It’s a busy Friday afternoon. Ebenezer Lartey steps out of his car
with a bag of groceries. Where’s he headed? – To deliver the bag to a
client. This is what he does for a living now.
Mr Lartey quit 10 years of banking to start Accra’s online grocery supermarket, marketexpress.com.gh.
The website allows busy homemakers purchase groceries online and get
them delivered to their office or home, same day or next day.
“I was at a point where I found that my passion was greater than my
fear”, he explained as he spoke to JOYBUSINESS’ Daryl Kwawu about why he
quit his banking job. It was not an easy decision to take because he
was really excelling at his banking job.
“For me, it was down to passion. I think that the passion was
definitely greater than the challenge and also the fear of failure. So I
took the dive,” he said
Ebenezer dived in anticipation that the parachute would open and it
did! In July this year, he and his team worked on the website marketexpress.com.gh, launched in August with two customers and the number has since grown.
MarketExpress started with delivering manufactured products. The demand for fresh produce, however, started to increase.
“Basically our customers are the ones who decide what we sell. A lot
of customers kept asking for fresh produce. So it forced us to
immediately serve our customers that way”, he added as he led the Joy
Business Van team into his storehouse.
Ebenezer converted a portion of his home into an office and a
storehouse. At the moment fresh produce is not delivered the same day.
“We want to ensure that our customers get the freshest possible
product. When they order we get the produce from the farm or the market.
For Ebenezer, MarketExpress is not just about meeting the shopping
needs of people but finding a solution to the filth in the city of Accra
emanating from plastic waste. Groceries are delivered with paper bags
or recyclable shopping bags.
It’s been good early success for Ebenezer considering that he is
operating in a country where the people are used to shopping the
traditional way. But he is not deterred
He hopes to be the leader in the market space in six months.
“I love what I do. I am happy when I make shopping convenient for
people. They don’t have to go to a messy market or any place that brings
inconvenience. People can now do what really matters to them rather
than be distracted by shopping”
