JUMIA, a leading e-commerce retailer with operations in Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco and top fashion retailer online in South Africa, has announced securing an investment portfolio from J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Jumia
hinted that the investor would take a stake through a German holding company in
an all cash-for-equity investment.
Jumia was
launched in spring 2012 and offers a wide range of general merchandise
categories such as fashion apparel, shoes, electronics, mobile phones, books,
toys, beauty products and many more categories. The company currently operates
in Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, with plan to expand in additional countries in
the coming months.
Company
was launched with the support of Rocket Internet – the European incubator of
Internet start-ups.
Commenting
on the investment, Jumia co-founders and joint-CEO’s Tunde Kehinde and
Raphael Afaedor said, “This investment is a real turning point for Jumia, and
e-commerce in Nigeria.
“With this
investment, we will strengthen our current footprint, offering our customers
more brands, more categories and more services as well as improving operations;
we are among the pioneers of e-commerce in Nigeria and this investment confirms
that Nigeria will become a very large market in the very near future.”
According
to a statement from Jumia, J.P. Morgan Asset Management Portfolio Manager
Robert Cousin, who worked on the deal from New York, confirmed the transaction,
saying, “We are excited to partner with Jumia as the companies continue to
expand their e-commerce presence in Africa.”
About
Jumia
Jumia is a
leading online retailer in Nigeria with the widest array of products across
categories from men, women and kids fashion through beauty and fragrances to
general merchandise (including mobile, baby & toys and home electronics).
It is also Nigeria’s largest online book store with some 40,000 book titles,
and is the 8th most visited Nigerian website on the internet.
According
to the statement, Jumia delivers door to door across all cities, towns and
villages in Nigeria. It leverages its own proprietary network of vehicles and
motor-bikes in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. It partners with DHL to deliver
to other parts of Nigeria.
Afaedor
said, “since our launch in June 2012, we are happy to have generated new over
100 new jobs into the Nigerian economy, employing some of the best foreign and
locally trained Nigerians.
Where
there is a skill shortage, for example, in online marketing, our approach is to
bring in a foreign expert, to teach local talent, thereby creating new skills
into the economy, and creating a talented and sustainable base of talented
Nigerian employees.”
Kehinde
claimed that the recent investment by JP Morgan Asset Management was an
endorsement of the quality of the Jumia team and strategy as well as the
potential of the Nigerian consumer. “The investment will enable us focus on
building a world class organisation with a dedicated focus on the best customer
experience for the Nigerian consumer”, he stated.
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