The serial tech entrepreneur started Malltiple after experiencing firsthand how difficult it could be to complete a simple family shopping list. He now wants to use technology to connect Nigeria’s fragmented commerce ecosystem, starting from Abuja.
There is a particular kind of frustration that comes with everyday shopping in Africa.
A simple list of household essentials can mean a long drive into the city, traffic, parking, walking through large supermarket aisles, comparing an overwhelming number of products, discovering that something is out of stock, and sometimes visiting another store or the local markets to find what is missing.
For Hamzah A. Dalatson, not only does shopping take too much time, the entire process requires busy families and individuals to do too much of the coordination themselves.
That experience became the starting point for Malltiple.
Dalatson began building the startup around a simple question: what if everyday shopping could be organized around what the customer needs, rather than around the individual stores they have to visit? And Malltiple became his answer.
The Abuja-based digital commerce platform brings supermarkets, retailers, local manufacturers, food processors and other merchants into a single digital shopping experience, while building the technology and logistics capabilities required to connect customers with the products they need.
But the ambition goes beyond putting more products on a website or creating another delivery service. The startup sees a larger infrastructure opportunity.
Nigeria already has supermarkets, distributors, manufacturers, logistics companies, payment providers and thousands of merchants serving consumers every day. What is often missing is the digital connectivity between these different layers.
Malltiple is being built around that gap. Rather than attempting to recreate every component of the commerce ecosystem itself, the company is focused on connecting existing capabilities and making them more accessible through technology. A retailer can remain a retailer. A distributor can continue doing distribution. A logistics company can focus on logistics. Malltiple’s role is to create the digital layer through which these capabilities can work together more efficiently.
That distinction is central to Dalatson’s vision.
“We are not trying to build everything ourselves. We want to connect what already exists and make it work better together.”
The result is intended to be more than an online supermarket. Consumers can discover products across multiple categories, while merchants gain access to digital customers without having to independently build the technology, customer acquisition channels and operational infrastructure required to compete online.
The company is starting in Abuja, where Dalatson believes the model can be developed and refined before being taken into other Nigerian markets.
That localized approach is deliberate.
Consumer behaviour, merchant networks, purchasing patterns, supply chains and delivery economics can vary significantly from one city to another. Malltiple therefore intends to build market by market, using the capabilities and partnerships developed in each location as the foundation for the next.
The platform has already recorded early traction, with thousands of registered users, onboarded merchants and major partnership arrangements during its early operations. However, these represent only the beginning.
The immediate focus is on strengthening Malltiple’s logistics capabilities, growing its merchant network, improving the customer experience and building deeper relationships across retail, distribution and other parts of the commerce ecosystem.
As those layers become more connected, the potential applications extend beyond shopping.
Malltiple’s roadmap includes merchant technology, digital payments, loyalty and rewards, alongside other services that can help businesses participate more effectively in digital commerce.
The startup is also exploring how emerging financial technologies, including decentralized payment infrastructure, could eventually support more seamless cross-border transactions. Exploring where new infrastructure can reduce friction for businesses trading across markets. That becomes increasingly relevant as Malltiple’s ambitions move beyond individual cities.
The long-term vision is to create a commerce network that can connect consumers and businesses across Nigeria, and eventually support broader regional trade across Africa. A merchant in one market could potentially access customers in another without having to build an entirely new digital and operational infrastructure from scratch.
What began with the frustration of completing a family shopping list is evolving into an attempt to build the digital connective tissue between the different businesses and systems that make everyday commerce possible.
Nigeria does not necessarily need another company trying to own every part of the commerce chain. It needs more of the existing pieces to work together.
Malltiple is betting that there is an opportunity in building that connection.
The journey starts in Abuja, but the ambition extends much further: to help make local commerce more digital, connected and accessible, and eventually create infrastructure capable of supporting trade across Nigeria and beyond.
