Galaxy of opportunities: Making its way onto your screen

Rocket Internet MD eyes Pakistan, labels it growth market.

KARACHI:

After having established Daraz.pk and Foodpanda, Rocket Internet has been making its presence felt in Pakistan.

Headquartered in Berlin, it has become a fast-growing internet incubator.

Focused on business models in the online and mobile space, the company is looking to expand its footprint in the country. With a reputation of building over 100 leading companies in various countries, the incubator has been fascinated with the market potential in Pakistan.

Sacha Poignonnec, the managing director of Rocket Internet, said in an interview that the country has long-term potential. “It is one of the most exciting places to be,” said the official, adding that market penetration in Pakistan is going to be higher than the developed world due to a very fast-growing middle-class – consequently a fast-growing demand.

“However, the present infrastructure cannot deal with this growth,” he said.

E-commerce in the emerging markets is better placed than the developed world. “We can draw an analogy with mobile phones – many people in Pakistan went from not owning one, to directly buying a smartphone.”

Comparing it with the European markets, Poignonnec said people went from no phone to a landline, from a landline to a basic phone and from a basic phone to a smartphone. In Pakistan, Poignonnec said, most users took a shortcut to directly owning a smartphone.

With their strategy of focusing on emerging markets, Poignonnec revealed that setting up an internet business is not an easy task. The aim of Rocket Internet is to build real companies and that means that there are real customers and real partners.

Citing Daraz.pk as an example he said, “It went through a phase of building a relationship, creating strong partners.”

Talking about the high number of collaboration projects, the official said that it was a sign trust-building is taking place.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2014.

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