Founded in 2018, MaxAB is revolutionizing the conventional retail marketplace with a blend of digital technologies, data-driven analytics, and integrated financial solutions that are intended to empower small-scale retailers and suppliers in North Africa. As the most substantial B2B e-commerce enterprise in the area, it supports a network of traditional retailers, including 'mom-and-pop' stores, throughout Egypt and Morocco, with a particular emphasis on the grocery sector. In this sector, small retailers, of which there are approximately 500,000, constitute 90% of the Egyptian market. Furthermore, women are prominent as FMCG distributors and retailers, handling more than 80% of their necessary SKUs. MaxAB simplifies operations by acting as a single supplier, providing transparent pricing, delivering on-demand, and offering an array of value-added services like financing to stimulate growth, ultimately resulting in a more inclusive supply chain. Suppliers gain from MaxAB's comprehensive supply chain solutions and business intelligence tools, which enable them to precisely anticipate, observe, and regulate the real-time impact of their strategies. Furthermore, MaxAB has rolled out Point of Sale solutions for its merchants, which are digitizing payments and provide integrated financial services to traditional retailers. In 2021, we spearheaded MaxAB's Series A funding round through a single opportunity fund. www.maxab.io
Impact: Inclusive Supply Chain
Fast-moving consumer goods products typically pass-through multiple layers of wholesalers, distributors and sub-distributors before they end up in small shops and kiosks, the “traditional trade”. These distribution channels are largely informal, opaque, fragmented, and with limited access to supplier credit, but they are critical for getting products to consumers.
Our partner company MaxAB is addressing the challenges associated with complex distribution chains through its digital B2B distribution platform and integrated end to end supply chain solution. Founded in 2018 and currently employs over 4,000 employees in Egypt and Morocco, MaxAB is re-engineering the traditional retail market using digital technologies, data science, and embedded finance solutions designed to empower both small retailers and suppliers in North Africa. Among the many benefits of MaxAB’s supply chain solutions is the ability to identify gender inequalities in distribution networks, such as gaps in the participation of female distributors and retailers and differences in sales performance in addition to leveraging digital transaction data to facilitate access to working capital for retailers and distributors. This particularly beneficial for women as they often face larger gaps in access to finance. Addressing gender inequalities can enable women-owned/led traditional retailers to grow their business and reduces entrenched performance gaps between women and men led traditional retailers, leading to greater sales for manufacturers and more orders for B2B distribution platforms. Furthermore, women merchants play a key role in a company’s efforts to reach women consumers as traditional retailers play an important role in influencing the purchasing decisions of their customers. MaxAB is actively working to identify the number or share of traditional retailers that are owned/led by women to help its suppliers with better engagement to increase its market share and the sales of its products. In addition, MaxAB has started rolling out Point of Sale solutions to its traditional trade customers to digitize payments and empowering them with inclusive finance solutions and access to affordable credit to grow their businesses.