For Africans in the diaspora, buying authentic African products—fabrics, clothing, spices, and art—can be challenging. Their options are often limited to overpriced African stores in their communities, middlemen reselling on global platforms like Etsy at marked-up prices, or waiting for someone traveling from the continent to bring what they need.
But what if they could order directly from sellers on the continent and receive their items within five days? GiriToday, a newly launched e-commerce platform, wants to make this possible.
Founded in 2024 by ex-Flutterwave VP Wale Ayantoye and Ola Ajiboye, GiriToday is a marketplace that helps African artisans and entrepreneurs sell their products to international buyers. The platform enables sellers to list and ship products globally while accepting payments through both local and international payment systems.
Ayantoye’s journey to founding GiriToday began when he served as Director of Financial Crime Operations at Etsy, the global marketplace for creative goods. There, he observed persistent issues that Etsy struggled to solve, particularly for African sellers. Orders could take up to two weeks to reach customers, and middlemen often added significant markups, making African-made products expensive for buyers. GiriToday aims to address these problems by eliminating intermediaries, reducing shipping times, and lowering product costs for international buyers.
“Oftentimes when businesses think of Africa, they think of risk. At GiriToday, we are not afraid of digging for diamonds in the rough, we understand the terrain, and we are localizing our playbook to meet that demand,” Ayantoye told TechCabal.
How GiriToday works
Merchants can list their products for free on GiriToday, managing inventory, orders, and customer messages from a single dashboard. The platform allows them to set up customized online storefronts, similar to Shopify. Payments are facilitated by Flutterwave, while CourierPlus handles logistics and shipping.
To ensure trust and quality control, GiriToday has implemented a product authentication system to prevent the common “what I ordered vs. what I got” issue. Before listing a product, GiriToday’s team verifies authenticity and quality using a network of trained entrepreneurs. The company currently operates an authentication center in Lagos, where goods from across Nigeria are inspected before being listed on the platform. Over time, it plans to establish multiple authentication and warehousing centers across Nigeria and other African markets.
Beyond logistics, GiriToday is taking an offline-first approach to merchant acquisition. Instead of relying solely on digital marketing and influencer campaigns, the company is educating sellers in local markets about scaling internationally, running TV and radio media campaigns, and partnering with local merchant associations to increase adoption.
Ayantoye believes this strategy will help build trust with potential customers.
“If the first place a customer hears about you is through a skit or an influencer marketer, they might not take you seriously,” he told TechCabal.
How GiriToday stacks up against Anka and Etsy
Selling African products internationally represents a massive but underdeveloped opportunity. A McKinsey & Company report projects that consumer spending in Africa will surpass $2 trillion in the next three years. While much of this spending currently goes to imported goods, platforms like GiriToday could help shift some of that demand toward African exports.
GiriToday is particularly betting on the Nigerian diaspora, which contributes $20 billion annually to Nigeria’s economy through remittances. This consumer base has a consistent demand for products that reflect their heritage. “Immigrants are very predictable; they want to buy stuff that looks like home. And when they do, they buy in bulk,” Ayantoye said.
GiriToday enters a space where platforms like Etsy and Anka, an Ivorian startup connecting African sellers with global buyers, already operate. However, its business model differs in key ways.
Unlike Etsy, which operates as a global marketplace where African sellers often have to navigate complex logistics and payment hurdles on their own, GiriToday provides direct shipping, local payment integration, and authentication centers to ensure quality control before products leave the continent. Anka, on the other hand, primarily serves Francophone Africa, while GiriToday is focused on Nigerian merchants with plans to expand across sub-Saharan Africa. Another key distinction is that GiriToday eliminates middlemen, ensuring that African artisans sell directly to buyers instead of relying on resellers, which is common on both Etsy and Anka.
Shipping times are also a critical factor. Etsy orders can take anywhere from one to three weeks to reach buyers, while Anka typically delivers within seven to fourteen days. In contrast, GiriToday promises a much shorter five-day delivery window, giving it a potential competitive edge in terms of speed. Payment processing is another differentiator. While Etsy primarily supports international payment systems, GiriToday integrates local and international payment options through Flutterwave, making it easier for African sellers to receive payments without relying on third-party workarounds.
Ayantoye believes GiriToday could eventually disrupt Etsy’s dominance in this niche.
“What we are doing is breaking down Etsy’s middlemen. If we disrupt their market enough, we can discuss a partnership down the line,” he said.
How GiriToday makes money
GiriToday operates a multi-revenue model that includes transaction fees on products and shipping, in-app advertisements, and trade financing. The company earns a percentage-based fee on transactions, ensuring that it remains profitable on high-end goods while keeping margins reasonable on lower-priced items. It also offers merchants paid promotions for increased visibility on the platform. More significantly, GiriToday plans to introduce a trade financing model that allows sellers to access credit for bulk sales, with the company earning interest on the loans.
According to Ayantoye, this approach balances affordability for buyers while ensuring that more money goes directly to merchants.
“At the end of the day, it’s about creating a win-win situation—for us, for the sellers, and for the buyers. We want artisans to earn fairly, buyers to get authentic African products at great prices, and GiriToday to keep growing as the bridge that connects both,” he said.
The trade financing model could be particularly lucrative, as many African merchants struggle with upfront capital for bulk purchases. By providing sellers with access to credit, GiriToday can help them scale their businesses while generating additional revenue.
Fundraising and future plans
GiriToday is currently raising a $1.5 million pre-seed round to accelerate merchant acquisition, expand authentication centers, and enhance logistics operations. The company is in discussions with investors and plans to use the funding to scale its product across Nigeria and eventually into other African markets.
In the long term, GiriToday aims to expand its seller base beyond Nigeria, launch multiple authentication and warehousing centers to streamline logistics, and introduce more financial tools to support African entrepreneurs with credit and working capital. With a clear market need and a differentiated approach, GiriToday is positioning itself as a game-changer for African exports—one that could redefine how the world shops for African products.
