Jumia: Tearing down barriers for the growth of African rural e-commerce

Success Damian:

The rise and growth of e-commerce in the world and primarily in Africa has created a lot of business opportunities, not only in urban but also in rural areas. 

The good news is that there is undoubtedly increased connectivity, reaching even the previously inaccessible remote villages across the continent and connecting them with e-commerce. Over the past approximately three years, the market has been noted to move substantially in the direction of developing logistics meant to tear down barriers for e-commerce penetration in rural markets.

Consequently, online retailers can now reach customers in remote cities, while locals have access to a variety of products from major urban cities.  

While over 50% of the world is now connected to the internet, only 36% of the African population is, and even more poorly served are rural areas. This penetration rate is, however, increasing across Africa, and together with that of the mobile (now at about 80%), represent a potentially major growth lever as well as a significant growth opportunity for e-commerce to serve this otherwise underserved demographic. With this in mind, it is important for e-commerce players to eliminate roadblocks that hinder the penetration of the rural economy. 

Fulfilling the needs of the rural e-commerce consumer requires bespoke approaches, that will especially break the mistrust around online commerce. For instance, e-commerce players need to provide digital literacy programs toward educating users around online purchase processes. Moreover, platforms should incorporate several local languages in the markets they operate in; which should also be the case for their customer service departments to drive better conversations and connection with the customers. Understanding local languages will also come in handy when carrying out ground activations for new customers and vendors looking to move their businesses online. 
   
Consumers with varying spending powers require provision for more diversified products to choose from. 

In an article she wrote for the UNCTAD in October 2018, Juliet Anammah, CEO Jumia Nigeria noted that “The reach of digital platforms can no longer be contained and captured by a small group to the exclusion of others. The primary means by which digital drives inclusion is via providing accessible information on products, services and price as well as connecting buyers and sellers who may never have connected through traditional channels.”

Variety is key, and it thus requires breaking down your target markets and understanding their consumption behaviours to fully meet their needs and expectations.

Truth is, to successfully make in-roads in reaching and gaining the trust of rural consumers, e-commerce players must continuously remain innovative. One such company piloting diverse strategies to reach and activate rural eCommerce consumption is Jumia, operating in 14 African countries. 25% of deliveries made by Jumia are in remote areas, in regions where choices for products are extremely limited for consumers. 

To achieve this, the Pan-African e-commerce platform is expanding into rural areas by building agent networks through its JForce program, allowing agents to traverse the cities and make purchases for their clients for a commission. Besides, it has also set up more than 380 pick up stations and drop off locations to facilitate deliveries for sellers and consumers even in remote areas. Its recent partnership with Vivo Energy will enable more Jumia customers to place and pay for orders at select retail service stations, which will also double as pick up and drop off points. 

Further, Jumia’s digital platform offers diversified services and products, from home appliances to electronics, mobiles, fashion apparels, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and on-demand services at relatively affordable prices. This has allowed them to attract every possible customer and vendor in the markets they operate. 
  
With fulfillment and transport infrastructure being among barriers for the growth of rural e-commerce, Jumia comes up as one among companies working to smoothen out the delivery processes both in major cities and in remote areas that are otherwise difficult to access. This is by building a well-established logistics system using Machine Learning, relying on GPS enabled delivery apps. Jumia logistics network includes 100+ partners ranging from individual entrepreneurs to large companies, enabling the company to handle over 13.4 million packages in 2018 across Africa. 

Incorporating different payment methods has also enabled the e-commerce platform to gain the trust of more customers on the continent. Cash on Delivery remains the most preferred method among online consumers, especially in rural markets that are highly-dependent on touch-and-feel. Rural mobile money agents have also pushed the growth of mobile payments in remote areas, further facilitating the spread of e-commerce even in places with major unbanked populations. 

The intrinsic value in African rural e-commerce cannot be overlooked. The progressive success of early entrants of the market is a clear indication of the existing huge potential of this unexplored rural sector. The rising number of e-Commerce users on platforms like Jumia further cements the need for more innovative ways to satiate the growing needs of a more diverse African consumer. 

OTU Lagos Branch inaugurates new executives, set agenda for development

Chief (Sir) Ernest Eze, Chairman, OTU, Lagos Branch (Pic) 
Osina Community in Ideato North Local Government of Imo State has great passion for coming together both at home and in the Diaspora. On Sunday, at Ozubulu Hall in FESTAC, Lagos, the people of Osina under the umbrella body of Osina Town Union (OTU) inaugurated their men and women executives at a Joint General Meeting. It was a never-happened in the annals of the town. CYRIACUS NNAJI has reports.

Inauguration of the executive members which came after their elections in June was heralded with great joy. The people expressed happiness in the capacity of the executive to deliver on their mandate.  

It was not just an ordinary meeting, but a medical expert from the town, Dr. Carlistus Onunkwo did not only bring his medical team to examine and test members of the town, he also delivered a lecture on health which mostly dwelt on High Blood Pressure. He pleaded with the people to not just eat, right, but that they should do exercises and go for regular medical check ups. 

Another illustrious son of the community in Lagos, Chief Ogoo Umeh (Nnabuenyi) all by himself sponsored the food and drinks in a gathering of over 1000 people.

The Chairman, Chief (Sir) Ernest Eze expressed happiness over the caliber of people that were elected and inaugurated. He said “I have no doubt in my mind that my team will deliver, Remember that this is our second term. I am sure if we did not do well in our first outing, our people would not have deemed it fit to reelect us.

“My promise is that we are not going to disappoint them. We have a lot of development projects agenda for the town which we will unveil in no distant time,” Eze restated.

Chief Kelechi Ejeagwu, President General of Osina Town Union thanked God and also expressed confidence in the team “I thank God so much because the newly inaugurated people are wonderful people; they are the people that will lead Osina to the next level. I am talking of the level ordained by God, not the type of next level we have now. I know they will move Osina forward.

On his election as the President General of Osina Community, he said, ‘It was the work done by God and not by man, I thank God so much, I am not the best in everything both in wealth and personality, but it was the wish of God, and He that gave me the honour, I believe He would lead me throughout my tenure. In my tenure, I believe, by God’s grace, it will bring development and positive change in my Community called Osina. I am proud of them, they love me and I love them too.”

Chief Ejeagwu also informed Osina people that he will host them at Bikel Event Centre in Agor-Palace-way on Sunday, September 1, where he intend to unveil his agenda for the community.

On her part, Ezinne Chinelo Matthias Nwanedo, Chairlady, OTU Lagos Branch said she was happy, “Today God made everything awesome, you would bear with me that OTU Lagos Branch has gone to another level, we are like light, everywhere we go we shine. At Imo State Town Development Association Lagos (ISTDAL) Osina people got the First Vice President men and First Vice President Women positions; it is a thing of joy. And now as if that was not enough, the Lagos Branch of Osina Town Union got the president general of the mother union, all these achievements are the things that make one happy.”

On the newly inaugurated executive she said, “The inauguration of men and women of OTU on the same day is something which we have not witnessed before; it is one of the things that make me happy. Concerning the people that were sworn in, they are tested and trusted people. I know what they can do, they can deliver.” 

Lolo Carol Chika Mmonu, the Vice chairlady OTU and First Vice President, ISTDAL, said she has been in ISTDAL for 15 years “I have studied the objective of the association, and found out that there are one or two places I can play a role to move ISTDAL forward, and that is why I had to come out to contest for that position. 

On how she could combine the two roles she said “OTU is my primary assignment and they nominated me to represent them in ISTDAL, so in that regard, no doubt what I have been doing for them and that is why they appointed me to go to ISTDAL, they have no doubt in my capability to do better in ISTDAL to move the association forward. And that is exactly what I am going to do.” 

On how she would use her position to help Osina women, Lolo Mmonu said, “In ISTDAL we have carried out lots of scholarships, empowerments, trainings, for women in recent past; we have given awards and prize giving to Osina people to show we are moving forward. The empowerment include sewing machine, money, bags of rice, training which Osina women have benefited from.”

Christian Chris Ezeibekwe, Director, Ezeibekwe Motors Nigeria Limited, a stakeholder in Osina Community spoke on the capacity of the newly inaugurated executive men and women OTU, “I know they would do better than the previous one because our prayer as a people is for our children to be bigger and better than us. They will deliver on their mandates, I am sure of that,” Ezeibekwe stated.

On development in Osina and the fact that Osina has been in darkness for nine years, he said that those who handled issue of light betrayed the community. “Those who handled issue of light were our senior brothers, they offended our people, and infested Osina with various problems, but we thank God there is now a change of administration, made up of youths with zeal and vitality to work, by the grace of God there will be a positive development in Osina before the year ends.

He asked OTU members to support the newly elected President General of Osina through prayers, cash and kindness in order to realize the envisioned development in Osina community.

Jumia announces growth, increases by 94% in Second Quarter

Success Damian:

Jumia Technologies, the number one e-commerce giant in Nigeria, has reported growth, increasing by 94% in its financial results for the Second Quarter ended June 30, 2019.

The Chief Executive Officer, Jumia Nigeria, Juliet Anammah made the disclosure at a press briefing in Lagos recently.

She stated that the company would continue to deliver on its financial strategy.

“We continue to deliver on our financial strategy of generating strong growth of our topline drivers, while accelerating monetization, driving cost efficiencies and developing JumiaPay.

She further stated “During the second quarter of 2019, the company’s GMV increased by 69% year-on-year and our Gross profit grew by 94%.

Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-CEOs of Jumia commented “Our Adjusted EBITDA loss as a percentage of GMV decreased by 562 basis points (5.62 percentage points) and our Operating loss, amounting to €66.7 million, decreased as a percentage of GMV by 148 basis points (1.48 percentage points)”

“These results reflect our consumers, while providing our sellers with an attractive value proposition and a platform to grow their businesses. We remain focused on all aspects of our growth strategy, particularly JumiaPay, as we continue to drive its usage in our markets.” 

Breaking down her report Anammah spoke on Business and Financial highlights Growth momentum in topline drivers

She said GMV increased this quarter by 69% compared to the second quarter of 2018, due to a variety of factors, including strong marketplace growth and robust consumer acquisition and re-engagement momentum. The number of Active Consumers at June 30, 2019 was 4.8 million, up from 3.2 million a year ago and 4.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2019. These increases are a result of continued focus on selection, price and convenience, as the company strive to be the preferred online shopping destination for consumers in Africa for all their daily needs.

She said during the second quarter of 2019, “we continued to increase the assortment available on our platform and to engage with consumers through relevant local commercial campaigns such as our “Mobile Week” and “Ramadan” campaigns.”

Anammah also spoke on Development of JumiaPay, she disclosed that JumiaPay remained a key focus area and it is now offered in six countries - Nigeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco and Kenya. “Collectively, these six countries represented a combined population of almost 440 million people in 2018, according to data from the United Nations Population Division. We have also expanded the scope of JumiaPay beyond our physical goods marketplace.

“As of December 31, 2018, JumiaPay was only available within our physical goods marketplace. It is now also available within our on-demand services, Jumia Food, and hotel booking portals, Jumia Travel, in selected countries” Anammah reported.

She added that Jumia would continued to expand the range of financial and digital services available from third parties, powered by JumiaPay, “offering our consumers an increasing range of relevant every day services. In Nigeria for instance, consumers can now access micro-loans offered by a local fintech startup, alongside event tickets offered by a local event ticketing provider.”

On Increased monetization, she said “In parallel with the strong increase in GMV and Active Consumers, Marketplace revenue increased by 90% compared to the second quarter of 2018 as we continued to drive monetization from diversified streams of revenue including Commissions, Fulfillment, Value Added Services and Marketing & Advertising services. Gross profit also grew faster than GMV, increasing by 94% compared to the second quarter of 2018, as a result of the increased monetization rate.

“We continued to drive monetization in a gradual manner, introducing attractive services to our sellers aimed at supporting the growth of their businesses. In the second quarter of 2019, we placed a particular focus on our Marketing & Advertising revenue stream by continuing to develop an attractive suite of marketing products. Marketing & Advertising revenue grew by 490% year over year and represented 8% of Marketplace revenue in the second quarter of 2019 compared to 2% of Marketplace revenue in the second quarter of 2018,” Anammah stated.

On Cost efficiencies she reported “We continued to balance strong growth with cost discipline. While delivering strong growth of our topline drivers GMV and Active Consumers, our Sales & Advertising expense as a percentage of GMV decreased by 76 basis points (“bps”), from 6.2% of GMV in the second  quarter of 2018 to 5.4% in the second quarter of 2019, reflecting the strong Jumia brand awareness and attractiveness of our platform to consumers. Adjusted EBITDA loss as a percentage of GMV improved from negative 21.4% in the second quarter of 2018 to negative 15.8% in the second quarter of 2019.

Irise begins Ending Abortion Stigma through Listening, calls for women body autonomy

Marginalization and exploitation of women have become an age-long phenomenon and have continued unabated, but the most disheartening is the obvious denial of women’s right to their body autonomy and right to abortion. This was the fulcrum of the workshop organized by Irise, an Initiative to resist institutional slavery and exploitation in conjunction with 1Billion Rising. The event took place at Favoured Plaza, Agor-Palace-way, Lagos.  SUCCESS DAMIAN reports.

The project which was supported in whole or in part by the International Network for the Reduction of Abortion Discrimination and Stigma was attended by women from all walks of life.
 
One theme resonated stridently at the workshop and it was the fact that Women have right to their body autonomy in as much as they are the people that bear the brunt in the case of unexpected pregnancies. 

In addition was right to abortion. They argued that they were not promoting abortion but women should be allowed when a pregnancy possesses a danger to the woman. Aside that, they also argued that apart from such extreme cases government should also consider other social and personal issues best known to the woman to carry out abortion if she so desires. In as much as the women do not advocate wholesale abortion they stressed the need to save women from unsafe abortion due to stigma.

Part of the mandates of the workshop was to find out those institutions inhibiting women from having autonomy of their bodies as well as finding solutions to them, and topping discussions were religion, culture, community, non-existence of accessible and affordable health care facilities, as well as absence of well trained medical personnel and security challenges.

The workshop in the end proffered solutions to the numerous challenges discussed; among which were legislative enactments to address constraints hindering women who have reasons to do abortion, ensuring good health and reproductive health facilities that are not just accessible but must also be affordable; adequate manpower competent enough to handle abortion related cases; addressing security and judicial challenges, reorienting communities and religious organizations to become involved in openly addressing issues of abortion on a more dispassionate manner so that even their members would not die avoidable dates resulting from unsafe abortions.

According to Omodele Ibitoye, Founder Irise and Convener said “Inhibitions make people carry out abortion secretly and that can lead to all that we feared, all the myths people talk about abortion as a result of people doing abortion secretly in unsafe environment, by unskilled practitioners.”

She said individuals, laws, religions pose challenges especially in Nigeria and Africa that are very religious and traditional. “There are lots of cultural and religious myths surrounding abortion, they make people feel that abortion is unsafe. That is another reason unsafe abortion is on the increase and people are losing their lives.”

Speaking as a professional counselor on importance of listening to women with abortion stories Ibitoye said “I am not trained to advise, I am trained to help people to discharge on oppression and on hurts. Everybody was born intelligent, people are intelligent enough to figure out solutions to whatever issues they go through, but because the society has told us we are not intelligent enough, that is why we run around seeking advice.

“What I do as a counselor is to train the trainer, if a woman walks up to me and said, I have abortion problems my job is to listen to her with rapt attention, believing her story, because it is her story, I have no right to discriminate or condemn her, everybody wants to be listened to, if all can take time to listen to each other I think the world would be a beautiful place,” Ibitoye stressed.

She disclosed that no two stories are the same, “No two stories are the same, no matter how similar they are. I advise when someone comes to you with abortion story, unsafe abortion story or a botched abortion story; helping them discharging on the hurt and helping them take charge of their lives, they will re-emerge and regain their intelligence and figure out solutions to whatever they are going through. Helping them heal is more important.”

On the permission for abortion by law in Nigeria she said “I want to correct the impression that abortion is not legal in Nigeria, it is legal but it has legal restrictions, and these restrictions are not fair to women and girls, for example in the northern part of Nigeria, where there is insurgency and women are being raped, where a child of eleven years is raped, and you know children’s body are not developed enough to carry a full time pregnancy. Because abortion has restrictions, these little children were meant to carry the pregnancy, and a lot of them lost their lives because of these legal restrictions.

“My advice to government is to make laws that will make women have access to good contraceptive information, good health care services, abortion care services, I think that will help reduce the incidence of unsafe abortion and mortality in Nigeria.

Ibitoyo also spoke on role of Irise in empowering women “What is important to us is to help individuals grow, empower women and men with the skills to help the society, an empowered people build strong society. Every year we empower people, teaching people counseling skills, men and women with a view to go into the society, communities and help others heal from whatever thing they are going through. 

“From internalized abortion stigma, and help them understand that abortion is not illegal, little drops of water can make a mighty ocean, so when we educate 20, 30 women, equip them with right tools to go into the society, we empower and train the trainer who can go to the communities and train others.

She said that a lot of women live in fear, “women should be empowered, it takes a lot of efforts to bring out Nigerian women, a lot of them are afraid, they would say their husbands might not like it, a lot of women are still living in fear, because of what religion tells us”

She decried the role of some medical professionals on issue of abortion “We went for advocacy and we talked to a lot of doctors and these doctors because of religious beliefs threw away medical ethics and began to preach to us that abortion is a sin, so when a woman wants access to safe medical care and abortion, she goes through a doctor and a doctor said according to my religion or my culture what you are trying to do is a sin, you have killed that woman, the next thing for her to do is to commit suicide. So religious myth and cultural myth should be done away with and women should be given body autonomy.

Success John, a researcher on Institutional Slavery and also Facilitator at the workshop delivered a paper on Telling Your Story; while Mary Jane another facilitator had a paper on Ending Stigmatization.

Juliet Ifunanya, a participant said of her experience “I am excited to be part of this workshop today. It is a big privilege because most women outside still live in the dark and they don’t have this kind of experience, we came out and pour our mind on something.

“I say kudos to the organizers and the women behind this innovation, they deserve some accolade. It is meant to make women know their right, not in a negative way but positively. Even if you cannot give advice, the listening aspect is there, when somebody listens to you, you pour out the pains inside you. As I am going out, I am also going to bring that positive attitude to my friends, my peers, whomever I need to listen to and with the watchword here: be my sister’s keeper, that is what I learnt today.”

Nurudeen states need for Secondary School in Ifelodun, appeals to Lagos Govt, SUBEB

Success Damian:

Vice Chairman and Supervisory Councilor for Education, Ifelodun Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Hon. Koleosho Olatunbosun Nurudeen has appealed to the Lagos State Government and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to give approval for the establishment of a public Secondary School in the council.

Nurudeen made the appeal while speaking to Journalists at a Sallah party in Ojo Area of the council which he organized to thank Almighty Allah and also appreciate his teeming supporters, friends and well-wishers on Tuesday.

He said the request has become necessary considering the distance which the students from the council go through in order to attend schools in the Local Government Area.

“I plead with the state Government and likewise SUBEB to give approval for the conversion of one of the schools in Ifelodun to Public Secondary School in order to cut the danger and risk of children from the LCDA crossing roads, highways to schools within the local government,” he said.

He said the council was looking at Ajegunle Primary School at Itire and that at the Badagry Expressway, “We have done the needful, even in our recently concluded executive meeting we decided on how we can convert one of them into a secondary school, because we don’t have public secondary school within Ifelodun local council. 

“The only one we have is Gaskia but  the people that benefited from it are Badia, Ijora, so the chairman has been working tirelessly in making sure that one of these buildings is being converted to secondary school to reduce the kilometers our children cover going to school.”