Nick Imudia has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Konga, an eCommerce company in Nigeria.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Zinox Group said in a statement Nick Imudia recently left TCL/Alcatel where he was the Regional Director, responsible for Nigeria and Central Africa Operations.
Before joining TCL/Alcatel, Imudia was Managing Director, Nokia West and Central Africa, a thriving concern which remains a world leader in Mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and Communications industry.
“For almost 17 years, the widely-travelled Imudia worked in Nokia, managing operations in Asia, Europe and the Americas in the areas of sales, marketing, capability development, management systems, operational excellence, IT and process management.
“His core experience across several management functions including online commerce, among others will come in handy in steering the Konga brand to greater heights.
“Imudia holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Management from Mikkeli Institute of Technology, Finland; a Master of Engineering in Oil and Gas Technology Management from Aalborg University, Denmark and an MBA in International Business Management, Haaga-Helia Business School, Finland.”
Nick Imudia will be replacing Shola Adekoya, the former CEO before Konga was acquired from the duo of Kinnevik and South Africa’s Masters.
Konga was founded by Sim Shagaya in 2012. Starting out as an eCommerce site for baby products and other groceries, Konga soon courted the attention of Kinnevik and Answers who invested varied sums of millions of dollars into the business between 2013 and 2016.
However, their investments in Konga soon garnered significant impairments after Nigeria’s economy fell into its worst and first ever recession after over 20 years.
The viability of a conventional eCommerce business fashioned after Alibaba and Amazon in Nigeria has also being questioned. This is due to the extensive dependence on imported products in Nigeria, a systemic risk that ballooned the cost of doing business and prices of hoods after the Naira was devalued.
Zinox Group acquired Konga earlier this year for an undisclosed amount. Rocket Internet’s Julia, an arch-rival to Konga is not also fairing well. The company announced last week that it was contemplating an initial public offering in order to exit the business.
