Can you tell us about Jumia's activities in Africa?
is the leading e-commerce platform in Africa. When we embarked on this adventure seven years ago, we looked around the world and noticed that e-commerce already had a foothold in Europe, the United States, Latin America, and China. So we wanted to replicate the model in a region full of opportunities, and we chose Africa, a continent with 1.3 billion people. We then set ourselves the goal of offering Africans access to branded services and products, wherever they might be. Above all, we wanted to take on a major challenge in a continent where the traditional distribution system was very limited. Technology has made this possible and, above all, allows us to make distribution more efficient.
We therefore set up a marketplace that connects thousands of sellers across the continent to the millions of consumers we recruit every day thanks to our marketing efforts. We also offer services such as meal delivery, bill payment and credit card top-ups, hotel room reservations, job offers, etc.
How are you organized? In which other countries are you present? What are your challenges?
We are present in 14 African countries, including Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, Tanzania, Ghana, and South Africa. We are focused on these 14 countries and cover 700 million inhabitants, including more than 400 million Internet users.
Although there are many challenges, they are not the same from one country to another. For example, we have issues with internet penetration rates in Central African countries, we face addressing problems in most of the countries where we operate, we have infrastructure difficulties such as poor road quality, and transportation is another challenge we face on a daily basis, not to mention attitudes, as many people have not yet embraced this new distribution system. But we are working to make our contribution to each of these challenges. For example, we deliver everywhere in Cameroon despite the road and addressing problems.
What does Jumia represent on the continent today?
Africa has a population of 1.3 billion, and thanks to technological advances, we now have more than 470 million internet users. If you live in Africa, you will notice that there are a limited number of supermarkets or large retail outlets due to a lack of infrastructure. As a result, consumers have limited choice and access to quality products and services.
Before 2012 and the creation of Jumia, there was no e-commerce in Africa. Our presence is a huge asset for users and sellers, who can use Jumia to gain online visibility and access millions of consumers, and for consumers, who can access a wide range of products at competitive prices. We offer services such as meal delivery through our Jumia Food
platform, bill payment and credit card top-ups with Jumia PAY
, hotel room reservations through Jumia Travel
, and more. But above all, we offer a wide range of products on our Marketplace: from mobile phones to electronics, cosmetics, and clothing. All essential products, as well as office and home supplies, etc.
How do you differentiate yourself from the competition?
E-commerce is a new sector on the continent and there is room for everyone. The presence of several players is an advantage for local sellers, who have more sales opportunities, but also for customers, who have a wider choice.
Our mission remains to help people live better every day and save time and money. Today, more than 4.8 million consumers use our platform daily. We also help our sellers grow their businesses through our platform, as evidenced by the fact that we have fostered the economic growth of 80,000 sellers on the continent. E-commerce in Africa accounts for only 1% of total sales, compared to 20% in China. We are aware of the challenges, but our determination is unwavering.
We have built our platform with deep local expertise, gained many years of experience operating exclusively in Africa, and leveraged all our learnings in each market to create a strong competitive advantage in the execution of our projects.
Although we are very proud of Jumia today, we are still very ambitious about our future. We want to help more consumers save time and money, access financial services, help more sellers, help more logistics partners grow and take advantage of this opportunity, and offer the whole world the opportunity to see the development of the African continent through our story.
The development of the internet on the continent faces many challenges. What is your view on this, particularly with regard to the high cost of data?
One of the challenges for the development of the digital economy, and especially e-commerce in Africa, is the evolution of internet penetration rates. This will only be possible if the offers are beneficial and the prices accessible to the majority. It is important to address this crucial issue if we want to catch up with the major countries.
How do you see the future of e-commerce in French-speaking Africa?
E-commerce is a brand new sector in Africa. You have to be very patient and invest in the future if you want to get started. Some regions have already managed to do well, which is a very good thing.
French-speaking Africa is lagging behind for several reasons: the internet penetration rate remains low, the cost of data is high, the cost of smartphones remains high despite the efforts of players such as JUMIA
, the quality of infrastructure is poor, roads are underdeveloped, and there is the thorny issue of addressing. However, according to figures published this year by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), French-speaking Africa is well represented in the region's top 10. Three countries feature in the list despite the difficulties outlined above.
But the growth and stability of this sector require a combination of strong measures:
- Raising awareness among local entrepreneurs and even major brands about the contribution of this sector to the growth of their businesses
- Raise awareness among young people about the major role of this sector
- Integrating trade into training programs
- Investing in infrastructure development
- Proposing strong legislation, etc.
Major players are investing in the development of the internet, particularly GAFA. What do you think about this?
As mentioned above, the development of e-commerce depends on growth in internet penetration rates; any initiative in this direction will therefore be an opportunity for us, but also for the continent.