Seattle, WA – January 5, 2015 – Heels.com.ng an ecommerce venture that aims to dominate online retail of shoes and other accessories for women and eventually men, has secured capital from Kernel Fund, a seed stage investment fund focused on investing in Africa.
Heels.com.ng’s fresh selection of designer shoes at affordable prices combined with expertise in digital marketing has been an exciting new entrant into the growing ecommerce landscape in Nigeria. Their vertical strategy mirrors the rise of Zappos.com in the USA and fits alongside the more horizontal ecommerce ventures like Jumia and Konga.
Since moving from Beta phase, heels.com.ng has more than doubled its revenues by offering customers, a fresh assortment of shoes on a weekly basis. By providing customers with cash on delivery payment option in 6 states and fast shipping to all other states, Heels.com.ng has been able to reach underserved customers with its strong commitment to being “the Nigerian shoe store” in 2015. With innovative offerings like a persistent buy one get one free shoe promotion and automatic future purchase discounts, Heels.com.ng has been able to maintain a loyal customer base while working aggressively to extend its market reach. With about 20% quarter to quarter growth for the last 3 quarters they expect to beat this quarter by 110% over comparable period last year.
Heels online marketplace provides quality at great value and is expanding their approach into being a third party marketplace where local shoe designers and others who have a retail presence, can create an online channel for products and expand their customer base. Their focus on operations and customer service is also a huge differentiator as an ecommerce player.
Heels.com.ng was founded by Ikenna Okonkwo and Udoka Uzoka, currently the CEO and CTO respectively.
Ikenna Okonkwo is an avid entrepreneur and angel investor. Key among his portfolio is an early stage investment in Tempohousing Nigeria; a pioneer in the use of ISO shipping container frames as a basis for Modular Homes. He started his career as an analyst at Zenith Securities Limited and was involved in several innovative projects within the Financial and Risk Advisory division of CBO Capital Partners. Ikenna Okonkwo has an MBA from West Virginia University and also has Bachelors Degrees in the Fields of Economics and Chemistry.
Udoka Uzoka is a technologist with vast experience in implementing and managing innovations. He founded and managed Cubix Labs, a New York based application development firm whose applications were used by millions of users servicing companies like Walmart, SONY and Canon. Udoka holds a Bachelors degree in Physics from North Carolina Central University, a B.SC.E in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and an M.SC in Technology Management with a concentration in Innovations Management from the Johns Hopkins University.
About Kernel Fund
Kernel Fund’s focus is to provide scarce seed capital to early stage companies with high growth potential, who aim to use technology as the main ingredient for driving high returns. Kernel Fund invests across a range of market sectors including technology, natural resources, marketing channels, logistics and other voids in high growth African countries. In addition to capital, Kernel Fund aims to provide strategic advisory services through its network of members and seasoned practitioners with deep experience in building technology startups, technology strategy, marketing, M&A and finance.
Kernel Fund is based in Washington State in the United States and can be reached by sending an email to ask@kernelfund.com and is online at http://kernelfund.com.
Heels.com.ng can is based in Nigeria and can be reached at http://heels.com.ng and you can follow them at http://instagram.com/heelsloveng and https://www.facebook.com/Heelsng