Mohamed Ibrahim and Ibrahim Mahmoud left their jobs at Jumia to establish their online furniture marketplace, Homzmart. They planned to bridge the gap between consumers and furniture manufacturers.

Mohamed Ibrahim, CEO of Homzmart, tells WAYA, ” “There are 25 million people searching monthly for home furniture without a major player in the market”. He adds that the electronic furniture market is estimated at $60 billion in the MENA region. However, the industry has not yet been digitized in the region. Ibrahim Mahmoud, Homzmart’s COO states, “when researching statistics on the home furnishing sector, we found that Egypt has about 120,000 workshops, factories, and craftsmen, who need technology to develop and improve their work.”

The startup had trouble persuading consumers to buy household products online at the beginning. However, as time passed people began to warm up to the idea. The startup follows the same model base that most e-commerce platforms have in place. “At Homzmart, we collect a lot of products in one place through which the consumer can compare information, prices, materials, and quality. It helps them save time and energy, which helped convince them of the idea ” says Mahmoud.

In February 2020, Homzmart raised $1.3 million in a seed round. The investment came from China’s MSA Capital, Oman Technology Fund (OTF), and 500 Startups, among others. Homzmart is using the funds to acquire new talent, develop technology, and expand and improve its customer service.

The marketplace showcases over 10,000 units from over 80 vendors. The vendors sell their products at their own prices. Thus, the consumer can choose from a range of products with different price ranges. At the same time, vendors have control over the prices they choose to assign to their products.

Homzmart is focused on monitoring the quality of the products offered through its platform. They follow the ordering process and track the delivery of the product until it reaches the customer’s home. Mohamed tells us that what matters most to him is that customers get what the item as it appears on their platform.

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