‘Cokodeal exposes, promotes goods across borderless regions’- Mike Dola
Cokodeal.com is an e-commerce marketplace trading solely Made-in-Nigeria products for domestic, continental, and global markets. In this interview with MABEL DIMMA, CEO Cokodeal, Mike Dola shares his thoughts on manufacturing, creating a digital market structure and challenges faced.
What were the factors that brought Cokodeal to reality?
The pain and challenges of a hardworking businessman in Nigeria with non-commensurate result triggered us. High cost of advertising for businesses and enabling access to market for commodities produced in Nigeria, a seamless trade channel for creators in Nigeria to compete in this century with an approach that “trade heals poverty”, these and many others are the issues that brought about Cokodeal; we want to solve problems.
How does Cokodeal benefit manufacturers & what do you mean by digital market structure?
Many manufacturers, even within Nigeria, are unknown to the immediate Nigerian communities, like some manufacturers in the South East are not known in the South West.Cokodeal drives sales for manufacturers by exposing and promoting their goods across borderless regions through search engine optimisation and digital advertisement to connect with interested buyers through the platform. Cokodeal is creating a digital market structure for ease of accessibility of goods through databases, specific data quantity, ease of search and arranging producers according to its category, coordinating informal market to more structured formal market, we are solving the market complexity at the tap of a phone.
How do you remove challenges faced by players in the informal sector?
Nigeria’s economy is of a complexity and dynamism unparalleled in West Africa. According to Chatham House UK Report “Nigeria’s Booming Borders: The Drivers and Consequences of Unrecorded Trade” there are powerful reasons why Nigeria’s vast external trade remains largely informal, unrecorded and untaxed and this fact leaves much of the country’s economic potential unrealised. One estimate is that unrecorded or informal activity could account for as much as 64 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.
This traps economic activity at the low quality and low-tech end of the scale. However, Nigerian-made goods are already competing with Chinese products across West Africa.
Manufacturers are faced with much difficulties hereby trading informally and missing some of the supports provided by agencies such as Export Expansion Grant (EEG), Nigerian Export- Import Bank (NEXIM), Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and exclusion from a finance support necessary because of not being able to demonstrate equity and a healthy balance sheet to formal banking sector.
Cokodeal.com as a trade platform understands the complexity of trade and the national gross losses it creates for both the government and the manufacturers. Therefore, it created an open platform to connect informal traders with the best of knowledge –as it was noted that good information is one big challenge with traders– and the right channel to ease trade, and for government agencies to provide funds and help manufacturers ease trade while generating IGR for government.
You have top seller and top rated on your site, what is the information used for?
It is automated and it indicates businesses and goods registered on the platform that receive more patronage and higher customer feedbacks.
Some product pictures and information seem inadequate, why is so?
This is caused by some of the sellers that registered goods without that provision of enough details on the product that is showcased. In recent times, our account managers’ call up sellers to give a free support to ensure more detailed information on goods is provided with clear images to help buyers make better choices.
What feedback mechanism do you have in place as per goods/services bought?
We do make use of customer review and product ratings. Also buyers speak with our team to share experience that was received from the seller. We are getting more involved in the transactional process thus improving the security of both parties. Furthermore, we speed up procurement period, and ensure a satisfied happy customer. While on the other hand, we have professional website administrators and top-level managers with expertise on security and data management who check what goes on the site, time to time. Again, we are hiring more customer service phone support and an intelligent feedback mechanism to further ensure quality service.
Which products/services get more patronage, and from where?
Lots of Products are been requested from Cokodeal. However, the most demanded items fall under these three categories: Textile and Leather, Agricultural products, and Building materials. The level of patronage is average as we do have a longer sourcing cycle than retail ecommerce mainly because we deal wholesale. The highest number of request come within Nigeria, next is South Africa, Ghana and Cameroun. While a few times we get enquiries from Europe and other foreign countries.
Most complaints about made-in-Nigeria products are about quality; how do you handle this?
To us, quality is a fundamental priority. Cokodeal assures that through authentication and verification of goods from sellers. Our regional managers make a visit to the producer to confirm that the goods have the regulatory body trademarks on it, and that it meets specific and stipulated standards. Most importantly, we pay high attention to feedbacks from both buyers and sellers, and this has always enabled steady quality chain.
Meanwhile, we are also of the opinion that a demand-driven business, helps the producers to improve in quality. The more patronage we give Made-in-Nigeria, the higher quality it becomes.
How has it been, boosting made-in-Nigeria goods for exports?
It’s been challenging but things are getting better with time. The reception of Made-in-Nigeria is much higher in neighboring countries, as the exposure creates more demands for local producers. What makes it more positively improving is the latest industrialization quest since the inception of the Made-in-Nigeria Campaign initiated by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, supported by other high authorities, thing have really improved. The ongoing effort to address ease of doing business in the country gives more hopes. If this revolution-because that is what it is-succeeds, we are highly optimistic that Nigeria’s export profile will surge again.
Why are made-in-Nigeria products more expensive than foreign ones?
Not absolutely, Made-in-Nigeria products are cheaper; the expensive ones are just a few commodities in which their production entails getting raw materials with FOREX. “Economies of scale” is what causes regions to trade with one another- this means what you have more raw materials for and can produce at cheaper cost. Meanwhile, the cost of production in Nigeria is high, taking into account the cost of power generation, transportation, and exchange rate on raw materials as well as other challenges. So, the quantity of production capability affects the cost. For instance, if China can produce 1million units in the same time it takes Nigeria to produce 10,000; the average cost might be lower for the Chinese. On this, we have a long way to go in fixing our infrastructure so as to enable us produce and compete at a moderate cost.
Apart from social media, how does your website get potential manufacturers/service providers on?
Through partner trade association networks, expos, trade events, seminars, news publication, digital advertisement, words of mouth and referrals also.
Additionally, a deeper understanding of the unrecorded side of Nigeria’s non-oil external trade is key to developmental process and can offer the government a critical opportunity to pursue a path of economic growth that is less volatile and more sustainable.