Beautiful things, made by Africa, delivered globally. This is how best to summarize Ananse Africa, a

Startup ecommerce platform, launched today, in Johannesburg and Lagos, connecting African

designers with local and international consumers.

The platform showcases the rich and diverse tapestry of Africa’s creative talent and simplifies international ecommerce payments and logistics for

creative entrepreneurs on the continent.

Ananse has partnered with the Mastercard Foundation and logistics market leader DHL, to rollout the

‘most comprehensive, pan-African ecommerce platform’ to support creative entrepreneurs like fashion

designers and artists to enable them to grow their businesses.

“The Mastercard Foundation partnership with Ananse will enable African fashion brands to sell over

1 million garments over the next three years with75% sourced from African suppliers and

70% participation from women. This will provide a significant boost to the creative economy sector,”

Said Mastercard Foundation Country Head, Nigeria, Chidinma Lawanson.

This valuable business tool will enable artists, fashion designers, artisans, and small businesses along

the fashion and art value chains, conduct trade and expand their businesses, leveraging the power of

the internet in a cost-effective way. With countries around the world imposing COVID-19 restrictions

on physical retail and international travel, consumers are increasingly switching to online shopping,

resulting in a sizeable decrease in the revenues of small businesses like tailors and fashion designers.

“We are not only making it easy for consumers around the world to shop from fashion designers and

artists across Africa, but also making it straight forward for creatives to manage the payments and

logistics functions necessary to complete an ecommerce order,” said the company’s founder Sam

Mensah, a Ghanaian ex-Silicon Valley executive and fashion entrepreneur.

Ananse’s ecommerce and POS solution is simplifying trading in both the physical and digital worlds

for creative entrepreneurs in Africa. Ananse provides creative merchants with full support, including

production training, quality assurance, online payments, order processing, and packaging. The

technology solution aims to solve the key problems that prevent African fashion designers, artisans,

and artists from being commercially viable and successful.

Speaking at the Ananse launch, Leendert van Delft, DHL Vice-President for Global eCommerce

spoke of the company’s experience as the fashion retail and art industry’s leading global logistics

partner. “For decades, we have pioneered solutions to meet the needs of artists, designers, retailers,

and customers by making it our mission to provide these businesses with exceptional service that

translates to a competitive edge. Through our collaboration with Ananse, we are delighted to offer

fast and efficient international logistics solutions that have proven critical to countless startups over

the years,” said van Delft.

Furthermore, Ananse announced that it has also formed a strategic media partnership with Trace TV

to promote the work of African fashion designers, artists, and artisans to its millions of viewers

globally. Curated content on ananse.com will enable shoppers to explore, get inspired, and enjoy the

work of African fashion designers and artists in an engaging manner.