It may sound like a story straight from a film script from just owning a laptop and an idea to landing a mega Sh30 million in prize money to scale up a tech start-up.
This is typically the entrepreneurship journey of Tesh Mbaabu, the Co-Founder and CEO of Marketforce Technologies (Kenya).
Like many other startups Market force technologies, according to Mbabu were conceptualised to help shops commonly referred to as duka’s to formalize their operations and increase their profits.
Statistics show that Dukas in Kenya supply roughly 80 percent of consumer goods and are often run by women or families.
They take products and services closer to the people and are the only ones that are known to sometimes give goods on credit to the lowest consumer along the value chain.
Despite the massive advantages in Kenya, they still face many challenges and are unable to run efficiently, resulting in lower earnings for their owners and even access to funding due to their informal nature.
It is for this reason that Mbabu says the firm was born to ensure that small businesses are formalized and positioned strategically to access funding.
“Across the continent, the African financial services industry remained largely informal, with most transactions completed in cash and a high percentage of the population lacking access to personal banking and other financial services products,” said Mbabu.
He says that the desire to build scalable technology solutions led him to study computer science as an undergraduate at the University of Nairobi.
And with his new friend and classmate, Mesongo Sibuti committed to working with him, the pair dove headfirst into building their first startup in 2015, initially armed with their laptops as the only tool of the trade.
It’s that this point that they Co-founded the startup headquartered in Nairobi that’s looking to be the ultimate business partner that empowers 1 million retailers in Africa to maximize their profits & grow in a digital age.
MarketForce is building the SuperApp that drives growth for the neighborhood merchant reimagining a better future for themselves and retail trade across Africa.
“Through our RejaReja app, we empower fast-moving consumer goods micro retailers in Africa to source, order and pay for inventory digitally and conveniently, access financing, collect digital payments and make extra money by reselling digital financial services such as airtime, electricity tokens and bill payments,”
On the supplier side, MarketForce monetizes through availing real-time market intelligence and sales dashboards to FMCG suppliers and targeted ads and promotions to thousands of merchants through our online platform and extensive network of local gig sales agents.
A report by Wylde International revealed that seven in every ten businesses that plan to get financing need additional support with linkages to financiers, followed by preparing a winning business plan in order to access financing.
With little or no financial support, most have struggled to break even.
Mbabu says with a clear framework of the operations of small businesses they will be able to create a credit score and access funding.
The Market Force is already hosting over 200,000 merchants and over 100 suppliers on the platform.
The efforts to digitize informal businesses have seen the company awarded runners-up among the top three Africa’s Business Heroes for 2022.
Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition is Jack Maa’s initiative that is aimed at supporting and inspiring the next generation of African entrepreneurs across all sectors who are building a more sustainable and inclusive economy for the future of the continent
Marketforce Technologies (Kenya) emerged second to bag $250,000 (Sh30,587,500) in fresh funding after East Africa Fruits Company from Tanzania bagged $300,000 (Sh36,705,000), Rahet Bally from Egypt emerged third to take home $150,000 (Sh18,352,500).
This is his second attempt at the competition failing to even make it into the Top 50 in 2021
The annual competition, now in its fourth year, shines a spotlight on talented African entrepreneurs working to make a difference in their communities and helping build a more sustainable, inclusive future. The ABH competition is grassroots oriented as well as age, gender and sector agnostic.
“We aim to be operational across at least 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with one million active merchants on the platform by 2025,” added Mbabu.
This year’s official competition slogan, “It’s African Time,” was a bold call to action for talented African entrepreneurs to redefine stereotypes associated with “African time” as creating local impact and building a better, more inclusive future through their businesses.
In recent years, there has been a boom in African startups attracting funding from local and international investors, with some attaining unicorn status. Most of these benefiting startups are in the growth phase, leaving two funding gaps in the market: the early stage (pre-seed funding) and series A/B funding.
Pre-seed funding is typically challenging because investors are skeptical about the feasibility of early-stage startups.
The State of Tech in Africa Report shows that Investment in African startups grew 18 times between 2015 and 2021 and 2 times faster than global rates between 2020 and 2021.
However, beyond the funding stories, there are the quieter tales of exits.
By the end of H1 2022, African-focused private capital investors had already made 22 full exits, representing about a 29 percent increase compared to the 15 exits made in 2021 H1.