The Proudly South African, cloud-based, e-commerce platform, helps local entrepreneurs to build an online store and grow their business by providing easy-to-use, professional services that allow them to trade profitably. Shopstar was founded in 2014. Mike Joubert, a seasoned entrepreneur and investor, began a second round of investment and became the company’s majority shareholder in late 2018, after assessing the company’s potential. He began the turnaround strategy and started scaling it for growth. The business has now secured further funding from Launch Africa Ventures, known for its early investment into and backing of over 60 high-potential African technology start-ups. As part of its expansion strategy, local entrepreneur Chris Edington has been hired as CEO to lead the business forward. His expertise as an entrepreneur and IT specialist, which includes founding and leading start-ups, allows him to provide specialized insights and knowledge to the business, as well as a deep understanding of Shopstar’s clients — creative entrepreneurs who are starting and building their own enterprises. As part of the initial short term plans, Edington is implementing ways to develop the platform so that it not just reflects the future of e-commerce, but also provides the tools of the future to help small businesses start, operate and grow. Shopstar has recently secured further partnerships and endorsements from significant global brands. It is the only e-commerce business in South Africa that is Meta (Facebook) approved, and also recently received a grant from AWS Activate. Other local partners include the successful South African start-up Yoco.
