Priced out of $100 sandals, a Ghanaian student built a fashion marketplace

A pair of Birkenstock sandals costing upwards of $100 helped set Moriah Adika on the road to building a business. As a student at Ghana’s Achimota School, he saw how buying the popular footwear could mean searching second-hand markets or asking others for help. That struggle followed him to university—and eventually became the starting point for Cedisaver, a budget-fashion marketplace now averaging about 6,000 monthly active users, according to TechCabal.

Adika was studying geophysics at the University of Ghana, not software development. As pandemic lockdowns pushed more shopping online, he began exploring a platform that would make inexpensive clothing easier to find. He learned to build the website through YouTube tutorials and launched Cedisaver in January 2023, during his final university year. The idea was to gather products scattered across thrift stalls, open-air markets and social media sellers in one place, with delivery to customers’ doors.

His classmates became the first testing ground, buying footwear and helping the young business find customers through personal networks. An incubation programme jointly hosted by the British Council, Imperial College London and the University of Ghana gave him guidance on running a startup, though it provided no direct equity funding—money invested in return for an ownership stake. By the programme’s showcase in late 2023, Cedisaver had served 85 paying customers.

Buyers first, merchants later

The next challenge was not simply building a better website. It was getting enough buyers and sellers to make a marketplace work. Cedisaver initially bought inventory from large importers rather than signing up independent merchants. Adika feared that bringing vendors aboard too early would squeeze already narrow operating margins, the money left after operating costs. But shoppers needed a broad selection, while merchants wanted evidence of regular sales before committing products.

Progress also competed with Adika’s national service obligations. In 2024, he worked as a quality assurance analyst at Ghana’s National Petroleum Authority, travelling across regions to inspect fuel facilities. When he returned to Cedisaver full-time, the supply bottleneck demanded attention. Rather than expand every feature at once, he concentrated on everyday clothing and popular items that could sell quickly. The goal was to turn browsing into purchases and give hesitant suppliers a reason to join.

By 2025, Cedisaver had established sufficiently steady demand to begin formally bringing independent merchants onto the platform. It now works with 37 informal market vendors, as well as sellers already operating through social media catalogues. Alongside its roughly 6,000 monthly active users, the business reports an average order value of GHS 400, about $34. Those figures describe its audience and typical purchase size; TechCabal’s report does not provide a revenue total.

Funding can wait

Cedisaver has reached this point without outside investment. Limited capital has required careful spending and attention to margins while the team builds relationships with informal merchants. Adika told TechCabal that raising external money remains secondary to strengthening the business beneath the platform.

Adika’s priority is to make the economics of each sale and the operating model sound before seeking investment, according to TechCabal.

For now, Cedisaver is focused on widening its clothing selection for Ghanaian shoppers. The next test is whether it can keep offering value to price-conscious buyers while making participation worthwhile for merchants. Adika’s stated approach puts that work ahead of fundraising: establish a durable marketplace first, then consider capital to support it.