Jumia Eyes Local Businesses Towards Base Expansion

Jumia will be offering a 50 per cent discount on commissions to local manufacturers in a bid to cement its dominance on the country’s e-commerce platform.

“We are committed to ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’ – and as such want to do our bit to support local manufacturers,” said Chief Commercial Officer, Kenneth Oyolla.

Jumia, since September last year, has been giving companies selling locally produced products on their platform a similar discount.

According to Oyolla, the Jumia local program will help the company compete with other imported goods.

“It is through such initiatives that we can grow small and medium industries to be substantial players in the e-commerce industry,” said Oyolla during the quarterly vendor meeting held at Jumia’s CBD hub.

Jumia is optimistic that its program to invest in the provision of scalable training to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) will help it grow its current vendor base by 30 per cent in 2020.

The SME sector employs about 80 percent of the population, contributing up to 34 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016, hence, critical in the employment sector.

The company’s customer base is estimated to be 25 per cent of all the active internet users a month, with the number expected to rise with local entrepreneurs and manufacturers joining.

Some of the online brands under Jumia include Jumia Jobs, Jumia Deals, Jumia Travel, and Jumia House, with over 15,000 local companies using their services. The company is currently in 22 other African states.