At its recent annual general meeting, the Ecommerce Forum South Africa (EFSA) elected a new board of directors, who will steer the organisation in the right direction.
The 12-member board consists of heavyweight ICT industry professionals from various sectors, including fintech, e-commerce and courier companies.
Established in 2016, the EFSA represents all players in Africa’s e-commerce sector, with a mission to increase awareness, confidence and capability of the industry.
The body represents large and small e-tailers, brick-and-mortar stores that include e-commerce as part of their omnichannel strategy, as well as service providers (platforms, payments, logistics, delivery, consultants).
The organisation says its key objective is to help each of these stakeholders work cohesively with each other, to enrich the overall e-commerce industry.
Alastair Tempest, EFSA CEO, says: “The new EFSA board provides a wide diversity of talents and expertise – from e-platforms to social commerce, payments to logistics, and from very large companies to the founding entrepreneurs – which reflect the e-commerce ecosystem in SA.
“We are delighted and privileged to have a board that will see EFSA grow over the next years.”
According to Tempest, the board chairperson and treasurer will be elected at the first board meeting, expected to take place next week.
In 2021, SA’s e-commerce industry saw a 35% increase in B2C e-commerce activity, with a 40% increase last year, according to the 2022 World Wide Worx report.
The EFSA has introduced several initiatives to accelerate the industry and promote trust in online selling for consumers and businesses.
The organisation plans to introduce a research and skills training initiative, to set up training modules aimed at promoting trust in e-commerce.
Through its relationship with the Pan-African Ecommerce Forum of Africa, it is also working to ensure the African Free Trade Area will reflect the needs of digital commerce, and assist to remove challenges so it can drive the development of intra-African trade, adds Tempest.
The newly elected EFSA board consists of:
- Adewale Adejumo, founder and CEO of Dropstore.
- Adheesh Budree, associate professor in information systems, University of Cape Town.
- Brendan Cuthbertson, Cisco SA private sector sales lead.
- Jason Blackman, senior director, global customs compliance, DHL Supply Chain.
- Karen Nadasen, CEO of PayU Africa.
- Kiaan Pillay, CEO of Stitch.money.
- Mzuzukile Soni, founder and CEO of Brownsense.
- Rahul Jain, co-founder and CEO of Peach Payments.
- Ricardo Lognath, CEO of Omninela.
- Rutendo Hlatshwayo, legal counsel, Ozow.
- Shamiela Letsoalo, director: corporate affairs and communications, South Africa, Naspers.
- Tinashe Guramatunhu, founder and CEO of King Online.
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