Alerzo Harps On Empowerment Of Micro Businesses, Others
LAGOS – Alerzo, the business-to-business e-commerce platforms has reiterated its mission to empower micro businesses in the country in a bid to assist them to operate profitably and sustainably.
The company in a statement said that through its digital platform, retailers buy consumable goods at manufacturers’ and authorised distributors rates and get the same freely delivered.
It said these automatically save them stress, time and money of having to shop from the open markets.
Alerzo, founded in 2019 by Adewale Opaleye based in Ibadan, Oyo State focuses on supplying much-needed products to informal retailers by sourcing products from manufacturers based on orders from customers has improved the profitability of over 80,000 retail owners.
The company has also been in the fore of curbing the menace of adulterated products, less access to finance, limited use of modern business practices, inadequate logistics, excessive intermediaries, huge cash transactions, underserved markets and other challenges experienced by retailers.
“We serve informal retailers, a critical part of the $100 billion informal market sector within Nigeria. The majority of our retailers are women, 70 per cent of whom are primary breadwinners contributing to Nigeria’s economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Informal retailers encounter a myriad of business operations problems largely due to Nigeria’s economic and social terrain.
“Nigeria remains a patriarchal society with limited opportunities for women, such as social barriers to education and financial inclusion. About 90 percent of the retailers we serve have no formal education while 85 percent settle in cash, not out of choice but because the credit system financially marginalizes them,’’ stated Opaleye.
Alerzo’s CEO assured further that the firm would continue to find the best solutions to challenges in the environments:, adding that it operates to ensure that, collectively an environment that supports e-commerce and innovation is established.
