Watch List: 15 SA eCommerce Entrepreneurs Who Have Built Successful Online Businesses

South Africa’s ecommerce market is worth R10 billion per year. By 2021, the number of online shoppers is expected to have reached 24.79 million. “Our recent research on SA shows people are browsing three hours or more on their mobile phones and 25% shop online. They trust local brands,” says Geraldine Mitchley, Visa senior director for digital solutions in sub-Sahara Africa. These entrepreneurs have cashed in on ecommerce and launched successful online stores that have either established their dominance in the market, or are taking the e-tailing world by storm. Here’s how these 15 ecommerce capitalists are making money using the Internet: Aisha Pandor Andrew Higgins Kerryn Tremearne David Davies Andrew Smith, Paul Galatsis and Shane Dryden Trevor Gosling Nicholas Haralambous Justin Drennan Neo Lekgabo Ryan Bacher Tracy Kruger Luke Jedeikin Tarryn Abrahams Sascha Breuss Antonio Bruni 1. Aisha Pandor Aisha Pandor, has employed 6000 domestic workers in four years with the SweepSouth app Vital Stats: Business: SweepSouth Industry: Housekeeping services Established: 2014 When award-winning geneticist, Aisha Pandor and her software engineer husband Alen Ribic struggled to find a domestic worker from referrals, listings and classifieds, they decided to launch a platform for others in the same position. SweepSouth was launch in 2014 with just four domestic workers, and has since employed over 6000 across South Africa. The household cleaning digital platform allows clients to hire a domestic worker for household cleaning at around R38 an hour. 65% to 80% of the rate and all tips from clients are the employee’s to keep. Before co-founding SweepSouth, Pandor held the positions of associate in UCT’s management department and business analyst at Accenture. Some of her most notable awards include the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans list in 2012 and SA Women in Science Award for her work in molecular genetics. In 2015, SweepSouth became the first South African startup accepted into the Silicon Valley-based accelerator programme 500 Startups , earning them USD125 000 seed funding. In 2016 Pandor and Ribic, who’s the company’s CTO, raised R10 million funding from the First Rand Group and Vumela Fund. SweepSouth’s exponential growth continues as the company is estimated to have paid out over R30 million to SA domestic workers during the past year. “I'm inspired personally by visionaries and risk-takers like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and South Africa's own Vinny Lingham. Women in SA who are captains of industry like Phuti Mahanyele, Khanyi Dhlomo and Wendy Luhabe are big role models.” 2. Andrew Higgins Andrew Higgins, made auctioning online into a multimillion rand business Vital Stats: Business: Bidorbuy Industry: Retail Established: 1999 Based on the world’s largest online trading community eBay, Bidorbuy was launched by Higgins as an online retail and auction platform. The sites inventory ranges from jewellery and watches to coins, cellphones, electronics and cars. Thanks to the growing influence of the Internet in South Africa, the platform has grown into one of the country’s biggest online marketplaces. A decade into operation, Bidorbuy had over 1,1 million unique visitors, 26 million page impressions, and 700 000 items listed for sale every month. Its gross merchandise in 2010 was valued at R30 million per month. “The first thing businesses should be considering is an omni-channel approach. That is, sell across many different channels. The way you do that is you could have your own online store, you could set up anything from pop-up shops to a full-blown physical store,” says Higgins. 3. Kerryn Tremearne Kerryn Tremearne, made millions from selling kids’ clothing online Vital Stats: Business: Kapas Baby & Toddler Industry: Fashion Established: 2014 Tremearne took a leap of faith when she left her corporate job as marketing manager in favour of entrepreneurship with an online store in 2014. At first, Kapas was a business that sourced clothing and other products from nationwide suppliers. But soon she realised the demand for baby clothes was high enough for her to start designing and making her own clothes to be sold through wholesale and retail channels. Today, the exclusive online store has added a toddler range to its offering, becoming an award-winning brand. In 2015 Kapas Baby & Toddler won Best Small eCommerce Business Award and was the second runner up for the Best Shopping Process at the SA eCommerce Awards. Tremearne was named as one of the top 3 Entrepreneurs by Ilembe Chamber of Commerce in 2016. “The mindset that online shopping is impersonal comes from poor customer service and the response and design of the site. Kapas Baby aims for brilliant customer service. I add a personal touch to every order by adding a branded postcard with a personalised message to the customer.” 4. David Davies David Davies’ cameras and drones are winning him awards and customers Vital Stats: Business: Action Gear Industry: Outdoor technology Established: 2010 Adrenaline junkie Davies and co-founder Warrick Kearns launched Action Cameras in 2010 as the first specialist in helmet cameras like the GoPro and Drift. Their combined technological expertise and product knowledge gave them a competitive edge and they soon became the market leader. In 2013 Action Camera became Action Gear as their offering expanded beyond sports cameras and included the latest outdoor technology products including drones, sports watches and headsets. In 2012 Action Camera was selected by J.P Morgan and Raizcorp as one of SA’s Most Entrepreneurial Companies with the highest potential for incredible success. And in 2015 Action Gear was awarded top honours in the eCommerce Awards with the Best Customer Service award. “Almost every industry requires some form of drone technology from mining, agriculture to construction to name the most popular. At Action Gear we have the pleasure of being at the forefront of the drone industry, from being an authorised DJI reseller and repair centre we’ve watched this industry grow and slowly take shape,” says Davies. 5. Andrew Smith, Paul Galatsis and Shane Dryden Andrew Smith, Paul Galatsis and Shane Dryden, made cooking cool again and built a kitchen empire Vital Stats: Business: Yuppiechef Industry: Homeware Established: 2006 Shane Dryden’s love for cooking and trendy kitchen gadgets brought him and two friends together to join the mid-2000’s cooking revolution. Dryden, Paul Galatsis and Andrew Smith cashed in on the world’s obsession with Jamie Oliver and MasterChef, providing South Africans with a first – the kitchen products and brands that avid home cooks were seeing on television, but couldn’t always easily get hold of. Yuppiechef is the country’s premier online kitchen and homeware store, offering in excess of 8000 products from 300 of the world’s leading brands, from utensils to gadgets to décor and quality ingredients. All delivered to you with no extra charge – they consider delivery as a marketing expense . In 2017, the online retailer launched its first official physical store in Cape Town. “Shane Dryden and I started Yuppiechef from my lounge and because we were the ones answering the phone and replying to emails, we treated customers as we expected to be treated. We refer to the culture-permission-tool framework. When we add team members we look for people who genuinely care,” says Smith. 6. Trevor Gosling Trevor Gosling and his 10 employees are financing multiple start-up launches in SA Vital Stats: Business: LulaLend Industry: Finance Established: 2014 Trevor Gosling’s first venture into entrepreneurship was a company so successful, it was acquired by a large media group before its second birthday. He went on to launch a follow up business to his wildly victorious food and wine e-commerce platform 5ounces. In 2014 Gosling and Neil Welman co-founded Lulalend, an online lending platform for small businesses. South Africa’s first online and automated short-term funding provider for formal micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) currently has 10 employees. Lulalend has provided funding for various start-ups including Cape Town-based online coffee retailer Cape Coffee Beans, and shoe retailer Think Shoes. “Solving a need is the big thing; finding a problem and working out a solution. And that’s what me and my business partner are about everyday. I just want to make it as good and easy as possible and to use technology to leverage that, so that’s what we’re essentially doing on a day-to-day basis.” 7. Nicholas Haralambous Nicholas Haralambous became an e-tail mogul with just R5 000 Vital Stats: Business: Nic Harry Industry: Fashion Established: 2012 Not many entrepreneurs can say they bootstrapped their business ventures and made a profit within the first month. But Nic Haralambous can. The BA in journalism and politics graduate and Rhodes University alumnus is also a serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most successful businesspeople during the last 15 years. In 2012, after his latest venture Motribe, was sold to Mxit, he founded fashion accessory online store Nic Harry, aimed at those with a taste for bold and colourful socks. What made his offering unique was that these socks were designed and made locally from bamboo, cotton or both. In 2015 Nic Harry opened its first bricks and mortar store in Cape Town and has since launched four more in the Western Cape and Gauteng. “Honesty is our number one communication methodology. I don’t lie, I don’t sugar coat things and I don’t hold a grudge. If you make a mistake, I tell you. If I make you unhappy, you tell me. Then we all move on and do the best work we can do.” 8. Justin Drennan Justin Drennan, received R20 million funding for his logistics start-up within a year of launching Vital Stats: Business: ParcelNinja Industry: Courier services Established: 2014 ParcelNinja was founded in 2014 by brothers Justin and Ryan Drennan and their business partner Terence Murphy, off the back of their original venture, e-store, WantItAll. The IT graduate and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University alumnus, and his partners soon caught the attention of UK investors C5 Holdings who invested R20-million into their venture. The smart-warehouse locations provided by ParcelNinja enable customers to order from over 50 South African online shops via ParcelNinja’s own systems. The process involves the customer’s purchases being picked and packaged in the store’s branded packaging before being delivered to the customer. Additional services from ParcelNinja include integration into existing eCommerce engines , product warehousing and reporting. “Everyone wants to spend time on strategy; it’s just not that easy when you’re in the hyper-growth phase of building a business,” says Drennan. 9. Neo Lekgabo Neo Lekgabo, grew his courier company from 10 motorbikes to 100 drivers in five months Vital Stats: Business: Sendr Industry: Delivery services Established: 2015 Neo Lekgabo’s previous positions in marketing for both MultiChoice Africa and the SABC came in handy when he launched his own start-up in 2015. His numerous academic accomplishments – a Master’s in Business Administration from Henley Business School and a Marketing Management Diploma from the Tshwane University of Technology – also played in role in the rapid success of his Randburg-based on-demand delivery app-based service Sendr. The point-to-point delivery service is designed for the sending of small goods and items and uses a unique one-time password (OTP) system, eliminating security risks. Sendr grew within its first five months from a fleet of just 10 motorbikes in October 2015 to employing more than 100 drivers by March 2016. “We think that eventually we are going to get to a point where ecommerce platform differentiators are how quickly someone can get their order,” says Lekgabo. 10. Ryan Bacher Ryan Bacher’s flower shop makes over 500 daily deliveries Vital Stats: Business: NetFlorist Industry: Floral and gifting Established: 1999 A challenge turned into a thriving business when a test run to operate an ecommerce site for one day brought in over R30 000 worth of orders. Ryan Bacher, Lawrence Brick and Jonathan Hackner had started the site to prove a point to Makro, but its success led to the launch of NetFlorist on Valentine’s Day in 1999. Since expanding its offering into gifting, confectionary and bakery products and same-day personalisation of gifts, 60% of sales at NetFlorist are from flowers and 40% from non-flowers, with an average order amount of R400. “We have to do things that are slightly different and difficult to copy as a way to build a moat around the business, or we will immediately attract imitators. The key is to focus on the core, while at the same time be good at exploring new things.” Bacher says. 11. Tracy Kruger Tracy Kruger, launched a hosiery store that won awards within its first two years Vital Stats: Business: Legwear Safari Industry: Fashion Established: 2012 Husband and wife team, Marius and Tracy Kruger started Legwear Safari with the aim of providing the very best selection of local and international legwear, hosiery, shape wear and accessories. In 2014 Legwear Safari was awarded the Cape Talk Sage One Small Business Award and the start-up was listed as one of the top 50 e-commerce websites in both 2014 and 2015. The idea stemmed from Kruger’s frustration with the limited range of legwear that was good quality, fitted well and that suited her personality or her mood, and today runs a thriving business with customers nationwide. “With an e-commerce site, your website is everything, so it needs to look slick and professional. You can get a great site for around R20 000, and it’ll be a worthwhile investment. If you don’t want to pull the trigger too early, start by selling on Facebook, which is what I did,” says Tracy. 12. Luke Jedeikin Luke Jedeikin is the co-CEO that helped grow Superbalist’s membership to one million in three years Vital Stats: Business: Superbalist.com Industry: Fashion Established: 2011 Launched in 2011 by Luke Jedeikin, Claude Hanan and Daniel Solomon as CityMob, in 2013, the online designer retailer rebranded as Superbalist.com. Superbalist offers over 12 000 products, from 300+ local and international brands, updated daily. The fashion and homeware site has in excess of 3 million visitors on its website daily during peak months, and produces its own award-winning original editorial content published daily. Superbalist.com was the most awarded brand at the 2016 Bookmark Awards, won five Bookmark and three Loeries in 2017 and was named Best Niche Shopping Experience at the Tech & E-Commerce Awards. A year after its rebrand, in 2014 the e-retailer hit one million members. In 2015 Superbalist was acquired by SA’s biggest online retailer Takealot.com. “We use a customer-centric approach, we innovate with purpose, we don’t follow the competition – and we choose the best possible people (or bots) for the job,” says Klyne Maharaj, Head of Brand at Superbalist.com. 13. Tarryn Abrahams Tarryn Abrahams’ racy revenue stream is getting rave reviews Vital Stats: Business: Boudoir Box Industry: Fashion Established: 2017 Retrenchment from her corporate job catapulted Abrahams into entrepreneurship as a leather-smith. But despite studying and working towards making her mark in the industry, her business, Hide struggled to take off due to issues with funding and resources. In an effort to cheer her up, her partner would buy her pamper gifts, including lingerie – sparking a new business idea. Abrahams launched Boudoir Box as a lingerie line with a difference. Not only does her online lingerie store cater specifically to curvy women, but the beauty products it sells are locally sourced from women-owned small businesses. Boudoir Box offers pamper boxes (containing various lingerie designs and beauty products) on a once-off, three-month or monthly subscription basis. “Boudoir Box is for today’s women and it holds a very specific message directly relating to body positivity as well as women empowerment. It is truly a feminine, fintech business that tackles existing societal constructs, and ultimately, encompasses everything I value and wish to achieve in my future career path,” says Abrahams. 14. Sascha Breuss Sascha Breuss’ online retail store sold 80 items a minute during Black Friday Vital Stats: Business: Zando Industry: Fashion Established: 2012 Breuss joined Zando as its inaugural Director Commercial when the site launched in 2012. Within three months Zando became South Africa's leading online fashion retailer and Breuss took over as CEO in 2013. Now home to over 500 brands, including footwear, apparel, homeware and beauty products, Africa’s biggest online fashion store Zando won Best Mobile Shopping Experience and Best Overall Shopping Experience at the 2016 PriceCheck Tech and E-Com Awards. Its unique free delivery regardless of basket size (no minimum spend) and seven options to pay, including cash on delivery, has driven consumers to the site in droves over the past six years. “We know that our customers are browsing Zando on all platforms, desktop, mobile and app so we implemented some handy features to make the transition between each platform easier,” says Breuss. “I believe the full focus and investment on the Customer Experience has worked for us.” 15. Antonio Bruni Antonio Bruni’s on-demand delivery service paid out R2.5 million to its drivers in two years Vital Stats: Business: Picup Technologies Industry: Logistics Established: 2015 Bruni’s early fascination with technology and the emerging digital space in South Africa led to him founding of a number of online marketing and ecommerce ventures. His vision to disrupt the traditional courier service was realised when he launched the on-demand delivery brand, Picup. His latest venture aims to break boundaries and lead the way in the on-demand delivery space. In addition to his digital projects, Bruni co-owns Cape Town sushi restaurant, Salushi. Picup is an all-inclusive warehouse solution, an e-commerce plugin, a point-to-point/multiple drop platform and a simple on-demand offering. Its success lies in its promise to collect and deliver documents and parcels in under 90 minutes – otherwise the delivery fee is fully refunded. In addition to this promise, picup’s micro-jobbing platform enables drivers (or Legends as they are dubbed by the company) to earn the majority of the fee for completed deliveries. This empowers the drivers to make more delivers as the bulk of picup’s revenue is theirs. “After my involvement in a diverse mix of industries, I can confidently say that thinking big is the key to any successful start-up,” says Bruni.

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