies. Governor Hope should be reminded that Lee is remembered because he fundamentally transformed Singapore. Amongst his achievements were transforming a poor trading port into one of the world’s richest, cleanest, safest and most efficiently governed nations.
Lee’s records speak for him because under his leadership, Singapore built world-class infrastructure, an incorruptible public service, globally competitive education, affordable housing, investor confidence and one of the highest standards of living anywhere in the world.
Neither Messi nor Lee Kuan Yew became legends through carefully crafted narratives. Yes, they became legends because the evidence became impossible to dispute. That is precisely where comparisons with President Tinubu become difficult.
It is an error to assume that winning elections is the same as winning governance and at the same time, political brilliance may secure power, but only effective leadership secures history’s approval.
For millions of Nigerians, governance is not measured by campaign strategy or political resilience. It is measured by the realities they confront every morning.
Can they afford food? Can they pay transport fares? Can they pay rent with the current landlords’ economy? Can they keep their businesses open? Can they sleep or travel freely without fear of kidnapping? Can they find jobs after graduation? Can they access reliable electricity and healthcare? These are the scoreboards by which governments are judged.
Supporters of the Tinubu administration frequently point to encouraging macroeconomic indicators. Foreign reserves have improved. Government revenues have risen. States now receive significantly larger allocations through the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). Well, these ‘achievements’ will be reviewed soon through the lens of news narratives. International financial institutions have welcomed several policy reforms. The removal of fuel subsidy and exchange-rate liberalisation are presented as courageous decisions that previous administrations avoided.
These developments deserve acknowledgement. Yet macroeconomic improvements are not the same as improvements in citizens’ welfare.
In reality, an economy cannot be declared successful merely because government revenues have increased while household purchasing power continues to deteriorate, as this would be a complete aberration.
Again, it is considered an anomaly that Nigeria reports stronger fiscal numbers, but millions of families continue to struggle with soaring food prices, rising transport costs, expensive housing, high electricity tariffs and shrinking disposable incomes.
Statistics may comfort policymakers. They rarely comfort hungry citizens. Messi never celebrated possession statistics after losing a match; rather, he cried and cried over losing the opportunity of winning the trophy at the concluded 2026 FIFA World Cup. To him, results mattered.
The reality is that governments should be judged by the same principle. This is open to dispute, but of a truth, Governor Uzodimma’s comparison to Lee Kuan Yew deserves even closer scrutiny because it raises an important question, though it may appear hard to answer.
If Tinubu is Nigeria’s Lee Kuan Yew, where is Nigeria’s Singapore? What exactly made Lee Kuan Yew exceptional? Was it simply his willingness to implement painful reforms? Certainly not.
Many leaders across the developing world have introduced painful reforms. Very few transformed their countries.
One thing stands out here: Lee’s legacy rests on outcomes, not intentions. Judging from all indications, it is obvious that his reforms dramatically reduced corruption, attracted investment, strengthened institutions, expanded industrialisation, improved education, guaranteed affordable public housing and steadily raised incomes across generations. Unlike Nigeria’s ongoing experience, Singapore’s rise was not a promise repeatedly postponed to the future. Citizens experienced tangible improvements in their daily lives. That is why history celebrates Lee Kuan Yew. Nigeria’s present reality tells a different story.
It is glaring and ironic that despite improved fiscal revenues, many Nigerians continue to grapple with rising inflation, worsening poverty, declining purchasing power, youth unemployment, struggling businesses and persistent insecurity. If they must know, these are not merely economic statistics; they are the lived realities by which citizens judge any government.
The Lee Kuan Yew comparison also overlooks perhaps the most important ingredient behind Singapore’s success, which is primarily the institutions.
It is obvious and practically doubtful if Governor Uzodinma’s kind of Singapore is the same as the one on which its transformation was built upon an efficient bureaucracy, disciplined public institutions, predictable regulation, meritocracy, uncompromising anti-corruption enforcement and consistent long-term planning as championed by Lee Kuan Yew. An honest question here is, can the same be said of Nigeria today?
The truth is not far-fetched; Nigeria is nothing close to it because the realities and lived experiences of Nigerians are that the country continues to grapple with weak institutions, policy inconsistency, bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption concerns and widespread insecurity.
His impeccable achievements are built on the institutions; hence, without institutional transformation, every effort to invoke Lee Kuan Yew risks confusing aspiration with achievement.
One common trend witnessed lately is that the supporters of the administration often argue that Nigerians must be patient because meaningful reforms require time. That argument deserves consideration.
Let it also be made known that patience should never become an endless substitute for accountability. Citizens are also entitled to ask whether the sacrifices demanded today are producing measurable improvements tomorrow.
History remembers leaders not because they prescribed hardship, but because that hardship ultimately produced prosperity for those alive and not for the dead.
Another weakness in both comparisons is the tendency to confuse political mastery with administrative excellence. These are totally two different things, because when it comes to winning elections, it requires coalition building, negotiation and political calculation. Whilst, running a nation demands competent institutions, sound economic management, transparency, public trust and measurable improvements in living standards.
Again, the two are not the same, and for this reason, many exceptional politicians have governed poorly. Many successful administrators never became political giants. Democracy ultimately rewards governance, not political mythology.
This is not to suggest that President Tinubu’s administration has achieved nothing. Tax reforms, infrastructure investments, fiscal restructuring and efforts to stabilise public finances represent important policy initiatives whose long-term impact remains to be seen. Well, acknowledging those initiatives is consistent with honest public discourse.
Equally important, however, is recognising that millions of Nigerians continue to judge the administration through the realities and their lived experiences rather than the promises they hear.
Football supporters judged Lionel Messi by the trophies in the cabinet. In like manner, history judges Lee Kuan Yew by the Singapore he built. The same measure should be applied in this nation, as Nigerians will judge President Tinubu by the Nigeria he leaves behind.
The key metric here is that if inflation falls sustainably, poverty declines significantly, insecurity is substantially reduced, electricity becomes more reliable, industries expand, jobs multiply and citizens regain confidence in the future, history will acknowledge those achievements without requiring comparisons to Messi or Lee Kuan Yew.
Neither Messi nor Lee Kuan Yew needed political allies to persuade the world of their greatness and that distinguishes both as the greatest of all time (GOAT).
Their records spoke for themselves. Political endorsements may dominate today’s headlines. History, however, listens only to evidence. Even Messi needed trophies. Lee Kuan Yew needed results. Nigerian leaders should be judged by no lesser standard.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached via: [email protected]
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are set to introduce a joint broadcast monitoring framework ahead of the 2027 general elections as part of efforts to curb unethical broadcasting and promote responsible election coverage.
Charles Ebuebu, director-general, NBC, who disclosed the plan recently, said the collaboration would strengthen election monitoring through the deployment of advanced technology and closer coordination between regulatory agencies.
According to him, the increasing influence of digital and online platforms has made it imperative for regulators to work together rather than operate independently.
“We have written to INEC, and we are going to have a joint monitoring outlook over the elections. Gone are the days when agencies work in silos. When we coordinate, we’re able to monitor more effectively,” Ebuebu said.
He explained that the partnership would enable both agencies to jointly identify and address violations of broadcasting regulations during the election period instead of handling such issues separately.
Beyond INEC, Ebuebu said the NBC is also partnering with other key regulators to strengthen oversight of election-related content across digital platforms.
According to him, the commission is finalising agreements with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) ahead of the polls to reinforce its monitoring capabilities.
“We are calling in other stakeholders to reinforce the election monitoring. We are signing agreements with the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Information Technology Development Agency before the elections,” he said.
Ebuebu also revealed that the NBC is upgrading its monitoring infrastructure with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools to keep pace with the rapidly expanding media landscape.
He noted that the proliferation of online platforms has made traditional monitoring methods inadequate.
“With online platforms, there are thousands of them. You need more than staff; you need AI monitoring facilities,” he said.
The NBC chief added that the commission has significantly improved its monitoring capacity and can currently track nearly 50 broadcast channels from its monitoring centre in Abuja.
He said additional monitoring facilities would be established across the country in line with evolving broadcasting technologies.As part of preparations for the 2027 elections, Ebuebu announced plans for a sensitisation workshop in Ibadan that will bring together broadcasters, INEC officials, security agencies and other stakeholders.
He said the engagement had become necessary as political discussions surrounding elections continue to grow more heated, including on television, stressing the need for broadcasters to adhere to professional standards.
Ebuebu noted that the commission has had to issue several warnings to broadcast stations for violating the broadcasting code during election periods.
“We have had to write several of them because they simply forget what the code says,” he said
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