TradeDepot provides a platform that connects informal retailers – mostly one-person microbusinesses run by women – to convenient, consistent access to goods and financial services.
Women represent 65 per cent of distributors and 85 per cent of micro-retailers on the platform. What’s more, TradeDepot offers retailers digital wallets and lines of credit, presenting a key opportunity to enhance women retailers’ financial inclusion in a country where only 31 per cent of women have bank accounts compared with 61 per cent of men.
A survey of over 200 users – 67 per cent of whom are from low-income households – found that 90 per cent reported an improvement in their quality of life due to TradeDepot, simply because it makes it easier for them to do business. For example, they can now buy stock without having to close the business to travel to the market in Lagos – so they can stay open and save on transport costs.
Not only are women more represented among TradeDepot users, but they are also more likely to report that the platform has helped them (92 per cent compared with 82 per cent for men). With the burden of domestic work falling disproportionately on women, particularly in developing countries, many of them open kiosks as small businesses – quite often attached to their homes – as a flexible means to an income. TradeDepot creates the conditions that enable them to operate their businesses in a way that suits them.
“Now I have goods in stock and I can buy them in bulk before the price increases – in Nigeria, the inflation rate is so high that prices can double in a day.”
Anthonia Churchill, Business owner and TradeDepot customer
This business is just one example of an increasing number of exciting gender-smart investments coming through our pipeline since we made gender a central part of our strategy.
Find out more about the impact of businesses in our portfolio in our Annual Review 2023: Creating impact together
90%
of TradeDepot customers reported an improvement in their quality of life due to TradeDepot
