PRIYA’S GROWTH STORY
A Choice Between Safety and Building
Opportunity rarely arrives fully formed. Sometimes it appears as a difficult decision. Sometimes it asks us to choose uncertainty over security. And sometimes, as Priya Amarnani has learned throughout her life, it quietly transforms not only the person who embraces it, but thousands of others along the way.
When Priya first arrived in Nigeria twelve years ago, she entered one of Africa’s most dynamic and complex economic environments without a defined career plan, but with an openness to possibility. Raised in an entrepreneurial family, she had always been surrounded by business, yet she was still searching for where she belonged professionally.
At one point, she found herself interviewing for three very different jobs at the same time: a kindergarten teaching role, an accounting position at a cancer institute, and a part-time blog writing job at a small technology startup. On paper, the first two were the safer choices. They offered structure, stability and a more predictable path. The startup offered none of those things. What it offered instead was the opportunity to build.
She chose the startup.
“I was excited by the possibility of creating something from the ground up. I knew I wasn’t a doctor or a teacher, but I knew I was a businessperson. I enjoyed connecting with people, communicating ideas, solving problems, and helping businesses grow.”
Priya Amarnani, Chief of Staff, OmniRetail
That single decision quietly set the course for the next chapter of her life. Writing evolved into digital marketing. Marketing led to corporate sales. Sales expanded into operational leadership. Each role added another layer of experience, preparing her to lead growing teams through increasingly complex challenges. Today, Priya serves as Chief of Staff at OmniRetail, helping shape the strategy and operations of one of Africa’s fastest-growing B2B commerce platforms.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Digitising the Backbone of Nigerian Trade
Nigeria’s economy is powered by a vast informal retail sector. Across the country, millions of neighbourhood shops, kiosks and market stalls form the backbone of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) distribution. This fragmented “traditional trade” network accounts for the majority of FMCG sales, yet for decades it has operated with limited digital infrastructure, fragmented supply chains, inconsistent pricing, and constrained access to finance and logistics.
Founded in 2019, OmniRetail sits at the centre of one of Africa’s most important economic transformation stories: the digitisation of informal retail. The company is transforming how manufacturers, distributors and retailers connect across Africa’s fragmented FMCG value chain. By digitising traditional trade, it enables retailers to order inventory digitally, access embedded finance, optimise logistics and build transaction histories that strengthen their ability to access working capital.
- ~150,000 Retailers supported on the OmniRetail platform.
- ~8,000+Distributors connected across the FMCG value chain.
Today the platform supports a network of approximately 150,000 retailers and more than 8,000 distributors, showing how technology can modernise one of Africa’s largest and most important economic sectors. At its core, OmniRetail is addressing a structural problem: fragmented supply chains.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The Lesson She Learned From Her Mother
Long before her professional journey began, Priya had already witnessed the transformative power of opportunity. At the age of nine, her family relocated from India to Belize after her father pursued a business opportunity abroad. While the move represented a fresh start for the family, what left the deepest impression on Priya was watching her mother’s own transformation.
Throughout much of Priya’s childhood, her mother had dedicated herself to raising the family and managing the home. Following their relocation, she entered the workforce and became actively involved in the family business. The change was profound, and it fundamentally shaped Priya’s understanding of what opportunity makes possible.
Access to opportunity, she came to believe, does far more than increase income. It builds confidence. It expands choices. It gives people permission to imagine a future that once felt out of reach. That understanding continues to shape the way she approaches leadership today.
THE WOMEN BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Four in Five Are Women
For Priya, one statistic stands above the rest. Nearly four out of every five retailers using OmniRetail’s platform are women. Every day, these entrepreneurs negotiate with suppliers, manage inventory, employ staff, support their families and provide essential goods to their communities. They are entrepreneurs long before anyone officially gives them that title.
For Priya, these are not abstract development outcomes. They are stories she encounters every time she visits merchants across the country. She has met women opening second and third stores, expanding product lines, employing neighbours and building businesses capable of supporting future generations. Each story reminds her of someone she knew long before she entered the corporate world: her mother.
OmniRetail’s growth has been accelerated by investors who recognise that commercial success and social impact can reinforce one another. Among them is Aruwa Capital Management, a Nigerian female-founded and female-led investment firm that invests through a gender-lens strategy, backing high-growth businesses that expand opportunities for women.
Aruwa’s investment in OmniRetail reflected both the company’s commercial potential and its measurable impact. At the time of investment, women represented more than 78 per cent of OmniRetail’s retailer and distributor network, while women accounted for approximately half of the company’s workforce.
- 78% Women in OmniRetail’s retailer and distributor network at the time of Aruwa’s investment.
- ~50% Women across OmniRetail’s own workforce at the time of investment.
WHAT ENDURES
Opportunity Changes People
Reflecting on her journey, Priya sometimes considers how differently her life might have unfolded had she chosen the security of more traditional roles over a decade ago. Her career has never followed a straight line. From watching her mother’s confidence grow through meaningful work to helping scale technology that empowers thousands of women-owned businesses, every chapter has reinforced the same conviction.
Opportunity changes people.
