Type of business Private company Available in Bengali, English Area served Bangladesh | Type of site Classifieds Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh | |
Founded 2006 (2006) (renamed 2014) | ||
Ekhanei (/ɛknɛɪ/; Bengali: এখানেই, 'right here') or ekhanei.com is a mobile based online marketplace classified advertisements website to buy and sell to property, gadgets, vehicles, personal items etc. for sale. Tickets and jobs are also posted among other things. Starting in 2006 as CellBazaar, it is the first online free classified ads website in Bangladesh. By Alexa Internet ranking, as of August 2015, it was top shopping site and the fifth business and economy website in Bangladesh.
Contents
History
Ekhanei.com was launched, as Cellbazaar, in 2006. It was owned by Grameenphone, the largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh. In 2010, after reaching four million users, it was acquired by Telenor, a major global telecom company with particular strength in Asian markets, with operations in, according to the company website, 13 countries. CellBazaar the company won the Accenture Economic Development Award 2007, and GSM Global Mobile Awards (Barcelona, 2008) in the category of "Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development".
The company became Ekhanei in June 2014 when it was overtaken by SnT Classified. SnT Clssifieds is an equal shareholding joint venture between Schibsted, a major global classifieds company, with operations in, according to the company website, 30 countries, and Telenor. Telenor bought 33.3% shares of the online marketplace company, while contributing its Bangladeshi asset Cellbazaar. Schibsted contributed its South American assets.
South African Naspers, Norway's Schibsted ASA and Telenor ASA, and Singapore Press Holdings joined in a cooperation agreement in November 2014, which included the transfer of assets and merger of operation in many markets including Bangladesh, where Nasper's Bangladesh operation OLX was launched in January 2015. In January 2011, Schibsted, Naspers and Telenor merged their operations into one platform - Ekhanei.com. As of 2015, it is 50.3 percent owned by SnT Classified, the parent company of ekhanei.com, and 49.7 percent owned by Naspers.
Market
Internet users in Bangladesh had Tk 14,700 crore worth of 10.5 crore used goods in their stocks in according to MetrixLab, a market research firm, According to Bangladesh Bank, around 1 million versatile clients access the mobile banking benefits. Over 100 crore transactions are made through mobile banking accounts.