ABU Graduates Created E-Commerce Platform to Assist Young Entrepreneurs and Emerging Businesses to overcome Insecurity and Corona Virus Challenges

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L-R: Ibrahim Hassan Suleiman, Engr. Isah B. Mukhtar and Engr. Kabiru Shuaibu

The group of young men include Dr. Al-Amin D. Bello designated as the Executive Director, Engineer Isah Bala Mukhtar as Director of Technical Services Ibrahim Hassan Suleiman as Director Marketing and Creativity and Engineer Kabiru Shuaibu as the Director of Compliance. In addition to the First and Second Degree of Engineering he obtained from ABU Zaria, Dr. Al-Amin also holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Civil Engineering, from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Speaking to Aluta News in Abuja, One of the founders; Ibrahim H. Suleiman who holds BSc. in Geology from the prestigious  Ahmadu Bello University Zaria,  said they are a group of 4 ABU Graduates, three of which are registered Engineers, they created the platform based on a survey they conducted in the North West, Nigeria.

“halal.ng was created based on a research we conducted in some part of Northern Nigeria (in some parts of Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Kano States) we found out that many small scale businesses has huge decrease of sales as result of insecurity, covid-19 and related social and/or economic norms. There is also huge increase in number of startup businesses using WhatsApp status as marketing avenue, this is more common among the women in the region whom are mostly house wives with limited opportunities to venture into physical markets for commercial activities. The trend is also common among many aspiring small businesses limited opportunities to showcase their products to larger markets beyond their local communities. Looking at this problems facing the northern entrepreneurs, we felt it is utmost important to create a platform that will provide equal opportunities to everyone across the region and beyond, without having any presence in the physical Market Places. So, we came up with halal.ng.

Similarly, over 150 million sales of products and services occurs online according to the national bureau of statistics, with increase in population especially in the north and increase in acceptance of technology, this number is going to increase. Northern Nigeria with its richness in trade and commerce has not fully taken its place in the Nigerian online market. Hence the creation of this platform halal.ng to provide a simple avenue for wholesale and retail businesses in Northern Nigeria to take advantage of this unique growth in the online market place to sell their unique products and services to Nigeria and beyond.

Our mission is to provide wider avenue for many existing and startup businesses in Nigeria to reach out to a larger audience nationwide and beyond. We are determined to showcase the unique fashion, culture, and lifestyle of Northern Nigeria through e-commerce, to promotes the identity of the region as a region with huge commercial prowess rather than a region of backwardness and illiteracy. To promote healthy competition in the online market place, by showcasing unique products and services for Nigeria and beyond.”

He further stated that the platform is  registered with CAC as ‘Halal Business District‘ and it comes with a mobile application which is awaiting approval by Google Play Store, and that the App download link will be made available on the website (halal.ng) as soon as it is approved by Google.

In addition to the e-commerce store, the young developers also included a business blog ‘Halal Business Blog‘ to the platform, to showcase the stories of hidden entrepreneurs and inspiring business stories to motivate aspiring entrepreneurs in the region.

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