How I built a marketplace for Nigerian university students with zero funding
Hey everyone! I'm Okunola, founder of ShopCart.ng.
I built a marketplace specifically for Nigerian university students to buy and sell safely. The problem was simple — students trade through WhatsApp groups with no verification, no payment protection, and constant scams.
What ShopCart.ng does:
Verified sellers (NIN + Student ID)
Escrow payments — money held until delivery confirmed
Free store for every seller with a shareable link
6,000+ SEO pages auto-generated for Google traffic
Push notifications, real-time chat, AI-powered search
Where we are now (3 weeks in):
165+ users
236+ products
58 active storefronts
Featured on TechTrends Africa
621 pages indexed on Google
Zero ad spend
Tech stack: Next.js, Supabase, Paystack, Vercel, Firebase
Challenges I faced:
Payment reference mismatches breaking order flow
Supabase free tier bandwidth limit hit at 5GB
Building trust with sellers who think escrow is a scam
I'm launching on Product Hunt this Tuesday. Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or questions about building for emerging markets!
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