Rocket Internet says both Ethiopia and the Nigeria are not only great places but exciting places to do business and the giant accelerator sees a major business opportunity in the areas.
According to the business builder, the economic crisis that crippled the world’s economic powerhouses and slowed growth in the BRICs(Brazil, Russia, India and China), made business power houses to turn attention to new markets elsewhere. The firm adds that analysts are increasingly agreeing on the importance of the PINE countries (Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria and Ethiopia) as new economic powers as they are demonstrating impressively strong growth even in difficult economic circumstances globally.
Looking closely at Ethiopia, one of the fastest-growing economies of the emerging PINE markets, the country grew its GDP by 7% in 2013 while Nigeria grew its GDP by 6.3% and is expected to continue to grow at over 6.9% this year. These levels of GDP growth are stronger than that expected for China in 2014.
The incubator says growth in the African emerging markets is being fuelled by attractive exports, and an increasing ease of doing business which are in turn continually arousing interest of major international companies among others even as the continent’s middle classes grows.
One such Rocket Internet company taking route steadily in the PINE is Lamudi, an online real estate marketplace which helps people to find properties for rent or for sale.
Paul Philipp Hermann, Co-Founder at Lamudi, says,”The online move is really happening, traditional methods such as checking the newspaper and word of mouth are becoming non-existent and we will continue to support the online shift throughout all the PINE countries by constantly supporting the real estate market and providing users of the platform with quality classified listings.”
Lamudi enables customers to easily find or sell their house, apartment, commercial property or land online. At the same time, property providers and agents get a trusted online presence through a personalized webpage.
Ethiopia has a population of over 90 million, while Nigeria has over 150 million people. Philippines is estimated to be have over 95 million people while Indonesia has over 240 million. This huge populations are what Rocket Internet looks at as consumers; it’s even better than Internet penetration is increasing in the PINE countries especially via mobile phones. Rocket Internet is banking on PINE countries as the future business leaders.
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