MallforAfrica and DHL have partnered to expand the trading frontier of African merchants with the launch of MarketPlaceAfrica.com: an e-commerce site for select African artisans to sell wares to buyers in any of DHL’s 220 delivery countries.
TechCrunch reports that fashion items—clothing, bags, jewellery, footwear, and personal care—and crafts, such as pictures and carvings will take precedence over others.
MallforAfrica will be vetting sellers for MarketPlace Africa online and through the Africa Made Product Standards association (AMPS), to verify made in Africa status and merchandise quality.
Commenting, MallforAfrica CEO Chris Folayan said: “We’re starting off in Nigeria and then we’ll open in Kenya, Rwanda and the rest of Africa, utilizing DHL’s massive network. People all around the world can buy from African artisans online, that’s the goal.”
In addition to DHL for shipping, MarketPlace Africa will utilize MallforAfrica’s e-commerce infrastructure. The startup was founded in 2011 to solve the challenges global consumer goods companies face when entering Africa.
MallforAfrica’s payment and the delivery system serves as a digital broker and logistics manager for U.S. retailers, who partner with MFA to sell their goods online to African consumers.
The venture has backing from UK private equity firm Helios Investment Partners and alliances with companies such as consumer electronics chain Best Buy and department store Macy’s.
In 2016 MallforAfrica partnered with eBay to launch the eBay Powered by MallforAfrica platform allowing U.S. vendors to sell in Africa. In 2017 eBay opened its U.S. platform to select sales from African vendors through MallforAfrica’s website.
This is not the first time that MallforAfrica and DHL will work together. Back in 2017, they partnered to facilitated the selling of Made-in-Africa products to customers in the United States.
