Member Article

North East businessman helping to create an innovative platform to rival Amazon

A North East businessman and entrepreneur is helping a consortium create a new platform which could rival Amazon in the developing world.

Ojami, which is a store aggregator technology platform, connects buyers and sellers in emerging economies to provide an online shopping experience and fast delivery.

Many nations do not have the infrastructure required for the hub and spoke model popular in the US and Europe, which has seen companies such as Amazon struggle to make traction with delivery times commonly five to 15 days.

With their new platform, the Ojami team are developing a system which can deliver in as little as two hours.

Management consultant and Growth Strategy Roadmap founder, Steve Pugh, who is based in Gateshead, was approached by Ojami after demonstrating his ability for growing businesses online.

CEO of De-Miropass Technologies Ltd, Ojami’s parent company, Adejoro Oluwashola reached out to Steve over LinkedIn and the conversation grew. Steve is now part of an advisory board including members from South Africa, Canada and the UK to help steer the project, on which Steve is also an investor.

Steve expressed his excitement and said it’s a real honour to be part of this opportunity. He commented: “Coronavirus has made it very clear how important e-commerce and home delivery is in the UK, but this is also true worldwide. In large countries with low population densities and minimal infrastructure, the mega warehouse model of the major players simply does not work. Combined with significantly more traffic and also a culture where e-commerce is still relatively new, this has introduced a huge opportunity.”

Due to the pandemic, the rate of users embracing e-commerce globally has skyrocketed, achieving 10 years’ worth of adoption in just three months, which the team behind this new platform look to capitalise on.

Steve said: “I will be bringing my background in business strategy, problem solving, marketing and communications to the team to help express the vision of the company into a proposition which is attractive to investors.

“It’s really exiting to work on a project which could genuinely take off. By engaging users and making the platform attractive to investors, we will create a clear exit strategy.”

The new technology platform is still in development and is generating a strong following. The team plan to move quickly, working with De-Miropass Technologies Ltd’s other established companies and experts, which includes retail and logistics.

Steve is no stranger to tackling big problems. In 2011 he helped create a world-first financial fund, which unlocked £200m of work for businesses in the region, before helping to grow a range of prominent North East firms.

Steve is an author and founder of GrowthStrategyRoadmap.com and works as a management consultant supporting businesses to tackle the challenges they face.

The entrepreneur, who launched his business in November, is currently working on a range of new projects which are due to launch in the next six months and are set to disrupt the market and help businesses grow.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Harvey & Hugo .