Big Consumer Brands Tap Startups to Crack Africa’s Informal Retail Market
- Flour Mills acquired a stake in OmniRetail Inc., enhancing connections between manufacturers and small retailers.
- OmniRetail links 130 manufacturers with 150,000 small retailers across Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.
- The platform processed ₦1.3 trillion ($849M) in sales transactions in 2024.
The collaboration between consumer-goods giants and startups is a promising development for improving access to goods in Africa's informal retail sector. However, the potential risk of small retailers being sidelined by direct-to-consumer models raises important questions about the sustainability of these partnerships and the future of the informal economy.
