E-commerce giant, Konga has assured its numerous customers and other stakeholders of its continuous adherence to the highest level of ethical conduct.

Giving the assurance in Lagos during a recent stakeholders’ meeting with merchants on the Konga platform, Co-CEO, Nick Imudia, disclosed that Konga will never deviate from its well-worn path of ethical behaviour. Imudia revealed that this has remained one of the shining lights that has kept Konga at the apex of the e-commerce industry in Nigeria.

“Everything about Konga is built around ethical behaviour,” Imudia averred. “Yes, we know that Konga is in the business of e-commerce. But at Konga, it is our utmost belief that we are in business not to destroy society, but to sustain it with everything we do.

“Without a strong regard for honesty, fairness, dignity and accountability, no society will succeed. That is a fact. And if there is no society, there wouldn’t be customers and business,” he declared.

Equally important, Konga has underlined its intention to make a highly anticipated listing on the London Stock Exchange. However, huge question marks have emerged on the credibility of players in the African e-commerce sector after the travails of Jumia, which saw a much-publicized IPO on Wall Street, fall flat after a publication by a US research firm, Citroen.

Indeed, analysts believe the development may hamper the efforts of other prospective players – a point raised by Mr. Wale Ekun, one of the merchants in attendance.

However, Imudia is adamant that Konga has a track record of trust, credibility and rigorously-held standards working to its advantage.

“Our track record of sound ethical conduct is a tradition that Konga was built upon. Furthermore, the new owners of Konga are highly credible Nigerians who have been in business for over three decades without any form of blemish, indebtedness to any bank or unethical practices to their name. To begin with, internally, our ethical behaviour has led us to put a mechanism in place to ensure that only genuine products are sold on the Konga platform. As the market leader in e-commerce, Konga cannot afford to mess up its name by being associated with any form of unethical behaviour.

“Furthermore, we have grown the business efficiently to its current path of profitability by cutting losses and through critical investments in essential areas of the business. Even if we were to go public tomorrow, Konga has a groundswell of public trust that it has acquired over the years.

“Therefore, we want our customers to rest assured that their interest is covered at Konga. Each time a customer sets out to make a purchase on the platform or when we make a promise or release sensitive data, there is a huge burden of trust underlying it. At Konga, our pricing, packaging, fulfilment, refund and overall processes are all aimed to reflect the true ethical traditions of the company.”

Further, Imudia noted that merchants and staff members of Konga are critical to its ethical conduct, adding that the company has ensured that its staffing and onboarding process meet global ethical standards.

Imudia added: “Our staffing process reflects the principle of good moral behaviour. Our staff come from different parts of Nigeria; we are not discriminatory in terms of religion, tribe, social class or age in our employment process. Our workforce is diverse as Nigeria is. However, our staff are all imbued with the right trainings and immersed in our corporate culture in displaying the highest standard of behaviour when dealing with our customers, merchants and other stakeholders. Konga highly frowns at cutting corners or giving and taking of bribes. Every one of our staff knows this and have imbibed the culture of giving their best when dealing with our customers.”

Continuing, Imudia disclosed: “The Konga ethical behaviour also applies to merchants doing business on the platform. At least, some of you have colleagues who we have blacklisted from selling on the platform. At Konga, there is zero tolerance for fraud or any attempts at falsifying figures.

“This is because our merchants also have responsibilities in this ethical behaviour philosophy. Merchants are critical stakeholders in the e-commerce business. Your role is valuable in completing a critical part of our ethical behaviour process, by ensuring that you seriously adhere to our codes of conduct.

“As you know, at Konga we do not tolerate anyone who performs below our ethical standards, and we do not condone inferior products on our platform. The responsibility to ensure that only genuine products find their way into our platform begins with you.”

The meeting, which had over 1,000 merchants in attendance, was aimed at discussing ways to deepening ethical behaviour in all areas of operations in Nigeria’s largest online marketplace.

During the meeting, Imudia appreciated the various merchants who attended the event, explaining that Konga will never compromise standards in a bid to satisfy its numerous consumers, merchants, staff and investors.

Imudia urged the merchants under the Konga platform to play their part in ensuring they display optimal level of good behaviour and sound moral judgement – factors he described as critical to satisfying the yearnings of shoppers on the Konga platform.

Some of the merchants who spoke during the event expressed gratitude to the management of Konga for always being consistent with its ethical policies, adding that Konga currently stands tall above its rivals when it comes to displaying sound moral judgement in retail business.

Sunday Adeyemi, who spoke on behalf of the merchants, promised that merchants on the Konga platform would always reflect Konga’s ethical behaviour in their business operations on the platform. To this end, he said that the merchants have taken it upon themselves to work with Konga at all times to ensure the achievement of its objectives.

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