Kusnap Advancing Digital Trade in Nigeria Through Enhanced Marketplace.

As Nigeria’s ecommerce and social commerce sectors mature, the challenge of building trust between anonymous buyers and sellers has moved to the centre of public conversation. At Kusnap, a Nigerian online marketplace that mirrors the broad classified structure of platforms such as Jiji, that challenge has shaped both the company’s product design and its communications strategy. At the heart of that effort is Michael Onyeka Ezeadichie, Head of Marketing and Communications, who is tasked with translating Kusnap’s escrow driven model into a clear message for users wary of online fraud and failed transactions.

Kusnap positions itself as a free online marketplace where Nigerians can list and purchase goods across categories that include electronics, vehicles, agriculture and food, fashion, health and beauty, services and real estate.  The platform’s layout, with sections such as “Daily Picks” and “Fresh Finds,” is familiar to users of other classified sites, but the company has consistently highlighted one critical distinction: the presence of a native escrow system built into its transaction flow. This feature is at the core of Ezeadichie’s messaging brief, as it is the main pillar that separates Kusnap from informal trading channels and some established competitors.

According to Kusnap’s escrow documentation, the system is designed to protect both buyers and sellers. Buyers’ funds are held in a secure environment once payment is initiated, and are only released after the buyer confirms that the product received matches expectations. Sellers, in turn, are assured that payment has been locked in before they ship goods or deliver services. The company explains that this arrangement is meant to address the long standing trust gap in online marketplaces where buyers fear losing money and sellers fear shipping to non serious customers.  For a Head of Marketing and Communications, turning that somewhat technical mechanism into a simple narrative about safety, fairness and transparency is a central task.

Kusnap’s business model page reveals how the escrow feature is embedded within a broader revenue framework that includes subscription tiers and transaction commissions. Sellers can join under a free plan or opt into Starter, Growth or Enterprise tiers, each tied to different levels of product visibility, posting duration, support and analytics. Commission rates range from eight per cent for lower tiers to about five per cent for enterprise users, with the possibility of one to three percentage point discounts for high performing sellers based on revenues over the preceding three months.  An additional escrow fee of 1.5 per cent, capped at 2,000 naira, is charged to sustain the payment security service, and Kusnap works with Kora Pay as its payment processor.  These structures present both a technical and a communication challenge: they must be precise enough to satisfy regulators and sophisticated sellers, yet simple enough for casual users to understand without confusion.

Product promotion is another layer that falls squarely within Ezeadichie’s remit. Kusnap’s business model and product promotion pages outline a suite of visibility tools, including product boosts and the Kusnap Boost feature. At a commercial level, the company has defined packages such as Basic, Bronze, Gold and Diamond, blending on site advertising, social media amplification, coupon campaigns and seasonal promotions at different price and duration points.  On the user facing side, Kusnap Boost is described as a way for sellers, from small businesses to larger retailers, to expand product reach by selecting seven, fifteen or thirty day premium listing durations. Products that pass review are pushed to more prominent positions and supported with targeting algorithms intended to show them to likely buyers, with performance monitored through an analytics dashboard. 

Framing these features for a Nigerian audience that is increasingly active in social commerce is central to the work of the marketing and communications function. Many transactions today begin in informal channels such as messaging apps and social media pages, where there is little or no formal protection if a deal goes wrong. Within that context, Kusnap’s leadership has argued that its escrow payment system, structured seller plans and promotion tools form a more reliable alternative, offering a way to complete the same kind of peer to peer trade with more clarity about where money sits at each stage of the transaction. For Ezeadichie, presenting Kusnap as “like Jiji but with escrow at its core” provides a shorthand explanation that connects the platform to a familiar model while underlining its key difference.

As Head of Marketing and Communications, Ezeadichie’s role involves more than advertising and user acquisition. It encompasses explaining fees and commissions in plain terms, promoting the use of escrow as a standard rather than an option, encouraging sellers to use business plans and boost tools responsibly, and responding to public concerns when disputes or transaction challenges emerge. It also involves maintaining alignment between product development and public messaging, particularly as Kusnap adjusts its model in response to user behaviour and competitive pressure in Nigeria’s crowded marketplace space.

In an era when trust in online transactions is still fragile, Kusnap’s strategic bet is that a marketplace anchored in escrow, clear pricing and structured promotion can win over users who are cautious but increasingly dependent on digital trade. The success of that bet will depend not only on the robustness of the technology, but also on how effectively figures like Michael Onyeka Ezeadichie can communicate its value, address scepticism and position the platform as a credible place for Nigerians to buy and sell with confidence.