Emma Okonji
The construction materials industry, one of Nigeria’s largest sectors, has been repositioned through the adoption of emerging technologies.
Despite the industry’s attractiveness, the sector had suffered several inefficiencies in Nigeria and most African markets in three major ways. One is in Fragmented category markets, where construction project managers traditionally spend significant time and effort managing multiple procurement conversations across different platforms for each item category. Another is in allowing multiple layers of middle-men, while the third is the lack of access to credit, which creates inefficiency.
However, since launch, Africa’s frontline building materials marketplace, CinderBuild, appears to have conquered these barriers with technology adoption.
CinderBuild is the digital one-stop-shop for all bulk materials procurement, sourced directly from major manufacturers and licensed dealers. It was incorporated in Delaware and backed by leading US and European VCs. CinderBuild team is comprised of globally proven business professionals, including ex-McKinsey consultants, Harvard Business Review Professors, and e-Commerce leaders.
The marketplace links the last mile resellers, construction managers and export markets. Resellers and project contractors make single-point procurement directly through the digital platform or by walking into any of the 1500+ e-stores opening across the country.
The organisation uses key value propositions like Speed, Convenience, Price Discovery, Discount Offers, Trade Credits and Improved Sales to remove the bottlenecks created by fragmented market categories, multiple layers of middlemen and lack of access to finance.
According to the CEO of CinderBuild, Paul Adeyoyin, “What we have done to transform the rather legacy market, involves the use of technology to transform a rather fragmented sector into a single digital market square. For instance, a customer who needs to procure five items -including Cement, Iron rods, Aggregates, Floor Tiles and Electric sockets, doesn’t need to spend whole week roaming different stores and managing suppliers to ensure timely delivery.“
