Jumia Kenya: A Case Study In E-Commerce

It could be said that the expression ‘time flies like a thief in the night’ is not entirely new. After all, Nigerian musician Burna Boy sang exactly that. Sometimes, we do not realise how fast time has moved until we look back and realise the progress that we have made.

Now, technology keeps making our lives easier daily. Enough to make us forget about the normal things including that very same time. Take 2010, for instance. Over a decade ago, Africa had not yet engaged with the term ‘e-commerce.’ Today, e-commerce is part of our daily lives.

One of Africa’s biggest e-commerce brands has since grown into a household name – Jumia. The now listed company fashioned out of thin air, a barely-there e-commerce market that has reaped big. Started in Nigeria in 2012 by co-CEOs Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, ex-McKinsey consultants, who dreamt of an e-commerce Africa, Jumia has grown and become something of a revered brand.

Their key markets being Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya. Jumia’s most notable achievement was their listed at NYSE in April 2019, only for the share price to plummet to $2.15 in August 2019. But all is not lost. 2022 is expected to be the year of Jumia. The year they finally make a profit. Jumia attracts a billion visits a year, handles logistics, and is also a payments platform. Yet they are still referred to as a start-up.

In Kenya, Jumia is undoubtedly the leading e-commerce platform and has, over the years, gained the trust of most Kenyan online buyers. It has not been an easy journey. Jumia capitalised on the continent’s digital transformation and has grown hand in hand with technological penetration in the country.

In December 2021, Jumia Kenya announced a change at the helm. Jumia Kenya’s founding CEO Sam Chappatte would be handing over the new CEO, Betty Mwangi.

You might know her as the 1^st Director M-Pesa, Business & Strategy Development, Innovation. Or, perhaps her five-year stint at Britam Holdings Ltd., as Group Commercial Director. The changeover came as a surprise to the tech world though to be fair, Sam Chappatte had been at Jumia Kenya since 2016, rising from CEO to Executive Vice President, New Retail.

To read the rest of this and more, buy your copy of the February 2022 Edition.