Biram Fall is the regional manager for sub-Sahara Africa, Qnet. In this interview, he speaks on how the company in partnership with Transblue plans to transform the e-commerce and direct selling industry in Nigeria. AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE brings the excerpt:
What is your assessment of the economic prospects of the e-commerce industry, and why should the government give more attention to the industry?
Revenue from e-commerce has continued to increase around the world. In 2021, Nigeria accounted for $7 billion in revenue, coming up as the 33rd largest market for e-commerce ahead of Denmark and behind Colombia.
It is not surprising that several opportunities have emerged with this growth. The successful adoption of electronic payments in Nigeria is encouraging, a phenomenon that has only been made possible with the participation of the government.
The entrance of payment service providers has positioned Nigeria as a promising market for e-commerce. These developments are helping to foster financial inclusion in Nigeria, a campaign that has been pursued for close to a decade now.
Kindly take us through what you see as the future of e-commerce in Nigeria and how technology can help to build, expand, diversify, and scale up the sector?
Nigeria’s economy is leaning towards a cashless and digital payment system. Electronic banking platforms are being implemented across most states of the federation to facilitate payment systems.
Currently, many transactions can be conducted electronically using several of the emerging digital financial services platforms like MasterCard, e-transact, and Visa Card among others. With the increase in internet usage, Nigerian businesses will also be able to take advantage of the global reach to open new and profitable markets for local goods and services, in the not-too-distant future.
E-commerce draws on technology. If the economy is driven by tech advancement, the vast majority of people will need to make use of payment platforms to access it. Technology development must not only be centered in urban communities but in rural communities as well to rob in more and more people.
Do you think that online and internet transactions could breed fraudulent activity?
Fraud covers a broad range of activities united by some form of misrepresentation by unscrupulous people trying to take undue advantage of others. Its relation to technology in many industrialised countries like Nigeria is a worrying menace; hence no entity is immune from it. However, instead of fighting to recover from the consequence of fraudulent activities, e-commerce companies are working on authenticating users, communicating better with their customers, and staying consistent.
We believe that the private sector can contribute to the fight against fraud by implementing public education programmes targeted at vulnerable population groups.
In our case, we recently launched in Nigeria FinGreen initiative, the QNET Financial Literacy programme aimed at developing healthy financial habits through education and training in the most vulnerable communities, especially among young adults.
Nearby, we recently launched a programme called MAMA Campaign with the aim of educating and bringing to the public a greater understanding of the direct selling industry. The pilot of this programme was in Ghana, and we are planning to roll out a similar agenda in Nigeria.
What are the essential infrastructures that need to be instituted to ensure the public avoids fraudulent schemes while transacting online?
Avoiding fraud largely will depend on the individual as infrastructure for it is not so easy to come by. Fraudsters are constantly scheming, and it will take individuals to carefully verify and examine the credibility of persons or companies they deal with and the soundness of the information they are provided with before engaging them.
However, regulations are important in tackling the issue on a large scale. Fraud has taken a new trajectory, and the regulations that bind how people conduct e-commerce business must be revised to take into consideration the growing trends in crime.
How have the experiences garnered over the years helped to shape your strategies in running QNET?
Since 1998, we have thrived on the goodwill of our customers and distributors to link several businesses to a thriving market. We forge strong partnerships to effectively and efficiently serve our independent representatives and our customers. Most importantly, we produce the best products, at the right price points, with robust logistical and technological support in-market. This is important in Africa where failing to adapt to the logistical and customer demands can seriously hamper a company’s operations.
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The fact that we have well-established global e-commerce and direct selling ecosystems also give us the ability to move fast to meet the needs of the market. This in turn empowers the entrepreneurs in our system.
As a company that has grown out of a developing country to become a global leader with operations across 25 countries, we understand that growth can only be achieved if we equip our partners and clients with high-quality products and efficient business models, and that is the consistency I made reference to earlier.
Doing business in Nigeria is tough. What logistical challenges do you encounter and how has it impacted your business?
I don’t necessarily agree with the perception that doing business in Nigeria is tougher than in any other place in the world. In fact, there are more developed nations that have even bigger challenges; it all depends on the market fit.
Some aspects of doing business can be challenging, but that is why it becomes necessary to develop partnerships with people and companies that have the expertise we don’t have.
It is actually the same concept you find in direct selling, whereby the entrepreneurs don’t have the manufacturing capability to come up with the product, but they have the drive, network, and local knowledge needed to run a successful business.
How is the operation of QNET structured to attract and sustain patronage going forward? What are some of the unique selling points that make the company stand out?
QNETs unique direct selling model provides a reliable way to earn money through product sales. The model uses a compensation plan that calculates commissions payable to customers based on the sales volumes generated through referrals in our commercial portal, and I am proud to state that our compensation plan is the best in the sector globally.
Our well-established global e-commerce and direct selling ecosystems have enabled us to grow from a developing company to become a global leader with operations across 30 countries.
Getting the buy-in of stakeholders in Nigeria to develop an important industry like the one you operate in is a huge challenge. What would you say is the best approach to win over doubters?
Our entry into Nigeria is in line with the government of Nigeria’s vision to partner with the private sector to effectively achieve the desired economic recovery and transformative growth. We also believe that this is a shared objective across the board and actually have received great enthusiasm and partnership so far.
It also helps that we have built a great partnership with Transblue with a focus on ensuring that all our products and services reach their appropriate goals effectively and efficiently. It is also such strong partnerships that help us to overcome any challenges along the way.
The issue of human capacity remains pivotal in Nigeria. What are the strategic plans that need to be put in place to address this?
No economy in the world has developed its economy without investing in its people. We also know that the private sector is critical to human capital development. In our case, we not only have innovative programmes such as our FinGreen programme that equips Nigerians with Financial Literacy skills, but we also believe that direct selling offers a direct opportunity to individuals to develop networking, entrepreneurship, and innovation skills needed to succeed in business. We all must work together to create opportunities that unlock the potential of our economies.
What are some of the programmes QNET has lined up that Nigerians can look forward to over the next five years?
As a company, everything we do stems from the core legacy of our founders which is ‘Raise Yourself to Help Mankind’ (Acronym RYTHM). We also have multiple programmes in Africa that will be replicated in Nigeria. Some of these programmes include our partnership with Eco Matcher to launch the Green Legacy Initiative, partnering with Water for Africa to provide clean water for rural communities in Tanzania, a partnership between the RYTHM Foundation, QNET’s social impact initiative, and our support for livelihoods through macadamia and avocado farming on a 50-acre land in Iringa.
In the holy month of Ramadan, QNET gave back to society by donating food and medical devices in 30 countries. During world water day, QNET gave communities in need of clean water.
We are also excited to launch another flagship global programme, and Nigeria will be the very first country where the implementation of this programme would start. This is the FinGreen programme. The programme, dubbed FinGreen employs a train the trainers’ model, ensuring that the information impacted is transmitted to the community for a more sustainable outcome.
Fin Green is designed to impart critical financial management skills and knowledge by training young leaders drawn from various communities to become trainers and champions of financial literacy and economic empowerment among the youth.
As you know, being financially literate today allows an individual to be better poised for certain financial roadblocks which, in turn, reduces the chances of personal economic distress.
We developed this programme because sustainability is a core pillar of our values at QNET. We aim to make a long-lasting impact in the communities we operate, and looking at the growing youth population in the country, it is important to ensure that future and current generations have the requisite information needed to make empowered socio-economic decisions.
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