Economy
Afrimart Plans to Revolutionise Africa’s E-Commerce Sector
By Dipo Olowookere
Pan-Africa’s pioneer Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce platform for made in Africa products, Afrimart, has officially taken off, offering prospects of catapulting the otherwise less exploited intra-Africa trade to higher heights of growth.
Afrimart is a one-stop-shop for all things African; the first Pan-African B2B-focused marketplace whose central aim is to create an infrastructure that supports rapid growth of seamless trade of goods and services across Africa and the rest of the world.
According to Afrimart’s President and Founder, Mr Fredrick Igbinedion, the decision to form the platform was informed by the availability of vast opportunities for business among African countries, most of which had not yet been fully harnessed.
“Africa is by far one of the lowest in terms of continental or regional trade around the world with intra Africa trade estimated at 11 percent,” said Mr Igbinedion, speaking at the launch event held on the sidelines of this year’s Afreximbank Annual Meeting (African-Export-Import Bank) and its 25th anniversary celebrations in Abuja, Nigeria.
Mr Igbinedion observed that Afrimart takes cue from the ongoing Africa industrialization strategy by African governments and is an essential build up towards the recently launched AfCFTA (Africa Free Trade Agreement) all gearing towards building a prosperous continent with shared wealth.
“We believe that transforming African economies for the better is a shared role, and Afrimart is offering an access to market solution that is key in fostering trade within Africa which will in turn catalyse the continent’s industrialization drive through existing and emerging business opportunities,” Mr Igbinedion said.
“Suffice is to say”, he added, “intra-Africa trade is fraught with many roadblocks which can be surmounted by the proper will, planning and deployment of appropriate technological infrastructure to support this endeavour.”
He identified the most important factor limiting Africa trade, especially at this critical digital age, as market linkages and the automation required thereof to facilitate the linkages.
“Afrimart.com platform therefore, fills this gap. Through Afrimart, we are deploying a world class highly robust and scalable platform that will become Africa’s global marketplace”, the platform’s President and Founder added.
He explained that Afrimart is designed to create new business opportunities for African SMEs, general merchants and service providers on the quest for growth and expansion by creating visibility and accessibility to African buyers and suppliers.
John Kamara Afrimart’s Director and Co-Founder described Afrimart as, ‘an essential partner for Africa trade built to encompass the challenges facing local traders and e-commerce as a whole, that brings together a network of trusted partners providing relevant services such as logistics, payment solutions and inspection services among others’.
Kamara further stated that “Afrimart is engineered to create a pool of trusted indigenous African suppliers, give them visibility of their products and services, and partner them with merchants across the continent and beyond by facilitating seamless interaction among them, offering best payment platform options, connection to efficient logistic operators, performance and location-based lead generations, guaranteed security and geo region product push among other features”.
According to Kamara, the beneficiaries of the intra-Africa trade catalysed by Afrimart will include general SMEs, African manufacturers, producers, processors and wholesalers of all classes of goods, commodity traders, farmers, artisans, import & export companies, logistics companies, service providers, large African industries among others.
He called upon all business people across Africa to join Afrimart.com and enjoy the services of a go-to African B2B online marketplace that is destined to revolutionize Pan-Africa trade, boost manufacturing and the entire African economy.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of MRS Oil and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.68 per cent on Friday, June 5.
MRS Plc lost N19.00 during the session to sell at N171.00 per share compared with Thursday’s value of N190.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N8.70 to finish at N181.68 per unit compared with the preceding session’s N190.38 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation further lost N22.59 billion to close at N2.607 trillion versus the N2.630 trillion it ended a day earlier, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 37.76 points to settle at 4,358.32 points, in contrast to the previous day’s 4,396.08 points.
The alternative stock market closed the last trading day of this week with a price gainer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which gained 6 Kobo to quote at N78.40 per share compared with the preceding session’s N78.34 per share. However, it could not prevent the market from going down at the close of business.
Yesterday, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went down by 50.0 per cent to 140,345 units from the preceding day’s 280,714 units, the value of stocks decreased by 16.5 per cent to N17.9 million from the previous session’s N21.5 million, and the number of deals carried out by market participants fell by 35.7 per cent to 27 deals from the 42 deals recorded on Thursday.
When trading activities closed for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.7 million units traded for N4.4 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interest in financial stocks and others lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.15 per cent on Friday.
Customs Street closed higher yesterday despite the 1.37 per cent loss recorded by the consumer goods sector as a result of profit-taking.
This was offset by gains in the other key sectors of the local bourse, as the insurance counter chalked up 1,14 per cent. The banking space appreciated by 0.90 per cent, the industrial goods segment grew by 0.46 per cent, and the energy sector expanded by 0.01 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 366.00 points to 242,593.31 points from 242,227.31 points, and the market capitalisation gained N235 billion to close at N155.594 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.359 trillion.
The trio of International Energy Insurance, Abbey Mortgage Bank, and DAAR Communications improved by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to N7.26, N9.35, and N1.98, respectively, while Zichis advanced by 9.39 per cent to N32.38, with Sovereign Trust Insurance up by 8.70 per cent to N2.50.
On the flip side, Academy Press lost 9.84 per cent to quote at N8.25, University Press depreciated by 9.73 per cent to N5.10, Africa Prudential dipped by 2.63 per cent to N12.95, Chams crumbled by 2.44 per cent to N4.00, and International Breweries slipped by 1.59 per cent to N12.35.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive during the session after recording 37 appreciating equities and 14 depreciating equities, implying strong investor sentiment.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the activity chart with a turnover of 164.1 million units worth N1.5 billion, Ellah Lakes sold 76.7 million units for N767.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 44.8 million units valued at N1.1 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 23.0 million units worth N41.2 million, and The Initiates traded 20.2 million units for N562.1 million.
At the close of trades, market participants transacted 608.5 million units worth N32.0 billion in 53,826 deals versus the 588.5 million units valued at N27.9 billion executed in 57,352 deals in the previous session. This showed that the number of deals eased by 6.15 per cent, the volume of transactions rose by 3.40 per cent, and the value of transactions soared by 14.70 per cent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further depreciated against the United States Dollar by N3.46 or 0.25 per cent to N1,362.21/$1 from N1,358.75/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 5.
However, it appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market window during the session by N4.47 to trade at N1,823.59/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,828.06/£1, and gained N7.00 against the Euro to sell at N1,574.58/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,581.58/€1.
For another trading session, the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the Dollar in the parallel market and the GTBank forex counter on Friday at N1,375/$1 and N1,372/$1, respectively.
The Naira is expected to remain strong in the near term, backed by a rise in external reserves, which are nearing $50 billion, enhancing analysts’ confidence about its outlook in the second half of 2026.
Heightened global uncertainty has reduced the incentive for importers and corporates to demand FX, as cautious trade weighs on import needs. Analysts estimate a $40 billion net FX position for the year, a projection anchored in oil windfall gains.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices remained depressed following a strong US jobs report that spurred markets to price in higher-for-longer interest rates, sending Treasury yields and the dollar up while hammering stocks, especially AI-related names. Crypto markets saw heavy leverage washouts with about $1.6 billion in positions liquidated over 24 hours.
Ethereum (ETH) gave up 4.9 per cent to trade at $1,584.68, Solana (SOL) fell by 3.3 per cent to $63.22, Bitcoin (BTC) crashed by 1.9 per cent to $61,333.23, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 1.8 per cent to $0.0821, and Ripple (XRP) moderated by 1.8 per cent to $1.09.
Further, TRON (TRX) dropped 1.6 per cent to sell at $0.3197, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.0 per cent to $581.18, and Cardano (ADA) declined by 0.4 per cent to $0.1589, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) gained 0.07 to sell at $0.9997, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $0.9998.
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