[Startup Interview] Axel Peyriere, Co-Founder, AfricarGroup
Axel Peyriere is co-founder of the number one car classifieds websites in Africa, the AfricarGroup, which covers 22 countries and translated into 10 local dialects of the continent. His interview with Africa Business Communities:
Could you introduce AfricarGroup to us?
AfricarGroup is the first and biggest network of car classifieds websites in Africa. We are the number 1 for automotive (cars, trucks and motorbikes in Africa) as we cover already 22 countries. We are helping a target market of more than 500 million people to easily, quickly and better sell their vehicles in the continent.
Where is AfricarGroup located?
Our headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia, where some of our cofounders and investors come, but one of the cofounder is living between Mali and France, and an other one in Democratic Republic of Congo. We currently cover 22 countries, including some in West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern part of Africa.
When was the company founded and how is it funded?
The company was founded about a year ago and has been self-funded by its founders at the beginning, and has now received external investments from various investors from Australia and Sweden.
Who are your clients?
Our clients can be both individuals and professionals as we have both a B2B, a B2C, a C2B or a C2C approach. Anyone can sell its vehicles on our platform, and it can be sold to anyone. We also have clients that don’t sell vehicles but are connected to the automotive space and are our clients, such as Total for example.
What need did you see that made necessary the creation of Africar?
There were no proper and simple car classifieds platform in the markets we entered. Sometimes there was already an international player, but it were mostly offering import cars, so cars not available on the market instantly, which is not relevant for local people. Local people want to trade with local people and businesses and see the cars and buy it quickly if needed. Same for the sellers.
What are AfricarGroup’s Unique Selling Points?
We are local, we have local teams on the ground in each market, and now we also have our platforms translated in local languages such as Hausa, Yoruba, Somali, Swahili, Amharic and more.
How has the market responded to your services?
Market has responded greatly. Our numbers keep on growing monthly without spending more on marketing. We are following the trend of internet penetration in all of these markets. Our websites are also 100% mobile responsive, as it is needed for the local people.
What are the ambitions of the company?
Our ambition is to grow to more market and really create a powerful ecosystem around vehicles in Africa. We already are the biggest ecosystem for automotive locally, but we want finally to serve more than a billion people locally.
What does Africar need to grow and prosper?
More investors first to help us grow even quicker, and then more customers, but this is growing organically quite quickly. And a bigger community, but this is not a problem for now, we already have more than a million people on all of our social medias connected to us!
Also read:
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[Startup Interview] Damian Avar, Founder, DoctorsHub, Nigeria
[Startup Interview] Ebenezer Adjei, Founder, Unicorn Microsystems, Ghana
[Startup Interview] Mike Bondo, CEO and Co founder, McShop, Democratic Republic of Congo
[Startup Interview] Stella Sigana, Executive Director, Alternative Waste Technologies, Kenya
Africa Business Communities is conducting a series of interviews with startup businesses in Africa.
Are you a startup in Africa and interested in an interview? Great! Send an e-mail to bas@africabusinesscommunities.com
