THE high cost of trade within Africa is a widely recognised problem, and 33-year-old Gary Lawrence Ruwona is building a digital solution.
From his base in Harare, the founder and CEO of Kulies.com is leveraging the historic African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to bridge the gaps between fragmented markets, one shipment at a time.
“Kulies' mission is to empower African trade by linking local suppliers with global buyers, with a primary focus on promoting African trade within the continent,” Ruwona told the Zimbabwe Independent on Thursday on the sidelines of the Global Expo Botswana.
Kulies.com is one of the Zimbabwean companies exhibiting at the expo under ZimTrade.
Botswana’s premier international multi-sectoral business-to-business exhibition ends on Saturday.
“The goal is to make trade within Africa easier; for example, Zimbabweans should be able to sell their products across the continent,” he explained.
He illustrated the problem with a simple example. “In Zimbabwe, avocados might sell for US$1 or US$2, but in North Africa, the same avocado can fetch up to US$10. The problem is getting the avocado there.”
This is the gap Kulies.com aims to fill. So, how does it work? Ruwona describes Kulies.com as a “pan-African, omni-channel business-to-business marketplace.”
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In simple terms, it is an all-in-one digital platform that helps manufacturers and suppliers sell their products across the continent.
Currently operating in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana, the company has a special focus on Africa's massive informal sector.
“Our goal is to bridge Africa's fragmented supply chains,” Ruwona explained. They connect suppliers directly with thousands of small, informal retailers.
For a popular product such as Mazoe cordial in Zambia, Kulies.com aggregates orders from many small shops.
They then place one large order with the factory in Zimbabwe and handle the complex distribution. This gives small retailers a collective buying power they could never have on their own.
“We are empowering African informal retailers and SMEs (small and medium enterprises) with the digital tools they need to tap into the continent's digital economy,” Ruwona stated.
The company, founded in 2021, is already tackling one of trade's biggest hurdles: payments.
By partnering with the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System, they enable cross-border payments within seven minutes.
Despite the progress, challenges remain. “The biggest barrier so far is logistics,” Ruwona admitted, pointing to cross-border paperwork and permits.
A supplier might have the products but lack the right permit to export them. Kulies.com is now proactively helping suppliers navigate these regulatory hurdles to ensure smooth trade.
With ambitious plans for expansion, Ruwona’s ultimate goal is clear.
“We are building a unicorn—the first in Zimbabwe.” By ‘unicorn’, he means a billion-dollar business.
It is a bold ambition, but for Ruwona and Kulies.com, it is the logical endpoint of a mission to truly connect Africa, one trade at a time.
The AfCFTA, which began implementation in 2021, is the largest free trade area in the world by the number of member countries.
Its primary goal is to create a single, continent-wide market for goods and services, facilitating the free movement of business and investment.
By eliminating tariffs on most goods and reducing trade barriers, it seeks to significantly boost intra-African trade, which has historically been low.
