Fintech's Zande Africa signs up 1,400-plus spaza shops
The spaza market is growing at about 10% a year, but is characterised by unbanked spaza owners with limited or no access to financial products
Fintech company Zande Africa has signed up more than 1,400 spaza shops, helping them to obtain lines of credit to buy stock and take advantage of better pricing from manufacturers and producers that don't usually deal with small operators as they can't buy in bulk. Nielsen valued the spaza shop market at R46bn in 2017 while AMPS valued it at R50bn. The domestic spaza market is growing at about 10% a year, but the market is characterised by unbanked spaza owners with limited or no access to financial products, making it difficult for them to deal with fast-moving consumer goods companies that generally do not open lines of credit with small retailers that order in small quantities. Spaza owners usually buy from wholesalers such as Makro (part of Massmart) and Devland Cash and Carry, rather than directly from producers and manufacturers. Zande Africa CEO Siya Ntutela and COO Mdu Thabethe launched Zande (formerly called Invoiceworx) in 2017 to help spaza shops get access to finance. Wi...
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