Ghana’s Shopa is changing the face of informal retail distribution & supply chains

Shopa, a Ghanaian retail digital company, claims to be “redefining” the informal retail distribution and supply chain by linking last-mile sellers with suppliers and providing cash or credit access to goods.

Shopa was founded in August 2020 in response to challenges faced by informal retailers in their restocking process and their inability to obtain credit. Shopa uses digital tools, and an integrated delivery network to help informal retailers restock and receive delivery within four hours, without having to leave their stores.

Shopa attempts to solve these issues by allowing business owners to place orders by SMS, WhatsApp, or the Shopa web app and have items delivered to their locations. It has aided over 2,000 consumers in completing almost 14,000 transactions so far, and it is looking to expand.

“We identified the inventory sourcing for informal retailers from suppliers was costly in terms of extra cost they incur on transportation, revenue lost due to shops being close to going to the market to restock, and lack of access to microcredit due to being considered as not creditworthy,” co-founder Michael Hammond told as per reports.

“We are operating in Ghana at the moment, and there are plans to expand to other African countries in the future,” Hammond said.

This expansion can be accelerated with the help of cash. MEST provided pre-seed capital to Shopa, and the company has recently received grant funding from Google and Catalyst Fund. Commissions on items sold through the startup’s platform, as well as credit granted to clients through third parties, is how the company generates money. Hammond stated that it is confident in its ability to carve out a market share in an increasingly crowded industry.

“Traditional distributors and wholesalers are our potential competitors. Other players such as TradeDepot, Alerzo, Omnibiz, Sokowatch and Boost Technology in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana respectively are doing similar things,” he said.

“However, this industry is huge, and together we are pioneering a new model of distribution.”