TradeDepot acquires B2B eCommerce platform, Green Lion, to accelerate expansion across Ghana

Leading B2B eCommerce and embedded finance African platform TradeDepot has announced the acquisition of Green Lion, the biggest and fastest-growing B2B eCommerce platform in Ghana. The acquisition will accelerate the delivery of retailing services across the country.

Ghana’s retail sector is valued at $24.4 billion and is expected to reach $33.16 billion by 2024, with SME retailers accounting for about 90 percent of the market. Founded in 2018, Green Lion has committed to revolutionising access to essential goods and services and enabling digital commerce for neighbourhood retailers in Ghana.

Green Lion has so far made 29,854 transactions with 4,404 customers – making it one of the largest B2B e-commerce platforms in Ghana. Green Lion developed fintech solutions to enable traders to access financing, and a digital ledger Wysr, which retailers use for stock monitoring and bookkeeping.

By September 2021, it had a presence in four cities with plans to enter more after it raised debt funding from Global Social Impact Investments. It also looked to grow its customers to 15,000 by the end of 2021.

Building on this work, TradeDepot will leverage its data, technology and robust logistics operations to connect more neighbourhood retailers in more Ghanaian cities to suppliers and make financing more accessible and affordable.

TradeDepot has built a network of leading consumer goods brands and SME retailers across Africa, and created a proprietary risk scoring engine that uses retailers’ purchase history, previous repayment performance and other related data points to predict their creditworthiness.

Through its ShopTopUp platform, the company offers a broad range of consumer goods to SME retailers within its network and provides credit lines to enable these retailers to access inventory and pay in instalments as they sell on to their own customers.

TradeDepot already has active operations in Accra, Ghana, as well as its operations in Nigeria and South Africa. The acquisition involves a full take-over of Green Lion’s assets, network in Ghana and its employees.

The Green Lion team will be joining TradeDepot to support the mission to build the future of retail and make food and supplies more accessible and affordable for even the most remote consumers on the continent.

It will also expedite the delivery of its game-changing services to more cities to enable increased sales, higher margins and other value-added services for all parties across the retail value chain.

Speaking on the acquisition, Onyekachi Izukanne, CEO and co-founder of TradeDepot, said “Ghana represents a significant market for consumer goods in Africa and we are excited to bring the Green Lion team onboard to drive growth and prosperity for more retailers and distributors in the country. We look forward to deepening our relationship with the market and working with more partners to maximise the opportunities that abound in Ghana and beyond.”

Jorge de Rojas from Green Lion said, “We are delighted to be joining the TradeDepot family and continuing our work to help neighbourhood retailers across Africa thrive. It is an exciting time for B2B eCommerce in Africa and we are thrilled by the opportunity to drive more value in the Ghanaian ecosystem and all over the continent.”