Originally founded as an online marketplace for African-inspired clothing, ANKA serves more than 10,000 sellers from 47 out of 54 African countries and has completed over USD 50M in transactions in 175 countries worldwide. More than 80% of the sellers are women who have grown their revenue by 50% on average since joining the community. The platform currently has more than 700,000 visits a month with most customers located in Europe and North America.

To better support its sellers, ANKA, (meaning “Ours” in Bambara and Djoula), was launched in 2021 as a first of its kind, all-in-one SaaS solution that creates a seamless e-commerce service for African retailers. 

It’s hard to articulate the impact of ANKA better than Co-founder and CEO, Moulaye Tabouré; … “instead of trying to get Africans to buy more and spend faster, ANKA will help them earn, own, and create at a global scale. Growth and “financial inclusion” are empty words without value creation, distribution, and worldwide scale. Most of Africa’s development problems will not be solved by just better efficiencies in moving cash or buying goods or services from outside. We need to produce, sell, and build for us and the world…” 

Our engagement

Alongside a diverse group of investors, BESTSELLER Foundation participated in ANKA's Series A in December 2021 to unlock opportunities for retailers across Africa. 

Learn more about ANKA here.