The 2024 Hunan (Changsha) Cross-border E-commerce Trade Fair opened in Changsha on August 30. A promotion and exchange meeting for Changsha's characteristic cross-border e-commerce industries was held during the fair. Gecko, the largest cross-border e-commerce B2B platform in South Africa was launched in Changsha.

Gecko connects hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized independent merchants in South Africa through a mature online dealer network. The platform has tens of thousands of square meters of large customs-supervised warehouses in both South Africa and China, providing merchants with efficient warehousing and logistics services.

Hunan is one of the most active provinces in terms of economic and trade ties with Africa, and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has long been hosted in Changsha. Gecko will locate its main business in Changsha, and Changsha will also become the main channel of the platform's commodities trade with Africa.

"Hunan's auto parts, hair products, and kitchen supplies are very popular in Africa, and African businesses want to find a good source of these goods, " said Zhang Xin, CEO of Gecko, adding that Hunan enterprises can also explore new overseas markets through the platform.

Gecko links small and medium-sized enterprises and resources in South Africa and the supply chain and industrial belts in Changsha. Zhang Xin mentioned that, the platform's scale is expected to reach 2 billion yuan within 2 years.