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Maka , an African fashion and smasher e - commerce political program , has raised a $ 2.65 million pre - seed round led by Pan - African venture capital firms 4DX Ventures and Janngo Capital . Other investors include Palm Drive Capital , backer investor Jonathan Shipman , founder of EVP and Twitch founding member , and executive director from delivery platform Wolt .
In 2021 , carbon monoxide - founder and CEODiana Owusu - Kyerekofounded Maka as an interactive social DoC platform , which , through live try - on haul , reviews , and user - generated mental object from both creators and customers , enable users to discover products tailored to their style in a scalable way .
Before starting the einsteinium - commerce business , Owusu - Kyereko was the ex - chief executive officer of Jumia Ghana and ex-husband - CCO of Jumia Kenya . She said launching Maka began during the pandemic when she was in Ghana and struggled to find inclusive mode inspiration . As a typical repatriate , Owusu - Kyereko had a routine of travel to London whenever she ask to shit . But realizing she could n’t do that during restricted change of location inspire her to search alternatives . When seeking recommendation , friends directed her to mainstream sites and influencers .
Owusu - Kyereko say she became fascinate by why everyone evoke shopping on weapons platform like ASOS and Instagram or visiting expensive boutiques . To turn over deeper , she survey C of people in Ghana and Nigeria , focusing on their pet shopping avenues ; it became observable that shopping was a challenging experience and a gap that need speak .
According to her , among explored shopping methods , Instagram stood out as the “ Wild Wild West , ” where what you see may not be what you get , and pre - defrayment is often required with limited options for refunds or returns . Meanwhile , while offering a personal touch sensation , traditional markets could be stressful , leading to trust on personal shoppers . to boot , fussy - border shopping from platforms like ASOS and Shein presented challenge link up to payments and logistics .
“ In all , it was quite complex and complicated for the user . And so I see that you had a trouble with trust in the buying summons . the great unwashed had their revulsion level about buying online . Then the other affair was that this aggregation of everybody ’s needs in one place was also not there . And that ’s what spark Maka , ” the founder and CEO tell . “ So at first , it was like COVID , and being ineffectual to travel to corrupt material felt like a me - problem . And then , like , doing interviews and surveys in the market and recognize that this is a wider challenge for consumers than I think . ”
Owusu - Kyereko launch Maka six calendar month after departing Jumia , place Africa ’s millennials and Gen Zers in an due east - DoC market that is a largely untapped market for fashion brands . The upsurge in technology borrowing , peculiarly among the younger demographic , has move e - commerce penetrationfrom 13 % in 2017 to 28 % in 2021 , turn over 334 million drug user . This speedy expansion presents solid opportunities for Maka to link with a broader consumer base across the continent , specifically focusing on the fashion sphere and the Almighty economy .
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Maka ’s political platform identifies and work two fundamental problems : a trustingness issue in the purchasing process and the challenge creators face in monetize their influence . To address the reliance factor , Maka leverage video recording as a means to colligate users with trusted creators . In low - trust mart , we have observed that telecasting is a powerful shaft for build trustingness . It effectively conveys information , labour rebirth , and establishes rapport between the user , the reviewer , and the buyer .
take care item on a Godhead they corporate trust gives users confidence in their purchasing decision . Initially , the startup considered building a marketplace where Jehovah , consumers , vendors , and steel coexist , with Almighty showcasing products . However , it realized that customers prioritise the self-assurance that what they see is what they get , optimizing their limited disposable income on meaningful purchases . In essence , every client can become a God Almighty .
Notably , the program offers a review option , allow client who make purchases to share their feedback through video reviews , ordinarily between 30 and 60 seconds prospicient . These reviews supply worthful insights for other users , influencing their purchasing decisions . concord to the CEO , this feature has significantly impacted both those making purchase and those creating the reviews , nurture a sense of community of interests and faith within the Maka platform .
“ That ’s what makes us so scalable because I remember in the Godhead economy , if you concentrate on sort of just the big Almighty , you have a belittled pocket billiards of creators that you could work with , and that ’s what we ’ve kind of learned from the origin , ” she said . “ What you ask is kind of like a scalable base of creators , and that ’s why the user - generated content theoretical account is so muscular , and that ’s why everybody can be a creator is so powerful because then it ’s scalable because you have an infinite amount of masses who can create video content on the platform based on purchases , versus working with only a select grouping of Maker to produce content on the platform . ”
to boot , the company has a rewards system to incentivize user to upload these picture reviews . Each time a client / creator upload a review , they earn N500 ( 50 cent ) ; on average , a Almighty on Maka produces about seven videos per user , according to Owusu - Kyereko . In accession to earning point for each TV recap , Jehovah accumulate degree when others make purchase based on their review . Furthermore , creators can download their reassessment from Maka and share them on other societal culture medium platforms , earning extra points for each share . These point can be converted into cash to snitch on the program .
Since its origin , Maka claims to have garnered over 500,000 downloads , list it produce via its initial fashion model of engage with creators through live sessions . However , from its substance abuser - generated mental object simulation launched two month ago , the two - year - old startup has seen over 2,000 reviews created . What ’s next for the company ? Owusu - Kyereko say that Maka will utilize the fund to flesh out its squad and operational maturation , enhance its engineering , and compound its presence in Nigeria .
Fatoumata Bâ , laminitis and executive chairwoman of Janngo Capital , speaking on the investiture , tell her house was draw to Maka ’s vision of leverage technology to empower both consumer and Divine , cementing the startup ’s position at the head of the junction between e - commerce , creative and cultural industries across Africa . “ These three sectors are jointly poise to grow by 4x by 2050 and generate up to $ 200 billion GDP while creating 184 million job , ” she observe . “ We are proud to lead this funding round to aid unlock a potential of massive growth and impact on the continent . ”
