Kenya’s Pezesha, Marketforce 360 Partner To Enable Affordable Merchant Financing

Kenyan startups Marketforce and Pezesha have joined hands to enable affordable inventory & wholesale distribution financing to Marketforce merchants.

Merchants being local, small retail businesses, often informal and owned by an individual or a family. They base their businesses on convenience and established relationships with their customers, conducting mainly cash transactions with both customers and distributors.

Despite limited room to stock inventory, these merchants place a high value on having a well-stocked shop, because this is seen to be key to satisfying and retaining their customers.

Merchants play a central role in the economy because of their proximity to customers with over 70% of Kenyans doing their shopping at kiosks/dukas and roadside stalls. Merchants often have limited cash available to pay distributors, which leads them to buy limited inventory, thereby reducing potential sales and requiring smaller and more frequent orders. This, in turn, leads to cash collection issues or the provision of loans that they are not equipped to manage.

While MarketForce 360 enables consumer brands to optimize how they deliver essential goods and services to retailers and consumers by bridging the information gap in last-mile distribution, Pezesha on their hand is a digital capital enabler platform connecting quality SMEs and Merchants with access to working capital and other financial services from our marketplace.

The partnership, therefore, seeks to bridge the gap between merchants and distributors by providing them with real-time access to affordable inventory credit options.

In addition, both partners will provide value-added services such as financial literacy and digital tools to help retailers streamline their records and build digital transactions that over time boosts their creditworthiness to qualify for affordable credit from the back of their transactions with Marketforce 360.

“We are excited to partner with the innovative Pezesha team to offer our customers much-needed inventory financing. We’ve co-designed a credit product that is affordable and accessible instantly, ensuring retailers never run out of stock.” Tesh, CEO of Marketforce 360.

Through the partnership, both startups aim to reach at least 10,000 merchants and help them grow their revenue and sales by at least 15 – 25 percent by enabling them with access to affordable inventory credit to adequately cater to their customer demands.

“This partnership with Marketforce is timely as it allows Pezesha to embed credit cost-effectively through the existing distribution process, in the end propelling small retailers survive, thrive and grow during the current pandemic.”Hilda, CEO of Pezesha.

Founder 360