In an exclusive with Africa Talks Business, Debisi tells his story, from being an employee to business owner. The question you should ask yourself as a business owner is “is my business Pluggedin”.
Meet Alex, the visionary founder behind Pluggin Networks, a revolutionary retail app poised to propel Africa to new heights in the world of commerce. With a mission to empower businesses across the continent, Alex’s brainchild is a cutting-edge retail field automation software designed to seamlessly connect marketing, sales, and commerce teams with their customers. Pluggin Networks promises to streamline operations, enhance customer engagement, and drive growth in the African retail landscape, making it the next big technology to revolutionize the way businesses interact with their audience and thrive in this dynamic market. With Alex’s leadership and Pluggin Networks’ innovative solutions, Africa’s future in trading and technology looks brighter than ever.
Tell us more about you and how your Journey Started, the company, and how its journey started?
My name is Debisi (Alex) Omoniyi Alexander, member of the Direct Marketing Association of South
Africa (DMASA) and National Institute Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN). After years of working in
Advertising, FMCG, PR & Events, Brand Activations agency and media I resigned in 2009 to start my
Fusion 360 Degrees Limited; a brand activation agency in Nigeria and Gauteng, Johannesburg few
years later. Three years from 2009, I was not able to secure a single account, I became frustrated and
felt like giving up until an opportunity came in 2012 which gave me the head start. It was one of
Nigeria’s foremost dairy brands that brought me into the spotlight and since then, it has been series of
campaigns, product launches, instore activations, samplings, consumer engagements having worked
with 32 brands.
In 2016, we came in contact with a South African multinational cereal and snack company, out of 12
agencies that pitched, we were shortlisted and won the account. That moved part of our operations into
South Africa at that time because of the opportunities we saw. It was a major blow during Covid-19,
where our services were completely shut down due to social distancing and protocols involved. Late
2020, we won the “Most Admired Consumer Agency Company of the Year” for the Africa Finance
Awards 2020. I was nominated by DMASA as a judge for the prestigious South African ASSAGAI
Award for 2021-2023.
In 2023, we had to re-engineer our business processes because we were losing accounts due to global
financial downturn from our clients by introducing mobile and web technology to optimise operations,
gather consumer insights and scale up the retail automation processes across the FMCG and
distribution industry in Africa. We are delivering a unique and seamless product that will enhance the
Retail Value Chain across Africa and beyond. Knowing that Africa is an emerging market, our vision to
create a solution that will create job opportunities for Africans and create a platform that will help the
growth of retail distribution using technology.
This gave birth PluggIn™ , a SaaS (Software As A Service) mobile, web based application and field retail
automation software designed for brands, field teams, BTL agencies, FMCG companies, sales &
distribution companies, manufacturers who have field employees and want to automate their field sales
process. One App with multiple retail functions that comprises of the Sales Agent, Promoter,
Merchandizer and a robust marketplace all synchronised to help the retail value chain. The exciting part
is the informative dash board for both users and admin to view reports, tasks, sales offtakes and teams
performance.
What Impact does your company hope to make in Africa?
Africa is an emerging market with a population of about Africa is 1,469,173,267 as of 2023, based on
the latest United Nations estimates. Africa population is equivalent to 17.89% of the total world
population. Africa’s emerging markets creates opportunities for global businesses for expansion in retail
and distribution. Changing demographics and improving business environments across the continent
will be just two of the factors contributing to rising household consumption, which is predicted to reach
$2.5 trillion by 2023. Seven countries; Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,
Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa in the next few years will hold half of the continent’s population, and
43 percent of Africans across the continent will belong to the middle or upper classes. The rising
income levels among all socioeconomic groups and increasing demand for goods and services should
encourage businesses to explore introducing their products to the continent. There is opportunities
throughout Africa that exists for investment, production, and delivery.
PluggIn™ Networks (Pty) is tapping into this space by providing the retail and distribution industry the
required tool that will enhance and optimize retailing in coming years ahead. Africans are generally
highly brand-loyal consumers, where Fast-moving consumer goods with low-cost products and short
shelf life are constantly in high demand, this present the opportunity for existing brands to strengthen
their consumer base with unique marketplace for expansion of product distribution. Food, beverages,
hygiene products, home care, and appliances have all exhibited growth in sales within the past decade.
East African consumers have also shifted toward more formal retailers, due to a growing distribution
services sector.
There are more unstructured markets in Africa which are mostly situated in semi-urban and urban
clusters around each country. Concentration of multi-national companies in terms of distribution is
targeted towards the structured players , for instance in South Africa we have the likes of Checkers,
Woolworth, Pick n Pay, Shoprite , Boxer, cash n carry, SPAR and in Nigeria, we have, Shoprite, SPAR,
Justrite, Ebeano, Next Cash n Carry, Blenco and others. PluggIn™ is expected to help Spaza stores,
SME’s and retail stores drive the retail distribution process since they have been disenfranchised from
whole distribution due to logistical challenges. Through PluggIn™ “Marketplace”, wholesale products
orders are now simplified using PluggIn™ platform and delivery is done on time.
Is the company looking to expand, if so where and how?
PluggIn™ has a robust system that also caters for brand’s promotional and merchandising activities
under one roof. Its sales Agent is connected to the Marketplace for brands to connect easily to the retail
value chain. PluggIn™ hopes to integrate brands across Africa within the local space of each country. In
Nigeria for instance, we have partnered with a Tech company called “Crestview Networks Limited”, they
are our official reseller partner for the country. They are expected to source for retail & distribution
partners who will provide good discounts of products, marketing agencies and multinationals
companies who will use PluggIn™ retail automation tool to drive product distribution and get insights in
Nigeria. They will be responsible for setting distribution hubs based on PluggIn™ business model to
ensure seamless product availability to the retail chains. The roll out plan is in phases, our first phase is
South Africa and Nigeria, and second phase in 2024 where we hope to roll out in Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania and Ethiopia. We require distribution or logistic companies to partner with PluggIn™ within
countries across Africa, this requires no capital investments but strong targets and obligations would
have to met.
How is the company unique from competition?
PluggIn™ is a SaaS mobile and web based application that helps companies and brands to track field
employees & their activities, Boost efficiency of field force, Automate sales ordering process, Gain accurate view of sales activities in real-time, Make customer information accessible to field reps, Increase customer engagements, Sell products directly to retailers on its marketplace, Reduce administrative and manual tasks, Accelerate sales. There is quite a lot of same service industries from Europe, Asia, Canada and US making headway to Africa because they see lots of opportunities in these markets. There is a market leader (namewithheld) in Africa (SFA) but it’s from Asia, the navigation is a bit complex and it’s not so user friendly to use.
Feedback from users shows that the application is expensive and does meet the specific operational filed challenges. PluggIn™ is not into SFA but “Retail Field Automation Software” this gives us our “Unique Selling Proposition”.
Unlike most SaaS Apps design and development are being done in Asia, US or Europe, I am proud to say
100% of the design and implementation of PluggIn™ was done by a team young experienced Africans.
During development, we took time to understand the challenges of the Spaza stores ,retail shops and kiosk and SME’s who don’t immediate have access to FMCG products until they travel for few kilometres to stock up. PluggIn™ helps in reducing costs and maximizing profits for their businesses. Presently, we are also considering with partnering with banks locally to help fund these Spaza stores or SME’s to have
adequate products available on shelf. We are also investing and partnering with logistics companies
that will help in distribution to fulfil orders. PluggIn™ is an affordable solution for Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverages, Wines & Spirit, Beauty & cosmetics, brand activation agencies, Telcos, Distribution & logistics and FMCG industries. It is the most affordable retail automation tool you can ever get with a monthly subscription of $7, you can get enormous value. The B2B provides brands the opportunity to access the marketplace and assigning
sales agents to cover territories in customer management, order requests, receive payments, deliveries
and most importantly get more reach for your brands.
Tell us more about the company vision and why it is making a positive impact ?
PluggIn™ Networks (Pty) is an South African Software as a Service company with the aim of providing
low cost and affordable retail solutions for brands and the retail value chain across the African
continent. It purpose is to create distribution hubs in clusters that will serve the needs of retail stores
and Spaza shops found within the proximity of the clusters. This will help these businesses to earn
more in revenue by reducing logistics and markup costs by companies or redistributors. Working with
financial institutions that would assist with credits loans not on cash but on FMCG products which would
also help in empowering youths across Africa. This will create job opportunities within these
communities.
Where can we follow the company and get in touch?
We have our WhatsApp / Telegram channels Available for business enquiries:
Telegram: +27 73 336 8363 I WhatsApp: +27 73 336 8363 I Office: +27 73 336 8363
Email: info@pluggin.net
Managing Director/CEO Email : alex.debisi@pluggin.net
Mobile: +27 061 706 9031
Website: Http://www.pluggin.net
Twitter:@pluggInSA , Facebook:@pluggIn, LinkedIn: PluggIn Networks(Pty)
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