In this episode, we open the black box of last-mile retail distribution with MarketForce 360's Tesh Mbaabu. 90 percent of trade in Africa is informal, and MarketForce's software-as-a-service platform to better manage their field sales agents and distribution. We'll talk about product, the considerations in building products you use at the last mile and the needs of the multinational FMCG companies and financial service providers at the other end of the value chain. We talk about his recent experience participating in Y Combinator's accelerator program, what other companies he hopes to see built in the retail and logistics space, and more.

4:00 - First question, what problems do multinational FMCG companies have with regards to distributing products in African markets?
5:31 - We dive into MarketForce 360's product.
13:06 - Product and design lessons from the last-mile.
14:41 - On consumer insights from the last-mile.
16:17- On competition, strategy, and MarketForce's asset-light approach to servicing distributors and manufacturers.
21:12 - We discuss Tesh's recent experience participating in Y Combinator's accelerator.
23:40 - YC has Request for Startups; what is MarketForce's Request for Startups?

This episode is part of our conversational series sponsored by MFS Africa. MFS Africa's competition is with cash, and throughout this series, we'll feature other startups and entrepreneurs who are digitizing, better organizing, and aggregating analog and fragmented industries.

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