General News
Online Marketplace Needs Inventory Solution for Realtime Sales- Akinde
Femi Akinde is the founded and chief executive officer of SlimTrader. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Akinde has worked in a variety of high-level capacities at some of the most respected telecommunications and software firms in the world, including Gateway Communications, AT&T (Consultant), T-Mobile, and Microsoft.
Over his telecommunications career, he has been a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for T-Mobile’s mobile data platforms and wireless portals.
He switched careers post MBA by joining Microsoft as a Senior Finance Manager on the TV, Video & Music Finance team. He resigned from Microsoft to start SlimTrader.
In this interview with peter ugwu, he spoke on the gains of online marketplaces adopting offline inventories that correspond with the online listings.
The Concept: SlimTrader
We are turnkey e-commerce providers. What that means is that SlimTrader is a one-stop shop for businesses that are thinking of navigating the whole e-commerce ecosystem such as managing their inventories offline so they can sell online; across multiple channels. So, we are business enabling platform with a knack for perfecting
MoBiashara Solutions
The ability to help businesses to manage their inventories offline and make it available online is done through the platform called MoBiashara.
In other words, it provides you with a complete e-Commerce solution from start to finish. The virtual storefronts come fully equipped with an inventory management system; shopping cart; payment solutions for all payment types and order fulfilment.
We felt it was more core representative of what the platform does for businesses. Our first-mover advantage and ability to rapidly onboard partners results in a quick solution for our partners.
SlimTrader’s MoBiashara platform serves organizations with annual sales of a hundred to hundreds of millions. We have offices in the US and West Africa. Our success is predicated on the success of our partners
Assessment of Online Marketplace Performances in Africa
Marketplace sounds like the traditional means of bringing together for buying and selling. I think the main issue marketplaces in Sub-Saharan Africans ponder about is: do we have the buyers?
Yes. But the buyer’s fulfilment is not as expected. Buyers’ fulfillment is important, because we are asking buyers to come and buy online, but the connection to the real stores is lacking. Most times, you find that things that existed online are not actually available offline, because there is no connectivity between what is listed online and that listed offline. Till now, marketplaces have been focused on just list your goods.
However, listing is the simplest of all things in the process. Listing does not help you manage the Ins and Outs of the goods. That is the problem we solve. We realized that a lot of these marketplaces are concerned about how many listings they have.
It looks like the items are available, but the listings are not connected to the back-end system of the company. So, when you click, you just clicked on the product and not the back-end system of the platform providing the service.
Even as it is listed, you are not sure of the availability, because there is no real time connectivity. Therefore, MoBiaShara makes sure that what you see online is connected to the inventory management system of what the platform is doing in the store.
Ensuring Trust to Boost Marketplace Patronage
Yes, are sure that MoBiaShara is a critical in boosting marketplace users’ confidence and trust in the system.
If I click on something and it shows it is available, then, it has to be available. We tell businesses, listing online is the least you can do.
How do you integrate what is happening in your store to what is obtainable offline. Our solution bridges that gap. We are making only the available inventory to show up online.
Adopting Full e-Payment System in e-Commerce Space
Selling online ought to be the most cost-effective approach to transactions. When you go online you should be able to cash-compare; find out the best available price for you. We also believe that the internet as the major distribution backbone is the most cost-effective medium.
If you tire the internet to the store, making sure the goods are available real-time, then you are giving users the ultimate value.
We think for that ultimate to be, a business must be willing to tire whatever they are doing in the store to the online space. When someone comes online he/she should be able to get the complete package including payments.
We believe in the instant payment than cash on arrival/payment on delivery. By paying online you are forcing a seller to take something out of circulation.
Nigerians Preference to Payment on (Items) Delivery
We have read reports where people click online to buy something, but they got something else on delivery. That brings fulfillment issue.
There are two parts to this. First, do you trust the brand you are working with? Secondly, is the brand selling in real-time.
If you trust the brand and it is using a platform like ours to sell in real-time, then, there is no reason people will not appreciate paying online.
The mistrust is built around, ‘I don’t know if you have this thing, even though I click to buy’. But once you are 100% sure the listings are available, you will be moved to consummate the transaction with the seller.
For example, when people shop with foreign marketplaces, they do not have problem paying immediately. No foreign marketplace will say ‘pay on delivery’.
Furthermore, people trust that the marketplace has its acts together based on the availability of the product. Until another stock is available, the foreign marketplace will not list such product.
So, I’m buying from a rea-time inventory management system. People do not trust you because seller just listed things on your site.
Harnessing Talents to Deepen e-Commerce Market Growth
Well, from what I have seen, this is a new sector. E-commerce is not fully developed like the oil and gas, telecommunications, banking, among others.
The whole gamut of consumer internet business- ecommerce sector is new to our environment. Therefore, it is either we train those within to fill the roles or we are going to import talents.
I am of the firm opinion that, if this is something we want to pursue, and grow exponentially, and with such level of unemployment or underemployment rate in the country, we can groom them to fill the spaces.
So, talent to me is basically the will and passion to learn. We have a lot of people in this country who are willing to learn. All we need is give them the opportunity. They are raw talents that require grooming or constant training to bring out the best in them.
How SMEs Can Capture Venture Capitalists’ Interests
We are in early stages of what will become a very vibrant industry. Nevertheless, what investors look out for before investing in any business is: ‘where is my exist point?’ In other words, if I put my money in this business, how do I get the money?
A lot of people are taking their time before investing in any small and medium enterprises. But, there is no clear part to exit in the SMEs.
It is not like where a lot of companies are listed on the Stock Exchange. I look at Interswitch, which has a successful exit; there are no lots of tech companies that have that kind of exit. What most venture capitalists are doing is putting their toes up.
Ok, we will invest and see what happens. The moment you have more successful exit in the marketplace and other SMEs, there will be boom in terms of investors expressing interests in the market. For instance, I invested N100million and I got N1billion when the company exits, which is my investment multiplied by 10.
I will be cool with that than putting my money in the bank; which is really what venture capitalist is all about. VC is about better returns, especially, when I invest early enough. Presently in the country, there is high interest rate on lending.
That is why you find people with ‘disposable income’ say to themselves, ‘this is not a proven field. I rather put my money in a fixed deposit or move into oil and gas deal or something with proven means of better returns.
But as soon as we have more businesses been bought and others going IPO (Initial Public Offering), then people would want to invest.
Assessing Marketplace Maturity
In trying to assess the market, you look for the acceptability level. Presently, there is a lot of education in the market which is step in the right direction.
When you talk to a lot of people their opinion about shopping online or being a customer to any of the technology companies, is still not as should be.
However, when we get the point where respondents are open to new technologies, then we are getting to the position of market acceptance via technology saturation. Definitely, we will get there, because this a country with a huge population.
If just 10% of this country become consumers of technology products then the companies will become truly successful. Market acceptance will lead to maturity.
On the other hand, the tech companies have to scale-up to become successful; they have to become self-sustainable too.
They have to formalize processes and have to endear themselves to the hearts of the consumers. For that to happen, they need a wider clientele base who understands what they offer.
Need for More Online Marketplaces
This country has over 150million population. How many people are using the popular online marketplaces daily? Probably, they are not over 3million.
At that percentage, we should refer to the aspect of market maturity. Less than 3% as customers, can we predict what the country/market will look like then we have about 10% of the population as online shoppers.
When people are argue that the market is somehow saturated, I then ask: how many smartphones are there in the market? Assuming 2 out of 5 people you meet have smartphones that are connected to the internet. So, it is not really that far-fetch to say we have enough.
For a company like ours, every solution is available via mobile phone, because the target audience, all, basically have smartphones they use as hotspots. Therefore, connectivity is not that much a problem now.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) statistics have shown a steady increase in teledensity. The only thing the market needs now is more education to drive acceptance.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has raised the alarm that some corrupt Nigerian politicians are now hiding their illicit wealth in cryptocurrencies to evade scrutiny and detection by anti-graft agencies.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman, EFCC
The EFCC boss said the agency had uncovered a growing trend where fraudulent public officials now used cryptocurrency wallets to stash stolen public funds and conduct illicit transactions.
Olukoyede made the revelation at an event commemorating Africa Anti-Corruption Day.
The event was held simultaneously in Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan, Oyo State.
Other speakers at the event lamented that Nigerians usually fell victim to crypto fraud, including the recent CBEX scam, where Nigerians lost over N1.3tn.
Olukoyede said, “Virtual asset fraud is on the rise. Our findings show that fraudulent politicians are already perfecting schemes and hiding their loot in cryptocurrencies to beat the investigative blackness of anti-corruption agencies.
“Stolen funds and unexplained wealth are being warehoused in wallets and payment for services are being done through this window,” he said.
Olukoyede warned that while the rise of virtual assets had transformed financial transactions globally, it had also created new avenues for money laundering and financial crimes.
He said, “Technology is moving at a supersonic speed around the world.
“The advent of virtual assets is a response to one of the qualities of money as a store of value like it is known in our elementary economies.”
“However, as with every progressive innovation, fraud starts to usually evolve, evolve ways of perverting their genuine purposes,” he said.
He added that the EFCC was not helpless in the face of the sophisticated schemes, noting that proactive training and intelligence sharing had enabled the commission to identify and investigate such cases.
Airtel Nigeria, telecommunications and digital solutions provider, has reemphasised its commitment to national development with a two-day workshop for companies in Nigeria’s Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) and utility sectors.
Held from July 8 to 9, 2025 at the Lagos Continental, the exclusive event brought together C-suite executives and industry thought leaders to co-create transformative and tech-driven solutions for these critical industries.
Themed “Banking on Innovation: Powering Financial Services with Connectivity” on 1 and “Accelerating Nigeria’s Digital Leap: Smarter Networks, Smarter Business” on Day 2, the sessions were designed to identify critical pain points, unlock business potential, and drive smarter, more connected operations across two of the nation’s most essential sectors.
Delivering the keynote address, Dinesh Balsingh, Managing Director/CEO of Airtel Nigeria, reaffirmed Airtel’s dedication to enabling and driving Nigeria’s digital transformation across the finance and energy sectors.
Speaking on the timeliness of the workshop, Airtel Nigeria’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Dinesh Balsingh said, “From power and water to finance, transportation, and logistics, this is a defining moment for every sector. The real question isn’t whether to adopt digital solutions, but how quickly and intelligently we can do so. At Airtel Nigeria, we’re moving beyond basic connectivity and becoming a true digital partner to the industries we serve.”
He highlighted Airtel’s categories of enterprise solutions that has been created to improve quality of life. These groupings include Internet of Things (IoT) for such services as smart metering, leak detection, energy optimisation, and real-time asset tracking; Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), which enables secure, multi-channel customer engagement via SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and USSD; as well asl Network as a Service (NaaS), which delivers flexible, secure connectivity with cloud-ready agility.
Mr. Balsingh added that, “Nigeria’s power and energy industries are under growing pressure to modernise. Legacy infrastructure, fragmented systems, and lack of real-time visibility are major obstacles. Airtel is stepping in with the right tools, not just to connect, but to transform. With IoT, CPaaS, and NaaS, we’re laying the groundwork for smarter operations, improved service delivery, and better outcomes for businesses and consumers alike.”
Abhishek Biswal, Chief Business Officer, Digital Services at Airtel India, brought substantial insight to the discourse with a demonstration of Airtel’s IoT Hub and its transformative impact on energy distribution.
Biswal said, “The future of finance and energy is digital, and that future must be secure, scalable, and seamless. When financial players and utility providers partner with telcos like Airtel, we’re not just connecting systems; we’re building a smarter digital ecosystem for everyone.”
Reinforcing the CEO’s position, Ogo Ofomata, Director, Airtel Business, called for collaboration among the participating sector and their stakeholders.
“We don’t take lightly the trust you have put in us. Airtel operates in what we call the enabler industry. Sometimes we don’t even know there’s a problem until we come together like this. This workshop is about understanding your needs and working side by side to design solutions that truly fit,” she said.
In his remarks, Luc Serviant, Group Enterprise Business Director at Airtel Africa, highlighted the company’s role in driving digital transformation through sustained investments in 5G and LEO satellite connectivity, aimed at boosting remote operations and expanding access in underserved regions across the finance and energy sectors.
He said, “At Airtel, we understand that the future of is going digital, and reliable connectivity is the backbone of that future. From 5G to LEO satellite integration, we are investing in intelligent infrastructure that empowers service providers to operate more efficiently, respond in real-time, and deliver uninterrupted services to millions of Nigerians. This isn’t just about innovation; it’s about building the digital foundation that will power the nation’s next chapter.”
This workshop, which continues the series of sectoral engagements within Nigeria’s growing economy, concluded with feedback from stakeholders who called for the inclusion of regulatory bodies such as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in future editions.
The Credit Fund of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund has successfully closed its first investment, committing $10 million to Telecel Global Services Ltd, through a senior secured amortising loan.
The transaction marks a significant milestone in the operationalisation of the Fund. The Credit Fund is one of three Funds under the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, established by the AfCFTA Secretariat and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to provide targeted transitional support to AfCFTA State Parties and private sector entities as they adjust to the requirements and opportunities presented by the AfCFTA Agreement.
Telecel Global Services, a subsidiary of the Mauritius based Telecel Group, provides wholesale voice and SMS services and enterprise connectivity solutions to more than 250 telecoms operators across Africa and globally.
With digital connectivity being at the heart of the trade and economic integration and success of the AfCFTA, this facility will support Telecel’s expansion in Ghana and Liberia, strengthen its infrastructure, and contribute to bridging Africa’s digital divide through enhanced connectivity and digital inclusion.
By investing in digital infrastructure in underserved markets, the Fund is helping reduce trade barriers, foster cross-boarder productivity and accelerate inclusive industrialization. Mr. Jean-Louis Ekra, Chairman of the Board of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund Corporation, stated: “
The closing of our first deal marks a historic milestone for the Credit Fund and the broader vision of the AfCFTA.
This US$10 million investment in Telecel Global Services is a clear demonstration of how targeted capital can drive meaningful impact—accelerating digital connectivity, enabling intraAfrican trade, and supporting private sector-led development in priority sectors.
It is our commitment to ensure that such investments continue to bridge critical gaps, stimulate economic resilience, and unlock Africa’s vast potential.”
H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, noted: “This transaction demonstrates how the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund is beginning to serve its intended purpose – supporting State Parties and the private sector as we work to make this Agreement commercially meaningful.
By investing in digital infrastructure, we are addressing some of the most critical enablers of trade facilitation, industrialisation, and regional value chain development.”
Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank, added: “Today, we make another bold statement of our unwavering intent to ensure that Africans reap the benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.
We are proud to have commenced the operationalisation of the Credit Fund. With this Fund, we will provide vital support to African corporates, helping them retool and expand their operations necessary to capitalise on the AfCFTA opportunities.
The investment strengthens a critical enabler, the digital economy and regional connectivity, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to transforming the structure of the African economy.”
Marlene Ngoyi, CEO, FEDA, the Fund Manager of the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, said: “This investment exemplifies the strategic intent of the Credit Fund – to catalyse growth and resilience in sectors that are vital for Africa’s structural transformation.
We are proud to partner with Telecel, whose operations directly advance intra-African connectivity and digital trade.”
The Credit Fund will continue to prioritise commercially viable investments that enable trade, support diversification, and promote inclusive growth in line with the broader AfCFTA implementation agenda.
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