Waive is bringing the latest last-mile delivery technology to millions of SMEs in Africa’s biggest economy. Launched in February 2022, Waive has already started to make an impact with micro, small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. To understand the mission of Waive, it is important to take a cursory look at SME development in Nigeria.
Small businesses are the live-wire of any economy and Nigeria is no exception. Everywhere you turn to in Nigeria, there is usually a young person operating one small business or the other. From cosmetics, logistics, event planning, food retail, interior design, fashion, styling, agriculture, and technology, young people are increasingly taking their lives into their own hands and building businesses to support their livelihood.
Small Business Growth in Nigeria
Nigeria’s SME development can be traced to post-independence leading to the creation of the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank in 1962, the World Bank SME Loan Scheme, and the Small Scale Industries Credit Scheme.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, SME in Nigeria accounts for 48% of the country’s GDP. These SMEs in turn contribute about 50% of industrial jobs and 90% of the manufacturing sector. The number of micros, small, and medium enterprises MSMEs registered in 2017 alone was 41.5 million with micro-enterprises contributing a whopping 99.8% (41.4 million) of MSMEs.
The interpretation of this data is that Nigeria’s economic boom is strongly tied to the growth and development of its SMEs. This is the reason Waive is developing technological solutions to grow SMEs in Nigeria.
The contribution of SMEs to GDP shows Nigeria still lags behind several countries with similar levels of development. However, while Nigeria’s SMEs are showing signs of the boom, it is still bedeviled with a lot of challenges.
Challenges of SMEs in Nigeria
Many MSMEs in Nigeria suffer from access to financing to start or grow their business. Many financial institutions do not lend money to MSMEs because they lack the proper structure required by these institutions. These problems can be traced to the fact that financial inclusion in Nigeria is really low. An equivalent of 40.6% of the total adult population are financially excluded. In other words, over 40% of households and adults in Nigeria don’t have a formal bank account.
Many people venture into SMEs without proper knowledge of the business. This is one of the biggest undoings of most SMEs in Nigeria. With little business knowledge, and a lack of proper business structure, most SMEs hardly survive more than one year in business.
At Waive Delivery, one of the ways it’s helping to tackle this issue is by providing SMEs with a platform they can use to grow their business. Whether micro, small scale, or medium businesses, you can leverage Waive’s expansive delivery solutions to expand your business.
Another area where a lot of SMEs in Nigeria suffers is a lack of visibility. A lot of the brick-and-mortar businesses are located in one corner of the market without reaching their full sales potential. Many of these SMEs do not have the funds to invest in advertising and promotions that can help drive sales.
The role of technology in SME development in Nigeria
The role of technology in SME growth can not be overemphasized. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group in the United States, Germany, Japan, China, and India, tech-savvy SMEs outperformed SMEs using little technology in innovation, job growth, and increased revenues over the last three years. SME leaders using technology have grown their businesses and reduce costs, and one important factor seems to be increased workers’ productivity.
Merchants on Waive are already seeing the benefits of partnering with a technological platform like Waive Delivery to grow their business. This is evident in the increased sales recorded by merchants on Waive’S platform since its launch.
Nigeria is not left out. The best-performing SMEs are increasingly being powered by technology. If Nigerian SMEs must contribute more than 48% to the country’s GDP then they must embrace technology. From financing, supply chain, payment, tax, human resource management, and logistics to sales and marketing, technology is increasingly being used to power the most profitable SMEs in Nigeria.
Waive Role in today’s SMEs Growth
Waive wants to redefine the shopping and last-mile delivery experience for millions of SMEs in Nigeria. Waive was built with SMEs in mind, incorporating many features that allow SMEs on its platform to drive digital sales without incurring additional costs.
Despite Nigeria’s huge presence of MSMEs, many of these MSMEs operate offline without proper structure. Waive sees a big opportunity to bring merchants in the food, drinks, and grocery sector online with its state-of-the-art shopping and delivery platform.
This is a big win for merchants operating in the food, drinks, and grocery sector. With a simple online store, a payment integration, and customer support, Waive is making it free and easy for SMEs in Nigeria to go online without the technicality and huge resources required.
By making its platform FREE for merchants, Waive wants to drive visibility for merchants. One of the challenges faced by many MSMEs in Nigeria is the lack of resources to run effective marketing promotions that can bring in desired sales. It’s a major problem Waive has realized and it has developed a robust marketplace application that allows anyone to order meals, food, drinks and other items from merchants who sign up on its platform.
For Waive, it’s all about solving merchants’ pain points. Apart from giving its technology platform for free to all merchants looking to grow sales, it has also built its own proprietary delivery technology to help merchants with delivery solutions. Using geofencing technology, Waive can match a merchant’s delivery request to the nearest rider on its platform, thereby relieving merchants of the headache of trying to get products to customers.
SMEs play a huge role in the development of any country. However, for SMEs in Nigeria to transition from an informal economy to a formal economy; contributing significantly to the country’s GDP, SMEs need all the support they can garner. Waive is proud to provide technological, logistics, and marketing support to Nigeria’s growing SMEs to thrive.
Launched in February 2022, Waive has already partnered with over 200 merchants in Lagos and Abuja helping them increase their sales. It’s still early days but Waive believes it has the best platform coupled with the best team to transform SMEs in Nigeria from sluggish slow-moving sales into digital-led and profitable ventures.
To download or place an order on Waive, visit: https://waivedelivery.com/
To register your store (Food, drinks, or grocery) on Waive, click on this link: https://bit.ly/3MjAHEO
To become a logistic partner with Waive, register via this link: https://bit.ly/WAIVERIDER
