Jumia is a leading e-commerce platform in Africa. It is built around a marketplace, Jumia Logistics, and JumiaPay. The marketplace helps millions of consumers and sellers to connect and transact. Jumia Logistics enables the delivery of millions of packages through our network of local partners. JumiaPay facilitates the payments of online transactions for Jumia’s ecosystem. With over 1 billion people and 500 million internet users in Africa, Jumia believes that e-commerce is making people’s lives easier by helping them shop and pay for millions of products at the best prices wherever they live. E-commerce is also creating new opportunities for SMEs to grow, and job opportunities for a new generation to thrive.
With over 5,000 employees in more than 10 countries in Africa, Jumia is led by top talented leaders offering a great mix of local and international talents and is backed by very high-profile shareholders. Jumia is committed to creating sustainable impact in Africa. Jumia offers unique opportunities in a vibrant and booming environment, creating new jobs, new skills, and empowering a new generation.
History of Jumia
In 2012, Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, ex-McKinsey consultants, founded Jumia along with Tunde Kehinde and Raphael Kofi Afaedor.
Jumia was launched in Lagos in 2012 and expanded to five other countries : Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Kenya and South Africa. In 2014, the company launched offices in Tunisia, Tanzania , Ghana , Cameroon , Algeria and Uganda , and by 2018 it was present in 14 African countries. In Egypt, Jumia has been trying to categorize itself as one of the leading e-commerce websites.
In June 2013, Jumia launched Jumia Travel, a hotel booking platform, and Jumia Food, a food delivery platform. Jumia Deals was launched in April 2015. In 2017, Jumia launched Jumia One, an app that enables customers to pay bills such as airtime. The same year, Jumia launched JumiaPay, a secure payment for people to shop on all Jumia services. This was followed by the Jumia lending program, an initiative that allows its vendors to access business loans. Jumia would later partner with Amadeus technology to launch a platform that enables people to book flights.
In South Africa, Jumia operates under the brand name Zando (zando.co.za), focusing only on online fashion retail.
Juliet Anammah: Chairwoman of Jumia Nigeria and Head of Institutional Affairs, Africa
At the end of 2015, the founders of Jumia appointed Juliet Anammah as the CEO of Jumia Nigeria so that they could concentrate on global control of the company. Massimiliano Spalazzi took over from Juliet as CEO in Nigeria in January 2020 and Juliet was appointed as the chairwoman of Jumia Nigeria and the Head of Institutional Affairs, Africa.
In 2015, Jumia generated $234 million in revenue, which stands for a 265% growth from 2014. In 2016, Jumia became the continent’s first unicorn being valued over 1 billion USD. In late November 2018, Jumia partnered with cryptocurrency company Telcoin to enhance payment service capabilities throughout their areas of operation. The same month, Jumia and Carrefour signed a partnership to sell online products in Africa.
In April 2019, Jumia went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and raised $196 million in net proceeds. The share price, initially offered at $14.50, rose more than 200% in the first three trading sessions. The first analyst papers release 21 days after the IPO rated the company at stock targets between 27 and 40 USD. After reaching a peak of nearly $50 on 1 May 2019, the share value has declined to under $5/share by year’s end.
In November 2019, Jumia announced the suspension of its e-commerce operations in Cameroon effective on 18 November. The company concluded that its transactional portal is currently not suitable to the current environment in Cameroon. As part of the portfolio optimization effort, Jumia later ceased operations in Tanzania effective on 27 November 2019. While Jumia operations in Tanzania provided many opportunities for customers and vendors, the company said it needed to focus its resources on other markets that can bring the best value and help Jumia thrive. The decision, the company affirmed, would help it achieve greater success in the future. On 9 December 2019, Jumia suspended Jumia Food in Rwanda, making it the 3rd country in two months as part of a continuous monitoring of the business environment and operating costs in the markets in which it operates. Jumia however vowed to continue doing business online in those countries on the classifieds portals, previously called Jumia Deals.
On 9 December 2019, Travelstart entered into a distribution and commercial agreement with Jumia Travel, Jumia’s hotel booking platform, to power the latter’s pan-African online travel booking portal. Under the agreement, Travelstart took control of the sales, fulfilment and customer service aspects of Jumia Travel online booking websites in all its operating territories.
On 16 March 2020, Jumia announced a major partnership with Reckitt Benckiser, a global health products manufacturer, to provide a steady supply of hygiene products at affordable pricing and help hamper the spread of the Coronavirus.
Jumia Nigeria’s ecommerce website, Jumia.com.ng, is ranked number 1,503 in global internet engagement and the thirteenth most visited website in Nigeria in late April 2020, according to Alexa.com – a global internet traffic ranking firm. It is the sixth most-visited local website in Nigeria, as of April 2020, following a recent listing by IABC Africa Media.
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