Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes’ Aruwa Capital invests undisclosed amount in B2B eCommerce startup, OmniRetail.

Lagos-based investment fund manager Aruwa Capital Management (Aruwa Capital) has announced an undisclosed investment in eCommerce startup, OmniRetail (OmniBiz). Aruwa Capital is a female-founded and led, growth-equity, impact investment company founded by Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes in 2019 to bridge the gender gap among capital allocators and to provide access to capital to female-led/focused businesses in Nigeria and Ghana. Its latest investment would help OmniRetail scale business operations within its African markets.

“We are excited to have completed this investment in Omniretail. We find the technology stack of the Company very impressive as they have created different interconnected technology solutions that are addressing real-life challenges in the retail value chain in Africa,” said Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder & Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital. Aruwa Capital believes that OmniRetail’s technology stack will, in the long run, play a significant role in its network-effect strategy in the FMCG value chain in Africa.

Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder and General Partner, Aruwa Capital Management.

OmniRetail is a tech-first B2B eCommerce company that aggregates end-to-end retail operations to help manufacturers, distributors, logistic partners, and retailers achieve their business goals through a seamless supply chain framework and embedded finance.

In line with Aruwa’s gender lens investing strategy, OmniRetail is promoting the economic growth of over 50,000 women retailers today and counting, through improved revenue and inclusion to the digital financial bracket. In addition, about half of the Company’s workforce is female, further illustrating our thesis of women empowerment through our investments. – Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, Founder & Managing Partner of Aruwa Capital.

Founded in 2019, OmniRetail launched as a salesforce automation software Company used by brands and distributors in the FMCG sector. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company realised it was solving only one side of the problem in the retail value chain. With this, it built OmniBiz, an online shop that helps retailers order their stock and deliver it within 24 hours. OmniRetail has improved retailers’ earnings potential by over 4x and enhanced their financial inclusion in Nigeria and Africa. Over 78% of the Company’s retailers and distributors are women, further driving gender equality and economic empowerment on the continent.

“We are happy to partner with Aruwa Capital on this exciting journey as we approach our next growth phase. We believe having Aruwa as shareholders will be instrumental to our growth as the team at Aruwa Capital has shown their dedication to providing strategic support that is instrumental to us becoming the growth engine of traditional retailers in Africa,” said Deepankar Rustagi, CEO of OmniRetail. “This investment will help us achieve our market deepening and expansion plans, enabling us to solve even more challenges faced by players in the retail distribution value chain. We are grateful to the Aruwa Capital team for believing in our vision and the grassroots impact we are making in Africa.”