25 August 2015.
And finally, the African online marketplace MOBOfree has seen a staggering 274% increase in the value of products sold on its site in Nigeria compared to this time last year.
Almost 2 billion US dollars worth of goods are on MOBOfree currently, making it one of the most successful social marketplace in Africa according to the platform.
MOBOfree have attributed their success to their reputation for online safety, a key concern given Nigeria's problem with online fraud.
Earlier this year, the site launched an ID verification scheme in Nigeria and Uganda – the first such scheme ever launched on an African ecommerce site.
The scheme works by allowing MOBOfree users to take a picture of their ID document and upload it to the site, along with their email address and phone number. ID documents are then manually reviewed by MOBOfree within 48 hours, at which point they are either accepted or rejected.
