The key to boosting the mobile e-commerce sector.
"The commissions I earn as a Copia agent have been my working capital,” Kihara, 48, said as he stood in green overalls at his small shop in Kawaida, a village 23km north of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi."All this has been possible due to money from the business.”
Copia’s slogan, Maisha Rahisi, means ‘simple life’ in Swahili. The company, founded in 2013 by American social entrepreneurs Tracey Turner and Jonathan Lewis, is still making a loss. But its sales are growing at a rate of 15% a month in Kenya, a country whose citizens have been quick to take up mobile e-commerce services ranging from money transfers to digital-loans.
Within 18 months Steel expects to have 18,000 agents, he said, and to have begun expanding into Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. He expects the company to turn a profit within two years, though he declined to give financial details. Workers pack orders ready for dispatch at a Copia Global Inc logistics and distribution hub at Tatu City Industrial Park, outside Nairobi, Kenya.
Copia will need to access more finance if it is to proceed with its plans and is hopeful it can raise funding in the early part of 2021, though it isn’t yet considering a listing.Copia raised US$26mil last year in a funding round led by LGT Lightstone, an impact investment company owned by Liechtenstein’s royal family. The company is currently owned by between 30 and 40 investors including LGT and DOB Equity, a fund based in the Netherlands, said Steel.
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