First African B2B Marketplace, Craftmerce, Launches in Nigeria

Craftmerce, a B2B platform for African brands looking to access the global market, has launched in Nigeria. 

The unveiling is coming after months of meticulous planning, the team unveiled their website with major plans to bridge the gap between the local and international markets.

The co-founder of Craftmerce, Cynthia Asije, made this known in a statement made available to the media at the weekend. 

When Asije launched her first venture, Adire Lounge in 2015, one of the biggest problems she said she encountered was marketing adire to international retailers. They wanted it, but getting it across to them was a lot of work. 

However, after a lot of trial and error, she found a long-term solution that worked for her and other brands that faced similar difficulties. This singular discovery led to the birth of Craftmerce.

To make Craftmerce into what it is, Asije said she started building a team with the best players in the field. Amongst them is Sarah Odiavbara (CTO), who oversees the technical part of building.

According to Asije and Odiavbara, the founders, “Africa has a large market, an⁴d these industrious people deserve the opportunity to sell their products on a global scale.”

She also listed that Craftmerce hopes to help African manufacturers gain access to international retailers, connect international retailers with exceptional African products that are only made via small-batch production processes.

“We hope to sustainably market their brands to retailers to stock their products. Craftmerce believes that these will not only bridge the gap between local and international retailers and wholesalers but also foster a long-term global business relationship,” she added. 

The Craftmerce website, www.craftmerce.com shows that it is user-friendly, simple to navigate and organised into easily accessible categories. 

Ultimately, the founders want to keep to its simple mission, solely dedicating it to African-made products and assisting brands in getting their goods to more eyes.

According to the management, Craftmerce is the wholesale marketplace with African made products that connects everyone.