DARAZ
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“ We want to capture as big a market as possible , but we want to make sure that we scale in a healthy way . This means a strong focus on organic growth and making sure that the users that come on the platform remain engaged . If users stop coming back then we need to improve our service , find ways of being more relevant , or simply being more fun to enrich people in their daily lives ”
— Bjarke Mikkelsen , Founder and CEO , Daraz but Mikkelsen asserts that the skills he has brought from his previous career have served him well in ecommerce . “ It ’ s actually not that different because , in banking , my job was to make big things happen for people who were very ambitious and had the funds to follow through . In this case it ’ s more operational , but the principle is not that different .”
For Mikkelsen , a more significant difference is the territory itself . Shifting from his career in London ’ s corporate sphere to the developing markets of South Asia presented the need for a shift in perspective . Keen to foster an understanding of how best to operate an ecommerce firm in such environments , he spent time in the rural areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh . “ Apart from the business opportunity and incredible talent in our markets , most people fail to appreciate the natural beauty of these countries . It ’ s like nothing I have ever seen before ,” he says , adding that the experience made it clear that Daraz would require a highly tailored approach to best penetrate these markets ; a local business for local people .
FEBRUARY 2020