In the next decade, Africa's growth in e-commerce activity is expected to grow annually by at least 40%, reaching about $300 million (E4500 billion) by 2025, according to McKinsey. The IMF World Economic Outlook Report, estimates that 11 of the 25 fastest-growing economies are African countries, with great emphasis on the growth and emergence of eCommerce. This should give us the general idea and conviction that truly eCommerce is what we should be focused on. Let's be honest, our country Swaziland hasn't been doing much to get a piece of this pie and as is, there are challenges that we have to overcome if we are to disrupt eCommerce. I recently tried launching an eCommerce store but these challenges hit hard and the realization of the dream was farfetched.
Logistics
Our current transportation and delivery systems are not sufficiently equipped to allow for the shipping of goods, this isn't just about poor roads but we face navigation limitations as well as prevalent expensive logistics options.
To overcome such a challenge, other countries have introduced drone deliveries such as in Tanzania and Rwanda where Zipline, an American logistics giant, has introduced drone delivery, especially for medical supplies. The Tanzanian government through Zipline aims to make up to 2000 medical supply deliveries per day. Other African countries have overcome the logistics challenges by introducing crowd-sourced delivery/crowd-sourced shipping. For instance, South Africa uses services such as Picup which even offers 90-minute deliveries and Nigeria uses such services as Metro Africa Xpress.
Internet Access
Low internet penetration limits the growth of eCommerce. At a penetration of 27.8%, nearly about 362 000 people have internet access in the country, leaving a whopping +900 00 people. Apart from low penetration, we still face expensive connectivity rates. The adage that 1GB of internet costs more than 1 liter of petrol in Swaziland is true. The development of the IT infrastructure is key if we are to disrupt the eCommerce industry and reap its benefits.
Advanced Financial Sector
Our banking system isn't compatible with some of the available online payment methods such as PayPal nor do payment gateways such as Paystack accommodate Eswatini. If we are to disrupt the eCommerce sector, we will need advanced financial solutions which are compatible and efficient and that is to say, our financial institutions will have to be well-trained in the area and come up with innovative products and services that allow and support the growth of eCommerce and especially SMME’s. Apart from that, we would have to tackle the issue of the unbanked population (which currently sits at +55%) or at least come up with innovative solutions to reach them and leverage the opportunity. I admire the capabilities that Mobile Money has in disrupting the financial sector, reaching the unbanked all over the world. Interestingly, around 2 billion people globally are unbanked, with 80% of Sub-Saharan African adults unbanked, that's around 326 million, according to McKinsey.
I hope for more innovation and advancement which will allow for the growth of eCommerce in the next coming year(s) locally. I’d like to hear more stories on your tech innovation and would help anyhow I can, just feel free to hit me up, and let’s connect. Reach out to us via email at codeswatini@gmail.com / thuba.mamba@codeswatini.org.