Sle3ti, Morocco’s first digital network connecting retailers to distributors and FMCG companies, announces the launch of its retail logistics platform.
Ayoub Harij is the founder and CEO of Sle3ti. Credits: Sle3ti
This service is in response to a request made by retailers who utilize the internet platform to procure supplies. On the logistical front, a first warehouse in Casablanca is currently operational, and a second will open in the coming months. On an operational level, deliveries are made by a variety of logistical vehicles, including trucks and vans, but mainly scooters painted in the Sle3ti colors. The goal is to reduce logistical costs by more than 40% compared to market standards while ensuring client needs are met in less than 24 hours.
Following Casablanca, this new service will be gradually introduced across the Kingdom’s major cities.
As a reminder, Sle3ti raised 12 million DH from the Richbond group’s investment fund at the end of 2021. This is the largest fundraising round a Moroccan startup has ever conducted with Moroccan investors. More than a year after its inception, Sle3ti is trusted by over 120 brands and distributors (2,000 references) and 8,000 stores throughout the territory.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh
A distributor told Ayoub Harij during a regular meeting in March 2020 that, despite significant demand from retailers, half of his sales force was unable to work due to the coronavirus pandemic’s forced confinement and health measures.
The young entrepreneur spotted an opportunity right away, prompting him to jump right into building Sle3ti.
Essentially, by automating the relationship between the brand and the retailer, the Sle3ti technology eliminates the requirement for a salesman to be mobilized, disrupting traditional distribution and supply channels. The platform allows retailers to order directly and openly from brands, by displaying product ranges, prices, and promotions, as well as controlling order monitoring, thereby enhancing product traceability.
“Brands have two distribution channels that are integrated on the Sle3ti platform: the direct channel, which sells directly to local merchants by mobilizing field sales; and the wholesale channel, which allows products to be sold to wholesalers. Sle3ti installs a digital distribution support which is free from all physical limitations of traditional business and allows us to launch an innovative, relevant, and value-added solution in an unprecedented way,” says Ayoub Harij.
Currently, more than 120 businesses and 2,000 referrals are currently available on the platform.
Ayoub Harij is the founder and CEO of Sle3ti. Credits: Sle3ti
Since getting his engineering diploma at the National School of Electricity and Mechanics (ENSEM) in 2005, Ayoub Harij has worked in sales and business development, including as an account manager at Procter & Gamble, a sales manager at Lesieur, and the Africa Zone Director at Lavazza Italy.
He started a football social network in 2015, inspired by a desire to create his own business, where he learned the basics of IT development, code, and project management, before going on to a second enterprise focusing in professional consulting for large Moroccan firms.
These experiences are important since they helped him and his team to build the entire Sle3ti platform in just three months.
The money will help the company expand into Morocco at first, with the goal of “being active in the eight most prominent urban centers in 18 months,” which includes Casablanca, Agadir, Rabat, and Marrakech. Sle3ti also has plans to develop new products and services for small businesses and brands in the future.
“Retailers have high standards and offer a wide range of services. We’ve built a trusting relationship with them that allows them to take advantage of new services,” Harij says.
The startup’s goal to expand across Africa is also fueled by the support of brands and supermarkets.
“Because our markets have similar trends and problems,” he says, “this proves the solution’s applicability and promotes our expansion in Africa.” he adds.
However, the main hurdle for Sle3ti is persuading as many retailers as possible to use technology. On this, Ayoub Harij feels confident and optimistic.
“In terms of the brand-retailer relationship, this allows retailers to digitize in a progressive and non-aggressive manner,” he says.
According to the founder, Sle3ti has established a network of 8,000 point-of-sale outlets that have adopted the solution, including roughly 6,400 in Casablanca.
Harij says small traders are becoming increasingly digital, particularly if digital “presents a promise for increasing profit or decreasing costs.”
“Sle3ti contributes to this vision by allowing customers to order the product they want, when they want, on a free platform that includes all companies. All of this without disrupting their daily routine: we don’t do that. To put customers at ease, we don’t ask for any sensitive information; instead, we make their lives easier and provide a better customer experience,” he says.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning writer
Sle3ti, a Casablanca-based B2B marketplace that allows retailers to order directly from suppliers and distributors of consumer goods (FMCG), has raised 12 million DH ($3.2m) from the investment fund of the Richbond Group.
Sle3ti will be able to expedite its rollout across Morocco’s regions and provide high added value services to merchants and its FMCG partners as a result of this investment.
Sle3ti’s CEO and co-founder Ayoub Harij
“I am excited and honored to announce that Sle3ti has just completed the largest seed round fundraising for a Moroccan business with Moroccan investors. This 12MDH investment from the Richbond group’s investment fund demonstrates the enthusiasm and great interest that the Sle3ti model and growth have sparked among several Moroccan and foreign investors, but it is also a vote of confidence on the part of a reference Moroccan group that strongly believes in our growth and capacity to contribute decisively to Morocco’s digital transformation of trade and distribution,” Sle3ti’s CEO and co-founder Ayoub Harij said.
This is not the first investment in a startup in Morocco by the Moroccan industrial group, Richmond Group. Last year, the group bought a 40% stake in Moroccan fintech company Cash Plus from the private equity firm Mediterrania Capital Partners.
The Moroccan economy is partly dominated by Groupe Richbond. The company employs over 3,000 people and has 12 industrial suites as well as a distribution network with almost 2,000 points of sale. Apart from its real estate division that includes real estate development, hotel layout, logistics, rental property, and, more recently, hotels, the group is also active in the industrial sector, targeting mostly home consumer goods in Morocco and across Africa.
A Look At What Sle3ti Does
Founded in 2020 by Ayoub Harij and Abderrahim Zizi, Sle3ti claims it is the first ecommerce platform in Morocco that allows retailers to place orders directly with consumer goods manufacturers and distributors (FMCG))
Thousands of points of sale (grocery stores) are already using the company’s mobile app to place orders with its partner distributors, according to the company.
The company’s recruiting teams qualify, categorize, identify, and physically visit all retailers on its network before they can create accounts, according to the business.
It also says suppliers and distributors have complete control over the market using Sle3ti. They control their own product catalog, prices, promotions, and customer orders through the company’s own platform, it claims.
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions. He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance. He is also an award-winning write
