Lack of trust and delayed delivery have been the primary issues confronting e-commerce in Nigeria and throughout Africa. There are regular tales of scammers posing as respectable business owners in order to defraud consumers of their money. This development has produced a sense of insecurity among prospective E-commerce clients, with some avoiding online business or anything connected out of fear of falling victim to these hoodlums.
SLASH.ng is an online escrow marketplace where buyers and sellers connect to complete and secure transactions. Buyers can place orders for products or services advertised by merchants and pay through a “Slash Account.” The fund will be held by SLASH until the product/service is delivered. Furthermore, Slash enables buyers to transact directly with verified sellers regardless of their location. The two parties can define the transaction’s terms and conditions without any intermediary. Slash is great for freelancers, self-employed entrepreneurs, family enterprises, manufacturers, online retailers, suppliers and dropshippers, among others.
According to the founder, Hakeem Abogunde, “despite the surge in internet penetration in Nigeria and Africa, more than 98 percent of Nigerians lack trust in e-commerce, with barely 1% of Nigerians routinely patronizing eCommerce.” We want to establish a system that everyone can trust. With the integrated delivery system, users will be able to follow their transaction from the point of sale until delivery.”
Hakeem is a software engineer with extensive marketing and business development skills. As a result of his passion for e-commerce, he chose to develop long-term solutions to the major challenges confronting e-commerce in Nigeria and Africa.
In 2019, he established Zcnox, an escrow marketplace that accepted cryptocurrency payments, but he was unable to continue due to cryptocurrency’s low level of adoption in Nigeria and its volatile nature, making it unsafe to use as a method of payment for goods and services. He began to consider a more acceptable alternative.
He developed a beta version of the SLASH app for the Abuja market last year with a limited number of categories. It was enthusiastically received by the majority of sellers. SLASH currently have over 1,000 verified sellers and processes over ten million naira in transaction. SLASH is currently open to all Nigerians, with additional categories such as freelancing, autos & cars, and services.
Speaking about the plan for year 2022, he said “This is our first public announcement since product introduction, We are aware that the escrow concept is relatively new in Nigeria. We’ve been educating sellers about the benefits of utilizing escrow to facilitate their online transactions. We look forward to collaborating with more businesses and individuals. We want everyone to take part. With escrow payment, we can develop a viable e-commerce system similar to Alibaba in Africa.”
Concerning funding, he stated, “Presently, the platform generates the majority of its revenue from escrow and delivery charges. We had established contact with both foreign and domestic investors who were quite interested in the startup. however, no agreement has been reached at the moment.”
For more information, please visit Slash website : https://slash.ng or download app on playstore https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codebase.slash.
