TECHDIGEST – Mastercard has stated that it will train one million Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises in finance in five years.

The company stated that it will collaborate with Alerzo to provide small businesses with training and expertise.

In a statement, Mastercard noted that the partnership with Alerzo would see it provide digital payment solutions, financial training, and access to credit to SMEs in Nigeria’s fast-moving consumer goods sector.

According to the firm, this will help businesses increase their sustainability and success in the market.

It stated it would leverage Alerzo’s expertise in B2B e-commerce and its global infrastructure and network to make digital payments more accessible to businesses of all sizes.

It added that the partnership would enable it to offer a range of innovative solutions, including VeedezPay, a digital payment solution designed for informal and small businesses; VeedezPro, a business management tool tailored for SMEs, and ERP solutions for more established businesses.

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Commenting on the partnership, the Chief Executive Officer of Alerzo Ltd, Adewale Opaleye, said, “We are excited to partner with Mastercard to support the growth and success of SMEs in Nigeria.

“With our combined expertise and resources, we look forward to continuing to provide training, financial support, and innovative payment solutions to businesses in Nigeria. These solutions could be a game-changer, especially for our informal retailers, who often get overlooked.”

The Country Manager and Area Business Head, West Africa at Mastercard, Ebehijie Momoh, also stated, “Nigerian small businesses have proved their resiliency in recent years, but still face many pressures to remain profitable.

“Through our partnership with Alerzo, we are excited to combine our expertise and resources to drive digital transformation and financial inclusion, providing training and solutions that enable Nigerian businesses to thrive.

This collaboration will play a crucial role in digitising payments and supporting the growth and success of Nigerian businesses.”

He noted that the lack of digitisation had been a major obstacle for SMEs in the country, hindering their ability to tap into new sales opportunities, track sales and inventory, and access credit to grow their businesses.

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TECHDIGEST – In support of the remark made by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami that the country’s march towards attaining 95 percent digital literacy in 2030 now looks more promising than ever, Adewale Opaleye, the group CEO of Alerzo, has said the realisation of this target will drive increased technology adoption among informal retailers and micro businesses in the country.

Opaleye noted that there was a need for informal retailers and micro businesses to key into the federal government’s 95 percent digital literacy projection for 2030 as contained in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), 2020 – 2030.

He corroborated the minister who maintained that ICT was not just an independent sector but the key enabler in trade, investment industry and other sectors.

Opaleye further stressed that technology will help informal retailers in running their businesses with ease and make more profits.

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Digital literacy is needed to harness the innovative solutions brands like Alerzo and other B2B tech firms are providing to the age-long challenges that informal retailers experience which includes restocking, logistics, bookkeeping, etc.

Alerzo’s unique proposition involves meeting the needs of informal retail businesses at their comfort. These thousands of retailers being serviced by Alerzo are not challenged with running out of stock nor stepping out of their stores to restock as they easily place orders for groceries on Alerzoshop app and receive deliveries within a maximum of four hours, while also receiving and making payments with the Alerzo POS terminal.

Veedez, another product of Alerzo, a bookkeeping and inventory management app, helps retailers to calculate their profits, track their stock and get prompts on goods with low inventory. 

Opaleye further stated: “Informal retailers need to move away from the old ways of doing business to embracing technology. To provide a solution to the problem of logistics, we did something unthinkable by buying a fleet of vehicles and owning our warehouses. We also developed our software, we do deliveries within four hours of order because we own our entire vehicles. We ended up building a bank of solutions for our retailers.”

While harnessing the benefits of digital literacy through the federal government’s vision, there’s no doubt that this will drive an array of innovative Nigerian products that are affordable.

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TECHDIGEST – The Nigerian digital economy holds immense potential for the overall growth of the economy. In recent years, the government and other stakeholders have woken up to the possible contribution of the ICT sector to the development of the country.

To propel the country towards attaining a vibrant digital economy, the federal government unveiled a roadmap in the form of a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020 to 2030.

Led by the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, government agencies such as National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) have been formulating policy directions towards a vibrant digital economy for Nigeria.

Achieving a digital economy however goes beyond policies. To spark digital activities and generate traffic needed for the desired growth, more businesses, especially in the retail sector, have to transit online.

At the forefront of this transaction is e-commerce. With 58 online marketplaces in the Nigerian e-commerce space, activities in the business-to-consumer segment of the market have been remarkable.

While the B2C segment gained acceptance, the informal retail sector which is an integral part of Nigeria’s economy was hitherto left behind.

In the last three years, innovative e-commerce brands like Alerzo, TradeDepot, Omnibiz have taken up the challenge of bringing the $100 billion Nigerian informal retail market into the growing digital community. As evident in advanced markets, bringing hundreds of thousands of retailers online tends to have a ripple impact on the development of the economy.

By their business models, B2B e-commerce platforms are a chain of activities that open up economic opportunities such as job creation, financial inclusion and technology advancement.

An industry innovator and expert, Adewale Opaleye, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Alerzo Limited, explained that through their activities, B2B e-commerce platforms allow local retailers to improve their businesses and become profitable and thus encourages them to hire more staff to support their production and/or distribution activities. Beyond this, he explained that there are far reaching impacts of these platforms combined to drive overall growth of the economy. “B2B e-commerce or digital platforms enable hundreds of SMEs across Nigeria to run profitable and sustainable businesses, benefiting from the economics of digitization to achieve a significant increase in their activity level. This facilitates economic development in Nigeria by allowing many entrepreneurs (retailers) to embark on new innovative projects.

B2B platforms like Alerzo are also shaping the Nigeria narrative by showcasing the attractive investment opportunities to the world, while also reaching people in rural areas and giving them access to extensive catalogue of products and logistics. We also facilitate development and financial inclusion through digital payment platforms. For instance, Alerzo, through AlerzoPay, is contributing to the development of dematerialized payment solutions which are key to the success of e-commerce and an important asset for Nigeria when it comes to development prospects,” Opaleye explained. According to him, Alerzo directly employs more than 1,700 people in its operational chain.

The Federal government recently espoused the improving impact of e-commerce on the country’s economy, saying the current e-commerce spending in Nigeria has grown to $13billion per annum and expected to hit $75billion in revenue per annum by 2025.

It also said e-commerce grew in Nigeria from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020. The government has also expressed passion about the growing investment opportunities in the e-commerce value chain, which are capable of contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

With increasing internet penetration riding on mobile smartphone adoption, the pillars for a vibrant digital economy are gradually falling in place.

At this point, it can be safely said that Nigeria’s digital economy plan is heading towards the right direction; thanks to innovative e-commerce brands facilitating needed activities.

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