CinderBuild, an African marketplace for building and construction supplies, said it is tackling market fragmentation by removing several layers of middlemen and streamlining financing availability.

The construction materials industry is one of Nigeria’s largest sectors, demonstrating consistently high growth.

According to experts, construction Project managers traditionally spend significant time and effort managing multiple procurement conversations across different platforms for each item category. Often physically touring materials markets before discovering right product at suitable quality and price levels

Another is in allowing multiple layers of middle-men: Redundant layers of middle-men drive price inflation and absorb manufacturers’ discounts or regional promotional efforts.

Also, lack of access to credit creates inefficiency. Resellers and buyers have limited access to trade-credit facilities, making it difficult to cope with rising product prices and to meet increasing product demands.

CinderBuild, which is backed by US and European VCs, describes itself as the digital one-stop-shop for all bulk materials procurement, sourced directly from major manufacturers and licensed dealers.

“What we have done to transform the rather legacy market, involves the use of technology to transform a rather fragmented sector into a single digital market square. For instance, a customer who needs to procure five items – including cement, iron rods, aggregates (Sand and Gravel), floor tiles and electric sockets – doesn’t need to spend the whole week roaming different stores and managing suppliers to ensure timely delivery. Rather, through www.cinderbuild.com, such customers can instantly confirm prices and place orders for the item, with orders getting delivered to the site within 24 hours,” said Paul Adeyoyin, CEO of CinderBuild.

The company says it uses key value propositions like speed, convenience, price discovery, discount offers, trade credits and improved sales to remove the bottlenecks created by fragmented market categories, multiple layers of middlemen and lack of access to finance.

“It is also pertinent to mention that one of the things our customers have come to appreciate the most is credit access offered to trade partners after we have enough data on their transactions” Adedoyin said.

Source: businessday