With the help of her co-founder , Dhruv Kapoor and some other friends , they established Zilingo in 2015 — which was set to become one of the fastest growing B2B marketplaces for fashion and lifestyle buyers and sellers . From Singapore , they were able to expand across Southeast Asia and even beyond .
Prior to founding Zilingo , Ankiti recognized that Southeast Asia is one of the world ’ s largest manufacturing hubs , but many local producers require the economies of scale to be able to sell directly to consumers . Through Zilingo — a play on the word “ zillion ”— she and her co-founder envisioned an aggregation of opportunities that they aim to serve to clients and customers .
In an interview with the Philippine Retailing Magazine , she shared more of the company ’ s aspirations , as well as challenges and accomplishments over the years :
What inspired you to start Zilingo or what problem or challenges were you trying to address back then ?
When Dhruv Kapoor and I first founded the company , we recognized that many merchants across Southeast Asia faced bottlenecks that limited their reach and overall business operations . We wanted to bring in equity and transparency to the process , so that merchants , whether small or big , receive a level-playing field to trade efficiently .
Zilingo was born out of this market need and we began by introducing technology into traditional fashion manufacturing , which had resisted change for generations . We created an operating system for the fashion supply chain that connected different steps of the sourcing process in a single , transparent view . We then placed it on an API software that our customers can access , allowing Zilingo to collect data points and then act on insights that enable efficiencies in sourcing , QC , speed and credit terms .
What is your mission as a company ?
As a company , Zilingo ’ s mission is to digitally transform the global supply chain by connecting brands with suppliers on a global scale . In addition to this , we offer a range of services to support efficient supply chain operations such as financing and credit for manufacturers , factory software for quality control , compliance audits and trend forecasting . We refer to this vertically integrated system as an ‘ operating system ’ for the supply chain across industries .
Zilingo ’ s goal is to use technology to drive positive change and rid fashion of its inefficiency , opacity and waste by aggregating global demand .
What are some of the biggest accomplishments of the company ?
Since our inception in 2015 , we ’ ve come a long way . Over the course , we have successfully managed to solidify our presence in eight markets across Southeast Asia with our B2B offerings in trade , marketing , finance and technology . The expansion of our services also led to the acquisition of nCinga in 2019 . nCinga is a Sri Lankan SaaS startup that offers
an IoT platform that provides real-time production monitoring and data analytics on shop floors .
Today , Zilingo works with over 25,000 merchants and thousands of factories and has collaborated with some reputed brands across its B2B platform . A part of Zilingo ’ s pillar is Sustainability , we conform to this while conducting our various businesses from offering a library of sustainable fabrics to merchants to adopting sustainable means in operation of our factories which can save unnecessary and alarming environmental effects .
In the face of the COVID-19 crisis , Zilingo stepped up to the situation and repositioned its supply chain networks to supply PPE products across hospitals and healthcare facilities in countries where governments were trying to meet with the sudden mounting demand .
Tell us about the challenges and benefits of your expansion throughout Asia .
The supply chain scenario in Southeast Asia market is encumbered with opaque and antiquated business processes , harmful environmental impacts , exploitative labor practices , which prohibits and excludes small brands from financial opportunity and entrepreneurial growth in the global manufacturing industry .
Southeast Asia and South Asia are our key markets , and with offices in Singapore , India , Indonesia , Hong Kong , Thailand , Philippines , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh , we strive to provide end-to-end support to our partner-sellers and merchants who work with us locally in these markets . Apart from ensuring seamless trade on our platform , we recognised that some of the brands and businesses also faced a whole gamut of inefficiencies that put them at the backseat when compared to bigger and established brands out there .
To support MSMEs , we introduced our B2B offering that caters to the market needs . With fast logistics , secure payments , free analytics , and unprecedented access to buyers , we have been helping small sellers into competitive players in the global marketplace . We incentivize suppliers to grow responsibly by providing access to capital and helping them market their products around the world .
How are the consumers you serve different and same in countries you operate in ?
Every geography has its set of challenges as market maturity and exposure and consumer taste to an extent varies . A lot also depends on the population build up across the region like a concentration of millennial population in an area leads to more segregated demands there and hence more scope for experimentation . And the demographic positioning of each country creates unique challenges , in the way we operate , our means of sourcing materials , manufacturing , the brand ’ s target audience or even logistics .
With every country , it ’ s a different chapter and our offerings even though are all out there , we have to customize our services accordingly . Fashion and apparel segment is adversely affected by the ongoing pandemic throughout the world .
What are your strategies as a company ? How are you looking at the fashion and e-commerce industry if the crisis persists in a few more months , and how does your company respond to this ?
The pandemic has brought about tumultuous changes upheaving economies and the fashion and lifestyle vertical has been one of the most affected .
Now as we see the consumer behaviour is tilting towards the essentials categories , and the fashion sector has slowed down as compared to the pre-pandemic state ; we believe that the need for digital solutions has drastically increased , thereby creating a huge demand and an immediate opportunity of growth for companies like ours . From our business point of view , we have pivoted to acclimate to the changes , which is the need of the hour . We have forayed to multi-categories and offer along with fashion , essential PPE products , and off late some other consumer goods categories like beauty , personal care among others . These offerings on our B2B platform are seeing tremendous early traction . With the crisis , most industries have been pushed to adopt digitalization in their operations .
For fashion and lifestyle brands , the market is already very competitive , so on our part we are offering the brands services they need to keep up in the digital space . We also provide required credit options to brands and merchants to help them sail through this uncertainty and at the same time our SaaS offerings ensure the ordered products face no logistical challenges and adhere to the finest customer experience earning customer loyalty for these brands .
We are taking baby steps and observing the market cautiously as we see small recoveries along the way , which in itself is an achievement at this point . There are no set rules or answers to problems now , we are diving in and solving problems as they come , like day zero .
We are taking baby steps and observing the market cautiously as we see small recoveries along the way , which in itself is an achievement at this point .