On September 25th,the launching ceremony of the 2024"Silk Road E-commerce Day"and the"Silk Road E-commerce"cooperation resources docking meeting were held during the Hangzhou Digital Trade Fair.At the meeting,Ms.Modestus,Director of China-Africa Discourse Research Center,delivered a speech on"Promotion of Cooperation among Representatives of"Belt and Road"Co-construction Countries".She pointed out that Nigeria has become a preferred choice for e-commerce investment due to its large,young and highly urbanized population.The country's e-commerce growth rate was 25%,accounting for 8%of GDP,and is expected to reach 24.5 billion in 2030.The attractiveness of e-commerce lies in demographic changes,digital payment penetration and price transparency.Meanwhile,Nigerian e-commerce is mobile-driven with high internet usage,but trust in online payments needs to be improved.In the future,Nigerian e-commerce faces challenges such as infrastructure,security and cashless payment,but also ushers in many opportunities.

The following is a compilation of the guest speakers'speeches:

Distinguished guests,ladies and gentlemen,good afternoon everyone!I am Queen Modestus,from the Center for China-Africa Discourse Studies.The previous speaker,Dr.Kang,has already done much elaboration for us.In fact,as he rightly said,when it comes to e-commerce,Africa is a perfect choice for investment.I am going to talk about some of the developments in Nigeria,a very important country in Africa,in terms of e-commerce.For example,why consider Nigeria?Also,What’s the current state of e-commerce in the country?Finally,I will point out some areas where perhaps people would like to invest,in the future.

First,why Nigeria?To address this question,above is a map of Nigeria,which indicates that it is the most populous country in Africa.As we can see,the population of Nigeria is about 233 million.Estimated to reach 236 million by the end of this year,2024,.Interestingly,a large part of the population,roughly 54%,are urban.

Demographically,Nigeria boasts an interesting profile,40%of the population is under 14 years old,while 56%falls within the 15-64 age bracket,which gives an average age of 17.9.Also,according to the global ranking of internet users,Nigeria ranks 7^thin internet usage,with China,India,Brazil,Russia,leading the pack,indicating a vast skilled workforce and active users ideal for e-commerce.

With regards to the current trends of e-commerce in Nigeria,between 2010-2012 the country had a 25%CAGR of 25%and currently should be around 12%.We have reasons to believe that by 2030,e-commerce will reach$24.5 billion.

Why is e-commerce becoming very attractive to Nigerians?One reason for this is the is demographic change,I believe that the younger generation,we call them the“Gen Z”are becoming more and more focused on online activities and smartphone usage.In addition,payment methods are becoming more digitized and the ability to make online payment is improving.There is also transparency in pricing,unlike the conventional market.For example,an item that is worth 100 Naira may be priced at 200 Naira so customers would have to haggle it down to hundred Naira,but e-commerce prices are much more transparent which makes it attractive to the younger generation.

With regards to the characteristics of the e-commerce industry in Nigeria,it is mostly mobile-driven.As I just mentioned,Nigeria is also ranked among the top 7 in the world,in terms of internet usage,there’s a rapid growth of e-commerce platforms but yet dominated by informal and fragmented markets,which is still very much cash-based.This is because,so far,there is still a certain lack of trust in terms of online payments,so people are still cautious.

When it comes to e-commerce in Nigeria,Jumia and Konga e-commerce platform are still the leading game changers in the country.Aside from these giants,however,several companies that are also doing quite well.

Looking at some emerging trends in the Nigerian e-commerce landscape,we noticed a rise in social commerce,online stores,and the integration of AI and analytics.Also,the Nigerian government is doing its best to promoting e-commerce in the country through cash-less polices.Hence,some government policies are incentivizing the growth of e-commerce.

As with every aspect of human lives,some of the major challenges of the e-commerce industry in Nigeria are:Firstly is infrastructure,which is also a key issue in Nigeria.Secondly is the issue of security concerns,like data protection,and cybercrime.Thirdly is the issue of cashless payment,which was mentioned earlier,digital payment is still not fully embraced in the country.

Where there are challenges,there are opportunities for improvement,hence there are also numerous opportunities that e-commerce investors can now seize and tap into in Nigeria.That is,they might want to focus more on some specialized e-commerce platforms,or maybe even go into under-served markets.Investing in logistics is also important as it can improve and enhance logistics and distribution services.

We at CECADS,are also playing our part in promoting e-commerce in Nigeria.We are currently working with some state governments in Nigeria to develop some e-commerce platforms,a digital park,and specialized online stores.We will also be working with the federal government of Nigeria to introduce our agricultural-focused digital skills academy which will also boast of dedicated a farm-plate e-commerce platform

These are a landscape of what is happening in Nigeria right now.In the future,we hope to use such innovative technologies to develop and promote e-commerce,not only in Nigeria but also in the whole of Africa.

Thank you all.

About the conference:

2024"Silk Road E-commerce Day"retains last year's"one exhibition,two activities", "one exhibition"is the Silk Road E-commerce exhibition, "two activities"is the Silk Road E-commerce into the"two activities", "two activities"is the Silk Road E-commerce into the"two activities".The"one exhibition"is the Silk Road E-commerce exhibition,and the"two activities"are Silk Road E-commerce into Hangzhou and Silk Road Cloud Products Recommendation Week.On this basis,two docking sessions will be held,one is the"Silk Road E-commerce"cooperation resource docking session,the other is the Central Asia International Innovative Digital Trade Docking Session.In addition,for the first time in the"Silk Road Yunpin"Recommendation Week will be set up as a special zone for the products of the guest country and the BRICS countries,and will interact with the Thailand International Live E-commerce Expo to jointly promote the"Silk Road Yunpin"goodies.