Copia uses a unique network agent to deliver the e-commerce experience to customers in East Africa who may lack a smartphone, a digital wallet, and an address.
Monica Wanjiru Wairimu, an Agent in Sariti, Kenya said, “I didn’t know how to use shopping apps before Copia, but now I am fluent in shopping through the app as I must use it to show customers what they are ordering and how the product looks like.” It’s a powerful model. Wairimu was upskilled. In the short term, customers come to her and she can order for them from her smartphone. Eventually, these customers may get a smartphone and begin upskilling themselves.
The experiences of the Agents back up these statistics. “I used to get very little from my salon business and even from my first orders from Copia. But since I learned about product mixing and selling everything from Copia, I am now a general-shop-plus-salon. I now call my place an office because even men come and chill at the salon as they browse the catalogue,” said Regina Wambui Njoroge, a Copia Global Agent in Ngecha, Kenya.
77% of Copia Global Agents are women, meaning that their increased income will have a multiplier effect on the community.that women invest a higher percentage of their income in their families and their communities. Nkoroge plans to use the money to ensure that her two children can finish their schooling.
Even though Copia Global is intentional about designing for their context rather than importing business models, there is a recognition that America’s tech behemoths have something to teach. Last month, Jason Murray, a former Amazon executive, joined Copia Global’s Board of Directors. In his nearly 20 years at the company, he had a front seat to Amazon’s explosive growth and led key initiatives for Amazon such as “Fulfill with Amazon”.
Murray does acknowledge that there were services available in the United States that were critical to Amazon’s success that have not yet fully penetrated the East African market. “It’s the kind of access to credit that the American consumer had. Visa and Mastercard were already pretty widespread by the time Amazon started taking off,” said Murray.
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