Afroplan, an African “phygital” startup. The phygital? In the jargon of the world of supermarkets, it is the meeting of the digital with the physical points of sale of the large distribution. In West Africa, Afroplan has managed to forge a strategic partnership with RAMCO, a major player in physical mass distribution in Togo. Thanks to this B2B partnership, consumers will be informed in real time of the reductions in stocks in the chain of stores. A buoyant market for Africa, where the boom in the mass market has seemed exponential for almost two years. In just two years, the number of shopping centers has increased by almost 18%, according to research firm Sagaci Research. Meet Afroplan, an African Retail startup that is tackling a segment driven by double-digit growth.
Sagaci Research shopping center report published on June 25, 2015 (Source: Sagaci Research)
Sagaci Research shopping center report published on June 25, 2015 (Source: Sagaci Research)
Hello ! Can you introduce yourself in a few words?
I am Clétus Razakou, a young Ivoiro-Togolese digital entrepreneur. Professional application developer, I am a mobile application development consultant at Qualean-IT, a company based in France and Togo, and CEO of Gooddia, a digital services provider such as mobile application development. , the creation of websites of all categories and advertising spots that I co-founded with an Ivorian by the name of Cayo Christian and a Togolese Atchabao Nouri.
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You are embarking on the entrepreneurial adventure with your startup, Afroplan. What was the first step? A word on the problem you are trying to solve?
Afroplan comes from the observation that promotions in supermarkets and stores are not known to the public. Suddenly the products put on sale for reasons of destocking or because of expiration date are difficult to sell. So we decided to set up this web and mobile platform so that supermarkets and consumers can exchange information in real time.
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So in one sentence, what is Afroplan’s value proposition?
Afroplan is a mobile application and a web platform that brings together all the promotions of supermarkets and stores in the city in one place and alerting all its users by a notification system.
Thus, users are always informed of discounts in real time. I see the interest for traders, but how does Afroplan make a living from this service? What is your business model?
Yes, on Afroplan we put together merchants seeking to sell their stock and consumers wishing to buy at a lower cost, thanks to a mobile application. The economic model is broken down into two points:
First, supermarkets and others will be billed for putting promotional products online. Then supermarkets and other vendors can purchase specialized ad space that will be made available on the site and the mobile app.
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Entrepreneurship in African countries is difficult. What obstacles have you encountered with Afroplan?
The main obstacle we encountered was financial. We need enough resources to publicize the platform, especially since it is present in 3 countries including Togo, Côte d’Ivoire with Christian Cayo and finally Senegal where we are also physically present with Dodji Honou, a maker- contractor. This does not currently allow us to reach all the supermarkets and the largest number of consumers. However, we continue to implement LowCost strategies to popularize the application and the web platform with consumers and supermarkets.
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A prototype ready to test?
Absolutely, on www.afroplan.com it is already possible to carry out transactions and test our solution. We have also just entered into a partnership with RAMCO, one of the leaders in mass distribution in Togo. We have just set up a B2B partnership which will allow all RAMCO customers using the Afroplan application to save money.
Remind us of your support needs? Do you want to send a message to our readers?
The support we will need is communication and popularization with the widest audience although our financial resources are limited for faster development. I encourage all readers of #TECHAfrica and StartupBRICS to download, use and disseminate the information on the platform and the Apps in all the other communities to which they belong.
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source: http://startupbrics.com/retail-togo-startup-africaine-afroplan-grande-distribution/#.Vo-X3_nJzIV
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