KENYA – Kasha, a Rwanda-based ecommerce retailer for women health and beauty products has launched in the Kenyan market to meet customer needs in the offering health, personal care and beauty products segment.

The firm is seeking to partner with logistics firms for delivery of its products and services.

Through the Kasha platform, customers can order pharmaceuticals, contraceptives, HIV self-test kits and sanitary products, among others.

Since its launch, Kasha is said to have so far moved 10,000 units of products, averaging two units per order.

The debut comes after it raised an unknown investment from VestedWorld, an early-stage investor in businesses based in emerging markets.

With the funding, the ecommerce platform said it was aiming to expand to its operations in the Sub-Saharan region especially in the East and West African countries.

Some other investors include Mobius Motors, Umati Capital, Sweden-based Optimizer Foundation, angel investors and venture capitalists in the US and Rwanda.

Kasha joins other actors in the market such as MyDawa, Naivas Supermarkets, Jumia, Masoko and Posta that have made moves to cash in on the promising e-commerce market in Kenya.

Kenya has 2.6 million online shoppers, coming third in Africa after Nigeria and South Africa, according to 2018 data from United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Kasha procures the fast-moving consumer goods directly from the manufacturers and stores them in its warehouses until customers order them.

For pharmaceuticals, the firm works with chemists to pick items upon order.

The platform launched in Rwanda in 2016 selling sanitary pads, health and hygiene soaps and emergency contraceptives.

Given the regulatory concerns around these products, Kasha has partnered health practitioners and institutions such as Kipharma, Arbef, Unilever, Kepler and BK Tech House to carry out its services in Rwanda.