NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

In January, the startup announced that it raised a $1.95 million pre-seed to pursue its ambition of building the largest Auto dealership ecosystem powering $10 billion by 2025. “Our goal is to ensure that every auto dealer in Africa and other emerging markets can access the right kind of capital to maximize the opportunities available,” says Benjamen Oladokun, who founded Shekel Mobility alongside Sanmi Olukanmi in 2021.

In the African car dealership market, nearly 82% consists of small and medium-scale dealerships. Many of these dealers struggle with offering affordable prices for used cars due to insufficient financing options. In contrast, emerging markets like Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and large portions of Latin America typically see institutional credit comprising 65% to 70% of automotive transactions. However, in most areas of sub-Saharan Africa, this figure is less than 2%, according to Shekel Mobility.

Photo courtesy of Ivan Shemereko.