Underlying values of partnership in micro business ecosystem

In the business world, trust is an integral part of building a strong customer base and building reputation over a short or long period of time particularly for e-commerce firms that are dealing with microbusiness owners.

These B2B businesses help retailers get goods at the manufacturers or accredited suppliers price and get the same delivered for free at the time they (retailers) want the goods delivered.

Alerzo CEO, Adewale Opaleye, hinted that tech firms helping retailers of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) shop with ease through their mobile phones, are setting a standard with their reputation and free delivery services.

“On top of that, what we need in this space is building trust,” he said. “Right now in this space, we are the only company that delivers within four hours; retailers get their products delivered to them within four hours depending on when they order for products,” he added.

Opaleye continued: “We own our infrastructure, that is actually important because you don’t solve a problem by being a third party in space.

“Right now we built our own logistics routing software that allows our drivers to walk around retail stores pretty quickly.”

Going further on using technology to help retailers run their businesses, he explained that e-commerce is pretty big “even before we started to talk about e-commerce, commerce already existed. Everyone was already buying and selling.”

He said further: “E-commerce needs two things to function: smartphones and the internet. Right now smartphones are becoming more accessible to the people.”

Meanwhile, e-commerce spending in Nigeria is worth about $12billion and is forecast to hit $75 billions by 2025.