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Reiventing Informal retail & Supply Chain in Africa
Orderbetta is reinventing the supply chain of consumer goods for informal retailerss in Africa. The platform connects food and grocery stores to Manufactures of consumer goods (FMCGs) in order to bridge the gap of supply chain inefficiencies and creating opportunities for informal retailers grow their businesses. Over 70% of consumers goods in Sub-Saharan Africa are accessed through the informal retail markets. Zambia is a home to over 10,000 informal retail stores who are the key players to the Zambian economy.
Our technology enabled ordering and delivery system helps customers to avoid traveling to overclouded wholesale places were they can possibly contract the covid-19 disease. Technology is a game change in the wake of Covid-19 and embracing it will certainly reduce the risk of covid-19 disease and any other disease that come in the future.
Define three specific objectives that you would like to achieve with your proposal.
1. To provide Contact-less supply chain of consumer goods for retailers in Zambia.
2. Enhance Digital revolution for untapped market (informal retail market)
3. Reduce mass movement of informal retailers to Wholesale Markets
What problems (particularly in value chain competitiveness and global disruption) are your community’s stakeholders facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic?
Over 70% of consumer goods in Sub-Sahara Africa are accessed through the informal retail shops (ref:https://nextbillion.net/informal-retailers-mobile-solutions-emerging-markets/) and this means that more than half of the Zambia's population access essential goods such as food, groceries and medicine through informal retail stores.
Due to covid-19, communities are advised to avoid overclouded places which can spike the spread of covid-19 and as a result there has been supply chain inefficiencies of essential goods for consumption at community level.
Coupled with poor road network and logistics, the cost of doing business has become expensive and hindering informal retailers to grow their businesses.
What minimum viable solution(s) are you proposing to address the challenge(s) in your community?
The solution to the problem is our on-demand ordering and delivery solution through the use of Mobile App and web platforms while at the same time providing credit line to retailers with an extended 7 days payment period. Since the launch of the solution, there has been a consistent 20% conversion rate and 100% on repeat customer sales.
In addition, those with no smart phones can request orders through SMS and also direct reach with delivery vans to ensure constant supply of essential goods in retail stores.
Share your story (your narrative)
Mary is a retailer in Mtendere compound of Lusaka, she is a single mother who runs a grocery store. She depends on this business to sustain herself and the family at home. There is no easy way that exist to enable Mary manage orders and delivery for her grocery shop and as such she has to leave the shop closed and travel to wholesale market to order products for the shop.
Mary is concerned with the growth of her business and fears that she may not be able to sustain her family due to covid-19 which restricts her from going to large wholesale Market where she can possibly contract the covid-19 disease. She's losing sales when away for orders and in addition she earns a little profit margin due to high order prices of consumer goods. She is facing financing problems and this worry's her that her business can go down.
Mary is looking for an alternative ordering and delivery solution to enable her manage shop orders on the phone. Mary is introduced to Orderbetta Mobile App used by other retailers to manage orders and delivery. She's happy to download the app and try something new. Finally she gives it a try and she's happy to receive her orders in full within a space of 3-4 hours. She has resolved to using Orderbetta App for all her orders going forward and this will prevent her from contracting covid-19 disease by observing social distancing through the use of digital platform. She is happy to get 7 days extending credit for her second order and this has given her hope to revamp the business that appeared to go down.
Please provide any additional relevant information that you would like to share.
Orderbetta is looking forward to reach out to countries faced with supply chain inefficiencies in the Sub-Saharan Africa.
Your Final Proposal for challenge
no
Hi Simon, this is very good, well done but what is the apps business model? How do you intend on go about scaling this app?
Hi Simon, great idea. However, you need to look at what platforms like Copia are doing, not sure if they are in Zambia?
way to go !
Hi Simon,
I trust you are well.
Let me congratulate you on your idea. I’m also happy to see that you’ve made some ground in terms of traction.
I wish to share a few questions and remarks for your consideration.
1. Consider adding sources or citations for the facts/stats quoted in your idea to give it more credibility.
2. Since you’ve already developed a prototype, how about you consider changing your objectives into SMART objectives to reflect where you would like to take Orderbetta going forward. Visit https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-objectives/ for a detailed explanation
3. How does your app solve, mitigate or minimize supply chain inefficiencies, more specifically transportation challenges? There may be a misalignment between your solution and the problems you have mentioned; consider reframing both sections for better alignment. Of course, the latter will all be false if you providing transportation services for your customers which should be explicitly stated.
4. Are there marketplaces already available on the market that performs the same or similar function to Orderbetta? If so, what is or how do you plan to have a competitive advantage over the already existing solutions?
Hi Simon. I have no doubts that you made Mary super happy with your great initiative, and with her, too many others facing ineffective supply chain and also in financial difficulties.
For instance,
-Did you consider that traditional usual supply chain in Zambia, more specifically in rural areas, are not familiar with the digital payments, and what could be the possible solution to bring ease and trust for your users to use your application?
-In which ways do you think using the -Orderbetta- will contribute to increase the financial revenues for the retailers who do not have the same problem as Mary in keeping the shop, or related issues?
- It is very important to keep safe during this period of covid-19, that your application objective in this angle is very suitable, is there any specific stakeholder involved more than another to secure the retailers different deliveries for the different customers?
I wish you a successful implementation and fruitable usage of your application.
Your project outline is impressive Simon. I want to ask that Mary isn't going to the wholesale market to take her supplies does not negate the fact that she can't contract the dreaded coronavirus from the handling and delivery of her supplies from Orderbetta. What are your measures to ensure this doesn't happen? Include them in your submission and you look good. You are doing well, keep building!
Here, I'm referring to their supplies not necessarily cash payments. When their deliveries arrive, its procurement, handling, and delivering same? The despatch vehicle?
Hi Simon, in addition to my earlier comment, kindly look at the solution offered by Marketforce360 and see if this would improve your idea and its long term viability. All the best
Hi simon, i love your innovation. such apps will be very useful in this decade especially now that we have covid19 that is pushing us far on our creative capacity. however i would want you to clarify how a mere user like me can use the app for example, after downloading the app, does it mean the app will show me the supported wholesalers? will i have to pay before i get the delivery or pay after delivery? how secure is it for the wholesalers. how are you planning to integrate payment gateways? do zambia have online payment gateways? i wish you all the best
This is a Brilliant idea Simon, Do you have a plan of scaling beyond Zambia?
Does the app business model covers delivery of goods from companies to retailers?
Hi Simone, This is great!
A lot of retailers have little of no digital knowledge How would your solution address this category of people?
Mobile based online marketplace. Good one for now but what is your competitive advantage? How you will grow?
If you go for subscription model, you can not charge more than 3$ per month; If you go for transaction basis, than the shopkeeper may order over phone rather than going via App- How'd you tackle it?
Hi James,
Good initiative. How efficient is your delivery system especially with perishable agricultural products?
Hi Simon. Great idea!!! I wanted to know if you have competition. If you do, how will you stay ahead of the pack? if you dont, how do you secure your market? What will keep others from copying your idea?
Essential and highly scalable! Keep building!
Very useful project. I suggest extending the system to use using cryptomoneys to make it even more accessible to the maximum number of users.
Nice one Simon, we have a similar agri solution here in Kenya,called Twiga Foods. You may want to check them out@!
Great idea, go for it!! you have my vote!!
Besides twiga foods and copia, you may want to look at Sokowatch and see how they made it: https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/sokowatch...l-sector/66922/
some other interesting insights here: https://nextbillion.net/informal-retailers-mo...erging-markets/
In the meantime, you may want to have a look at our idea and vote for it if yo like it: https://cocreate.itu.int/post/3496670
The idea has been progressed to the next milestone.
Status label added: Community feedback received
Status label added: Mentor feedback received
You need to refine your idea based on the feedback you received and post it back (by pressing the edit button) on this site for expert feedback. Without posting your refined idea, you wont receive the expert feedback tag-which is essential for filling up your final submission document. Challenge ends on 31 Aug (monday). So, hurry up. Inform me once you have done that.
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