A Digital Auctioning Firm Birthed in Financial Crisis

One year after quitting his employment from Homeboyz Entertainment Group to be a freelancer, Kevin Rakama was hit by a financial crisis.

A challenge most young entrepreneurs encounter when starting their own companies. The reality of not receiving any cash at the end of the month sank in deep.

“I had one option left, to sell my carpet,” says Rakama.

The first stop was a shylock who valued the carpet at Ksh3,000. “I desperately needed Ksh15,000. I had valued the carpet at Ksh10,000,” he narrates.

It is this exploitation from the shylock guy that provided Rakama with a light bulb moment.

The telecommunication engineer saw a problem and turned it to an opportunity.

“Out of the pain of being exploited just because I needed some quick cash, I went back home and researched other ways to sell my carpet.”

The Operation

“Other online selling platforms were also not so accommodating. So I sat down and framed Corido Marketplace platform where buying and selling of second hands goods are friendly to the users,” he says.

However, it took six months after its conception for Rakama to get the first client who had bulk merchandise he wanted to dispose of.

Targeting corporate clients, Corido Marketplace is a platform where vendors seeking to sell second-hand goods in bulk can reach a wider market unlike traditional auctioning.

According to the financial dictionary, auction implies a means of selling goods and services to the highest bidder among a number of potential customers.

An agent from Corido Marketplace confirms the state of the goods to be sold then takes pictures. The assets are then valued and a price tag put on them. He/she then uploads the photos to Corido Marketplace. It is then that the buyers start placing their biddings on the selected items.

Unlike other online selling platforms, Corido Market is a controlled environment. It offers security, privacy, convenience and fast delivery to the buyers.

“We ensure that the buyer gets to physically see and evaluate the goods they want together with an agent. When satisfied we deliver them to one’s doorstep and they can confirm if the assets are in the same condition,” says Rakama.

In generating revenue, vendors pay a small amount of fee to the platform to have their goods posted. The fees vary according to the mode posting used.

Services

At the Corido market place, the corporate and individual sellers can post their merchandise they want to dispose of.

“There is an option to sell in bulk or a single item, they can also do an online auction. The seller comes and says they want to vend the goods to the highest bidder,” explains Rakama.

The platform also offers barter trade services. Vendors on the platform who want to swipe items can do that on Corido Marketplace.

“We also do giveaways. This is where a client who wants to get rid of their goods in bulk come in and ask us to donate them. Either to schools, organisations, business communities among others.

The receivers of these donations, however, have to be verified before being presented with the assets.

“We also rent and lease items for vendors,” adds Rakama.

Partnerships

To ease the disposal of bulk goods with short time returns, organizations have partnered with Corido Marketplace.

Further, traditional auctioneers are also transiting to the digital space. “Not every auctioneer has embraced the online space but those who have termed it as convenient as it exposes them to a wider range of client base,” says Rakama.

The digital auctioneers are able to beat a limited timeline and threshold given by vendors. A challenge most traditional auctioneers face.

“We have several auctioning firms who have come on board as our partners. I want to urge others to embrace digital platforms since the future is definitely online and space is massive,” he says.

Averagely in a day, up to 15 items are sold from Corido Market. In other cases, the merchandise gets sold even before being posted on the website.

Unlike other auctioning digital platforms, Corido Marketplace provides pictures of items. It also does provide a wider range of items from the household, to agriculture and food, office furniture and types of machinery among others.

They further have agents in major towns in the country since the client base on the internet is wide.

Expectations

Rakama aims to transform the auctioning industry from traditional to digital. “About 20-30% of the auctioning should be able to operate online in the next three years or so.”

This will increase the revenue the 32-year-old entrepreneur generates from e-commerce, thus creating employment opportunities.