Hello Indie Hackers,
I'm validating a tool to solve a major pain point for importers and resellers in Nigeria and across Africa.
The Problem: Sourcing from 1688/Alibaba is cumbersome. Importers struggle to get clear English details, calculate true landed costs (duties, shipping, etc.), and determine viable resell prices all manually.
The Solution: A simple tool where users paste a 1688/Alibaba link. It returns:
Translated and structured product details.
A breakdown of local costs (including duties, taxes, port charges).
Estimated shipping & total landed cost.
Data-informed resell price suggestions.
Validation: I've spoken with 20+ local resellers and small importers who are frustrated by this and would use a solution.
Who I Am: I'm a business developer with deep knowledge of the Nigerian import scene and this specific user pain point. I'll handle everything non-technical: user research, validation, marketing, sales, and ops.
Who am I Looking For: A technical co-founder to build the MVP with me. I'm thinking Bubble for speed or a custom stack (scraping + OpenAI API) for more control. I'm open to your expert opinion on the best path.
We would be true partners.
No funding yet, so this is an equity-based partnership (open to discussion on split).
You should be excited about solving a real, tangible problem and building a business with clear B2B revenue potential.
Let's Talk: If you're a builder interested in African e-commerce and want to tackle this from the ground up, please DM me! Let's set up a call to discuss the vision, the market, and see if we're a good fit.
Cheers,
Jeozi