LAGOS, Nigeria – Africa’s digital economy gained a historic boost on Thursday as pioneering ecommerce entrepreneur Saudat Salami unveiled her debut book “Selling Pepper Online – How I Built Africa’s First Online Grocery Delivery Business and Lessons for Every Entrepreneur” while also inaugurating the maiden edition of the Africa Ecommerce Summit.
The event, held in Lagos, marked a dual milestone: celebrating two decades of Salami’s groundbreaking journey in online retail, and convening diverse stakeholders to chart strategies for the continent’s ecommerce future.
Themed “Shaping Africa’s Ecommerce Future: Strategies for Growth, Collaboration, and Inclusion”, the summit gathered key voices from government agencies, international organisations, logistics firms, fintech platforms, investors, food system experts, and digital entrepreneurs.
Salami’s book offers a candid reflection on the challenges and opportunities of building Easyshop Easycook, Nigeria’s first online grocery delivery business, which she founded in the early 2000s and successfully exited in 2023. It highlights lessons on resilience, customer engagement, ecosystem gaps, and the policies that shaped Africa’s online retail space.
“Selling Pepper Online is more than my story—it is a practical guide for every African entrepreneur navigating growth, technology, and market realities,” Salami said at the launch.
The summit featured two major panel discussions. The first, “Ecommerce Regulations, Policy Frameworks, and AfCFTA,” explored cross-border trade and policy reforms, with contributions from the Nigerian Customs Service, GIZ–ECOWAS, and the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture. The second, “Grocery Delivery, Agriculture, and Accelerating Growth in the Sector,” examined how logistics and digital platforms can strengthen food systems and unlock SME growth.
READ ALSO: CS-SUNN Rallies Grassroots Leaders in Lagos to Lead Fight Against Unbranded Oils
Survivor of 2022 Political Rally Violence Loses Leg After Detention Neglect
With AfCFTA reshaping trade and fintech expanding access to payments, the Africa Ecommerce Summit positions itself as a long-term platform to drive collaboration, policy innovation, and sustainable digital trade across the continent.
Salami, who now leads the Saudat Salami Foundation, described both her book and the summit as part of a broader mission: “A story worth telling. A system worth building.”
About the Author
