Global fintech Unlimint, this year’s media village sponsor of Web Summit, announced its plan to launch its own new eCommerce platform for businessmen looking to increase their global digital presence and expand the company’s clientele to SMEs by the end of 2022.

This announcement opens a new chapter in the company’s business development strategy, appeals to its mission “to be ready for tomorrow” and happens at a time when the eCommerce industry is experiencing a huge growth spurt.

With the share of global eCommerce sales expected to reach a 21.8 percent in 2024 and regions like Latin America and APAC seeing incredible double-digit eCommerce growth in these past two years, the industry is at its all-time high and will continue developing at record speed.

“The world has changed. While European merchants have easy access to any type of solution they need, merchants in developing countries still require high-quality tools for their businesses.

“That’s why we have set ourselves on a mission – make eCommerce affordable and available for merchants worldwide and allow them to earn an unlimited amount of money, selling their goods online, without marketplaces and other middlemen,” Alex Antonov, Unlimint’s Chief Product Officer commented.

Antonov said the company believes in a free market and is certain that the Internet still has space for new sellers, as the availability of choice and competition at the end of the day makes the end customer happier.

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“To make our mission a reality, we are creating a product that will allow anyone to open their own online business, without big budgets and programming skills. Our product will be self-sufficient, comfortable, reliable, and honest, one that we would want to use ourselves and would recommend to our friends and partners,” he added.

“According to our observations, eCommerce platforms that currently exist in developed countries offer an entry threshold that is quite high for merchants in developing countries, while marketplaces are either unavailable or provide conditions that limit the business’s expansion.

By “entry threshold”, we mean the requirement to pay a certain fee for a service subscription, before the business actually starts earning money and bringing in profit, as well as difficulties with connecting other external payment providers, due to a usually limited geographical span and portfolio of payment methods,” Kirill Evstratov, Unlimint’s CEO said.

Evstratov said “We are entering a highly competitive market that has several strong players. Nevertheless, we are certain that our product has a clear target audience, as we are focusing it on developing markets, where current industry leaders are still not dominating because their services aren’t always customized for the local audience’s needs.

“We are ready to offer a pricing model that will make our product more interesting to that audience. We are ready to offer more profitable options of cooperation than our competitors. On top of that our product will include all the functions needed to start doing business online. It will be a one-stop-shop solution that eliminates any other additional external products.”

The official launch of the platform is scheduled in the second half of 2022.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

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