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E-Commerce expected to create local, international opportunities for Kenyan SMEs
Kenyan SMEs must embrace e-commerce as a strategy to grow their business, increase capacity and eventually attract long term financing….
Kenyan SMEs must embrace e-commerce as a strategy to grow their business, increase capacity and eventually attract long term financing. Business and corporate leaders meeting during the E-Commerce Kenya Conference held at Strathmore University said that ecommerce is an indispensable proposition in the growth of the SME sector.
Dr George Njenga, the Strathmore Business School Dean said Kenyan SME must deploy e-commerce strategies to capture county and national markets before eventually taking part in intra Africa trade.
‘‘E-Commerce is creating immense opportunities both locally and internationally and we must support entrepreneurs and business to develop their skills and competencies to compete at a continental level.’’ said Dr Njenga.
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Mr. Emeke E. Iweriebor, CEO at UBA East and Southern Africa was among the key note speakers at the conference. He said that eCommerce remains a key driver of global economic growth with web sales nearing USD 3 trillion in 2018 while e-commerce sales in Kenya generated an estimated KES 4.3 billion in the same period.
“Kenya has over 46 million mobile phone subscribers with over 2.9 million shopping online. A significant opportunity exists for future growth. This is a clear indicator of the role of e-commerce as an enabler of business growth’’ said Mr Iweriebor. “I encourage SMES to embrace e-commerce as an integral part of their business strategy, leveraging on the opportunities it presents to rapidly scale up locally and internationally”.
Safaricom’s Head of Masoko, Sharon Holi said young entrepreneurs and businesses need to take advantage of existing infrastructure to take part in e-commerce. ‘’We encourage vendors across the country to take advantage of the Masoko infrastructure to expand their reach and venture into new market.’’ Ms Holi. Masoko has a top of the range infrastructure for vendors interested in business to consumer e-commerce.