A 28-year-old graduate of the University of Rwanda’s College of Education has created an application called “IsokoNyarwanda” to promote e-commerce for Made-in-Rwanda goods and other goods.
He is one of many businessmen who, after the Covid-19 lockout, have recognized the potential and benefits of e-commerce.
The application available on smartphones in AppStore was developed following the first lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted the monthly exhibition of young entrepreneurs and local-made women’s products that used to take place in Kigali City’s Car-free zone.
The majority of young entrepreneurs who used to exhibit in the car-free zone are high school and university graduates who produced jobs by manufacturing locally made goods
John Migambi, the manager of Bronze Events Ltd, who is usually involved in coordinating young entrepreneurs to promote locally made products in the car-free zone, said that the e-commerce platform can be used to trade different products.
They include food and drinks, decorations, clothes , shoes, furniture and other household materials , construction materials, office materials, selling land plots, vehicles, leased materials and many others.
“The idea to develop the application came from learning lessons from Covid-19 pandemic when we were lying idle at home without operations and traveling. My friends and I would not be able to order products we need due to lockdown since doing unnecessary movements could put us into the risk of contaminating the virus and that is why I started to develop the e-commerce application,” he said.
He said the e-commerce platforms are buying or selling for all products a person might need.
“Both buyers and sellers in Rwanda and abroad can use the platform. An entrepreneur can post their products and sell them while clients can also choose what they need and order,” he said.
The user downloads the application from the AppStore.
“The vendor can upload photos of their products in the application, prices and address so that clients can view them and order for what they need to buy. On making an order, the vendor delivers the products to clients,” he explained.
“The platform aims at exhibiting vendors’ products online since many people can access it from wherever they are. After five months, we expect to start charging traders using the platform but currently, it is for free. The platform will also help young entrepreneurs and women who make use of the car-free zone to promote locally made products,” he said.
IsokoNyaRwanda mobile app is connecting Buyers and Sellers in Rwanda together #Rwanda #PaulKagame pic.twitter.com/yK2zzbUTLP
— IsokoNyaRwanda (@IsokoNyaRwanda) May 5, 2019