ANKA, formerly known as Afrikrea, is now regarded as the face of e-commerce in Africa, the Amazon made in Africa. Behind the company is a team of talented Africans led by Moulaye Tabouré. The young entrepreneur of Malian origin co-founded the famous marketplace in 2016, and since then it has been a huge success. In the following lines, we tell you the story of Moulaye, the Malian who revolutionised the online commerce sector in Africa.
The beginnings of Afrikrea
Moulaye Tabouré's academic career began in a rather conventional way. Moulaye was born in 1988 in Bamako, Mali, and spent his childhood and adolescence there, marking the first pages of his story. At the age of 19, having passed his baccalauréat ES, the young man decided to take flight, like many young Africans before him. His destination: France, to pursue his higher education, full of ambition and determination.
In Paris, Moulaye entered Paris Dauphine-PSL University for his higher education. The years passed, marked by hours of hard work and dedication. Finally, after climbing the educational ladder, he emerged from this prestigious institution with a master's degree in auditing and consulting in extended enterprise information systems, a crucial discipline in the current context of corporate digital transformation.
From the streets of Bamako to the classrooms of Paris, Moulaye Tabouré set out in search of academic excellence and expertise in a specific field, in order to make his contribution to his country's economy. During his years of higher education, Tabouré managed to secure four work-study offers from which to choose. In the end, he decided to join KPMG, displaying an unshakeable determination to work hard to achieve a degree of financial independence.
However, despite all his efforts and goodwill, the young man was eventually made redundant. His atypical nature, which didn't fit in with the conventional corporate mould, didn't suit his employers. However, this very difficult period was not enough to discourage him. He quickly got back on his feet, because he didn't want to return home without having achieved a great deal. He then had the brilliant idea of contacting one of the firms from which he had received a work-study offer and managed to get himself hired there.
He then joined Alstom Groupa French multinational, where he will work as head of the internal audit team. In this position, the young recruit has no complaints. His job allows him to travel and discover the world. But the more time goes by, the more Moulaye believes that Africa needs to develop and that he can make his own contribution.
During a conversation, his friend Abdoul Khadry Diallo told him about his project for a platform dedicated to craftsmen, and he decided to join him. For two years, he worked part-time on the project. He discovered the world of start-ups and fund-raising. Then he realised he had to make a choice: stay with Alstom or devote himself entirely to this new project. He decided on the second option, resigned from his job and, with his friend and partner, moved to Lille, the only city in France where they didn't know anyone. That was in 2015.
At the end of the year, the two partners welcomed a third associate, Luc Boubacar Perussault Diallo. They officially launch the platform Afrikrea at the beginning of 2016 and are the first witnesses to the results of hard, sustained work: 60,000 in transactions per month compared with 6,000 euros per month six months ago earlier. After these very encouraging initial results, the company began to raise funds that enabled it to grow and pay salaries. Then, at some point, Moulaye became convinced that Afrikrea's future would lie nowhere else but in Europe. French-speaking Africa.
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Moulaye Tabouré returns to Africa
Returning to Africa has always been Moulaye Tabouré's dream. Having lived in Europe, he knows what it's like to be in the minority and he doesn't want his descendants to grow up in such an environment. Relocating Afrikrea was the perfect opportunity to return to his roots. He and his colleagues decided to carry out tests in two West African countries. They spent a week in Senegal and another in Côte d'Ivoire before deciding on the second country.
From that moment on, Afrikrea became THE solution that would enable designers to make a profit from their activities and show the world their know-how. The platform enables its customers to sell their products, ship them anywhere in the world and get paid quickly anywhere in Africa. What's more, they can manage their sales and stocks from the platform via a personal dashboard. This is no ordinary copy of Amazon.
What sets Afrikrea apart from Bezos, Jumia or Alibaba is the fact that the platform is primarily dedicated to African fashion designers, artists and craftspeople. It is the bridge through which these sometimes forgotten players in the economy of our African countries can export themselves and showcase their work to the world. Afrikrea enables them to get out of their neighbourhoods, out of their towns and to take their creations around the world.
This visibility was sorely needed by many talented Africans. In 2023, Afrikrea can pride itself on offering it to its customers. In truth, this was the vision behind all the efforts made by Moulaye and his team. A vision that now seems to have taken shape and whose impact is now clearly visible and, above all, measurable. Afrikrea is 500,000 visitors a month, with nearly 7,000 sellers in 47 African countries offering their products in more than 170 countries. It's also more than 10 tonnes of goods shipped every month.
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From feat to feat, Moulaye Tabouré reveals Anka
From the creation of the platform to the present day, Moulaye Tabouré and his start-up have been through a lot. In this game of business, the young man seems to have won everything. In 2018, he featured in the famous FORBES AFRICA's Under 30 bringing together the continent's most promising young agents of change. Then, in 2022, it made a name for itself with a gigantic fund-raising operation. This involved 6.2 million $ which have enabled the start-up to enter a new phase of growth.
Following this, the CEO will present to the world ANKAthe new identity of its company. This new name marks a major change in the life of the marketplace, which will now offer several services: shipping, payment and order management via an online shop and a personal website.
Tabouré knows exactly what he's doing, and every stone he lays within his company contributes to the construction of a larger edifice that will eventually benefit the whole of Africa at this rate. Now that his main objective has been achieved, Moulaye no longer wants ANKA to be limited to artisans and designers. He plans to open the company up to all sectors wishing to export African products.
A personality forged over the years
Before becoming CEO and one of the co-founders of Afrikrea, Moulaye was an individual with unshakeable determination. He is characterised by an aversion to defeat and a relentless pursuit of excellence. His insatiable desire to be at the top of his game has constantly motivated him to perfect his skills and give of his best since his return to the African continent. There's no denying that this quest for excellence has contributed greatly to Afrikrea's position as the leading marketplace in Africa.
At school, Moulaye claims to have been nothing but a chatty dunce for the first few years of his school life. Until the teacher called his parents and explained that Moulaye preferred to waste his talent chatting in class. It was a salutary intervention, because following this call, the boy found himself punished every holiday and forced to spend his free time in a healthy way. Moulaye, who was so bad at maths, ends up taking an interest in the subject and becomes a brilliant young man in class.
While his peers are diligently following their lessons, Moulaye is bored, immerses himself in reading manga and still manages to get excellent marks.
However, it should be noted that the future entrepreneur did not become an exemplary pupil through coercion or threat, but rather through a deep understanding that being among the best offers significant opportunities. This mentality persisted throughout his adult life, encouraging him to cultivate self-motivation and discipline, even when he felt inclined to laziness. Indeed, Moulaye describes himself as a slacker. A slacker who always knew what he wanted: to make money. He wasn't discouraged by the advice of his teachers, who would have liked to see him in the S stream because of his brilliant grades in physics. Moulaye thought he would do better in ES and no one could dissuade him from taking his baccalauréat in this stream.
As for his obsession with money, it eventually faded with time. Moulaye was lucky enough to live in an elitist environment. Although he never lacked for anything, the young man realised very early on that he wanted even more from life, that he wanted to have choice and not be satisfied with little. But with time, he came to realise that it wasn't just a question of money. In reality, Tabouré wants to be free, to live a professional life that allows him to work from anywhere, to live wherever he wants, without constraints, without the opinions of others getting in the way. Today, he has achieved his goals after many sacrifices.
His studies in France were particularly enlightening. These years enabled him to deconstruct certain preconceived ideas and to become even more independent than he had been in Africa. At university, there were only 8 black students in a school of 800. Although at first the young man found it hard to get on with them, he eventually did, because after all, it's important to fit in. But in the end, Moulaye hasn't really changed. He's still the same boy who's always cherished his time reading manga. Very transparent and retaining a certain innocence, Moulaye has managed to raise the ANKA name by remaining himself.
As for his expertise, it has grown steadily over the years. From fund-raising and money management to entrepreneurship in Africa, Moulaye has become a resource person, a talent who can be relied on for advice in these areas.
Originally an internal auditor, ANKA's CEO and co-founder Moulaye Tabouré is thriving in his current role. He is the talk of the town and his platform is a global reference. He is an example to all Africans in the diaspora who are reluctant to return to Africa to set up their own business. Moulaye is proof that you can succeed anywhere in the world, and even more so in Africa. The continent is bursting with talent and untapped business sectors. It's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work, because no one else is going to do it for us.
