By Jonah Nwokpoku

Chief Executive Officer of e-commerce solution provider, Slimtrader, Femi Akinde has identified capacity building as a critical ingredient to unlocking the potential of e-commerce in Nigeria. Akinde who was speaking at the Africa Technology Summit in Ghana highlighted the need for employers to train people in order to achieve set business goals, while identifying talent acquisition as one of the major challenges confronting the sector.

According to him, the Nigerian market doesn’t have people who are equipped with the right skills for roles in the-commerce sector, adding that his experience as a major player in the hospitality industry, shows t hat lack of talent has constituted major hindrance to growth.

He however said that, “Slimtrader has been able to overcome this challenge by grooming talents for the industry with a training program in partnership with West Africa Vocational Education (WAVE) to get Nigerian youths equipped with the right skills for jobs in the hospitality industry, especially, bearing in mind, the sector’s potential to contribute up to 5.8 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP within the next decade.”

He added: “Ecommerce solutions such as SlimTrader’s MoBiashara for Hotel marketplace platform will therefore help the sector grow, giving hotels greater visibility.”

Speaking further, Akinde said: “In recent times, Slimtrader has taken further steps to ensure the MoBiashara service is offered to hotels around Africa. With the recent funding of $1 million through Interswitch’s e-payment growth fund, Slimtrader plans to expand to other African countries. To further boost expertise, Founder and Group-Managing Director of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe has also joined the Board of Directors of Slimtrader.”