Lotsha Onaka, a Pretoria-based e-commerce platform, is making things happen for small-scale businesses looking
to take their businesses to the next level.
Chief executive officer and co-founder of the business Leatile Chocho said the online and physical stores is a one-stop shop for all African retail needs.
The 23-year-old Wits University Bcom Marketing and Business Science honours degree graduate, said the business, which was founded in 2021, was established to offer a wider market access to small businesses.
“We just realised that there was a gap in the market for a lot of entrepeneurs – either formal or informal. We felt that a lot of people did not have a platform to sell their products or have access to wider markets. We just wanted to close that gap.”
The store partners with entrepreneurs to sell listed products at the Lotsha Onaka store in Mamelodi and on its online store.
“We are like a one-stop shop, we offer a wide-range of products and services. Businesspeople are given opportunities to either have their products in the physical shop or list their services on the online store. We just want to show what African entrepreneurs are doing, and the talent that we have on the African continent. We offer more market access with our e-commerce platform,” she said.
Currently, Lotsha Onaka has 20 businesses on its platform. These range from ornamental candle makers, spas, fashion labels, skincare products, and traditional attire, among others.
While her journey has not been without challenges, Chocho is determined to take the business to greater heights.
“The vision is to open more stores in more locations in South Africa and possibly branch out to other parts of the continent because that is what our concept is about. We just want to have a network of services in more sectors and industries that are creating innovative products,” she said.
The business currently employs three people. “We are running on quite a thin structure because of financial constraints. We recently partnered with a marketing company just to help us with the marketing externally,” she concluded.
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