Jumia becomes the one stop online destination in Africa

Africa Internet Group is today connecting its companies into Jumia’s ecosystem with a new vision, "Expand your horizons". The new Jumia ecosystem will give access to products and services from its leading platforms.
After 4 years of successfully establishing and growing its online services as leaders in their markets, Africa Internet Group, now Jumia, has become the N°1 E-commerce platform in Africa.

“We founded our companies with a very strong belief: Internet can improve people’s lives across the globe. Uniting all services allows us to better help our customers fulfill their daily aspirations. This is all possible because people connect to our platform to access those services and products in an environment that we have designed for them, addressing their needs and expectations on quality, choice, price, trust and convenience.” said Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, founders and co-CEOs of Jumia.

Customers can now access respective products and services on JUMIA; Jovago – Africa’s leading online hotel booking platform now rebrands to Jumia Travel, while food delivery company, HelloFood will now be Jumia Food. Kaymu which serves as a community market place has rebranded to Jumia Market. Real estate Lamudi becomes Jumia House, while the company’s logistics services AIG X takes new identity as Jumia Services.

Furthermore, sellers will also benefit from this move, by getting access to more traffic and to a greater world of opportunities. Every day, Jumia helps and encourages restaurants, hotels, local sellers, brands, real estate agents, car dealers, large companies and logistic companies to become better, bigger, more performant, thus creating positive impact for Africa.
The founders reiterated that, “Operating under the same brand name reinforces the legitimacy of proposing other services to our customers and to our sellers. We want to have one strong brand that is trusted and loved by our customers across Africa”.

Jumia’s new vision, “Expand your horizons”, expresses the group’s ambition to transform people’s lives through internet, overcoming the ground market challenges of the continent and giving all Africans the opportunity to access high quality services and products everywhere.

About Jumia
Jumia aims at creating a connected digital Africa to improve people’s lives on the continent, thanks to the Internet. Therefore, Jumia’s mission is to connect African consumers and entrepreneurs to do better business together. Founded in 2012, with a presence all over Africa, the group has MTN, Rocket Internet, Millicom, Orange & Axa as investors. Jumia has been creating a sustainable ecosystem of digital services and infrastructures through online and mobile marketplaces and classifieds to expand your horizons.

Dan Karua MD Jumia House talk to memebers of press about the E- commerce platform in africa

Joe Falter Ceo Jumia Food adressing question being raised by media in regards  to the e commerce platform

 

Joe Falter Ceo Jumia Food EstelleVerdier MD Jumia Travel Cyrus Onyego CM jumia Travel 

Juan Seco Head of Fiance Jumia Group Kenya  and Kuria MD Jumia House

Joe Falter Ceo Jumia Food and Robinson Murage PR Jumia Kenya

JJ Maikere MD Jumia Market and  EstelleVerdier MD Jumia Travel talk to members of press about E-commerece Platform in Africa

Barbra Muthoni Head of social media Jumia Kenya and Terry Mwangi Pr Jumia Market

Cyrus Onyego CM jumia Travel and JJ Maikere MD Jumia Market

EstelleVerdier MD Jumia Travel

Nairobi, 23rd June 2016  

Content Courtesy Of Jumia Kenya

JUMIA DONATES TO MAMA FAUZIA CHILDREN’S HOME – NAIROBI

Jumia has donated clothing and foodstuffs worth Ksh. 1 Million to Mama Fauzia children’s home as part of its social corporate responsibility.
It was all smiles as representatives from the home received the goods at a colourful handover ceremony held at the home in Kasarani on Friday. Jumia communications Manager, Robinson Murage said the company will continue to support the communities in which it operates.
“We are committed to help improve the livelihoods of the less fortunate members of the community in which we operate. We hope this donation will go a long way to the cause.”
The Jumia team also took the day to celebrate their Muslim customers across the country by donning Muslim attires before handing over the boxes of new clothes, shoes and foodstuffs to the home. Mama Zainab from the home thanked the company for the donation.
“I want to say thank you so much on behalf of the entire Mama Fauzia Family, I lack words to say how handy this donation comes in for this home. Thank you so much. “Said mama Zainab.


About Mama Fauzia Children’s Home
Mama Fauzia is a children’s’ home started by Maalim Hassan and his wife Fauzia, hence the name. The husband died in 1997 and the home continued under the watch and care of Mama Fauzia and her committee that consists of six professional women.
The home was first based in the slums of Majengo in 2006, with financial contributions from the committee and well-wishers, the kids were able to move to a bigger and safer environment at Kasarani. The centre is home to over 100 kids aged 1yr. to 20 years.
Mama Fauzia children’s’ home is a registered institution and thus does not receive help from the Kenyan government. The home mostly depends on well-wishers or small organizations that happen to hear of it.

 Content Coutersy Of Jumia Communication Team

Jumia Kenya names new Managing Director

Nairobi, Kenya 16 July 2016, Jumia has named Sam Chappatte as Managing Director for its Kenyan operations.

Prior to his appointment, Sam was managing Jumia's New Countries, overseeing operations in six countries; Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Senegal and Algeria. He replaces Parinaz Firozi who is leaving the company after two years of service.

Outgoing MD Parinaz Firozi said, “It has been a hugely rewarding and exciting part of my life. It has taken a lot of energy, learning and enthusiasm to grow Jumia to where it is today, with incredible support from our customers and employees. I feel it’s a good time to handover to Sam, who will lead the company to its bright future.”

Chappatte’s new role will focus on building the company’s customer base, improving customer experience, and developing & recruiting Kenya's top talent.

“We strongly believe that this is the beginning for e-commerce in Kenya. Kenyan consumers are increasingly connected. Increasingly want peace of mind on the quality of products they purchase. And therefore increasingly embracing e-commerce. Jumia has as a strong base in Kenya, but we have work to do in bringing new products to our customers & significantly improving their experience. I'm very lucky to have a great team to work alongside in the coming years to make this happen!”


The management change comes several months after Jumia secured an investment valuing it's parent company Africa Internet Group at more than $1 billion, joining the exclusive list of global "Unicorns" (private start-ups valued at $1bn), and becoming Africa's first (according to CBInsights).

Content Courtesy Of Jumia Kenya

Finlux TV brand enters the Kenyan market through Jumia

The third largest TV manufacturer in the world and the largest in Europe - Vestel’s - Finlux TV brand has entered the Kenyan market through online retail platform Jumia.

Renowned for its cutting edge and innovative technology Finlux, one of the first electronic brands to be sold predominantly online and on its own dedicated e-commerce site has introduced into the country Finlux 32”and 40” HD TVs among other sizes retailing at a special price for Ksh. 19,499 and 29,399 during the Jumia TV Blastsale ongoing till 8th May also featuring many other TV brands, home theatres, wall brackets and speakers among others.

Commenting on the brand, Parinaz Firozi, MD, Jumia Kenya said, “Finlux TV brand rivals other established brands in Kenya with its standards and lowest TV faults in the industry. We are happy to introduce this brand to our customers at the most affordable prices in the market.”

As more and more brands continue to eye and enter the Kenyan market, the ballooning middleclass which is forecasted to grow at 5% annually from the current 45% of the total population coupled with a tech savvy generation continues to provide the best Launchpad for the entry.

Kenya’s Young middle class driving online food ordering space

Kenya is set to earn a full middle class status in 2030 as forecasted in the country’s development blueprint. Currently, 45% of the total population, a whopping 20 million Kenyans are already categorised as middle class by the Kenya National Bureau of statistics with an average annual growth of 5%.
The increasing urbanization and ballooning middle class with its busy life schedules has become a rare blessing to the online food ordering business. Hellofood an online food ordering website in Kenya that lists over 270 restaurants on its online marketplace platform in Nairobi and Mombasa has seen its food orders from offices increase to 70% in 2016 as more and more office workers avoid going outside for food.

“Most offices in Nairobi and Mombasa are fast paced leaving little or no time to step outside for a meal, we have noticed a shift to group orders where 2-10 employees of a company make an order under one account to save on delivery fees. Currently office orders account for 70% and the number is rising.”
In addition to the growing middle class that the company banks on, high mobile and internet penetration is also a major contributor to the growth.
“Most of our orders come in between 9 A.M and 1 P.M as customers order lunch, there is then a low peak until 3 pm – 10:30 PM when supper orders come in. Most corporate customers are between the ages of 19 and 35 with mobile orders accounting for 65% of the total orders made on Hellofood thanks to a young tech savvy middle class generation.

E-commerce gains massive traction in rural Kenya

Kenya’s rural population is increasingly taking to the internet and aggressively placing orders online catching up with their urban counterparts, an internal survey by Jumia Kenya has revealed.

The survey indicates that urban traffic to the Jumia site stood at 77% in 2014 with rural traffic at 23% while urban deliveries accounted for 61% and rural 39%. In 2015, urban traffic maintained lead at 60% as rural traffic recorded a 17% rise to stand at 40%. Urban deliveries receded by 6% to 55% compared to 61% the previous year with rural deliveries climbing to 45%.

Notably, traffic and delivery statistics for the first quarter of 2016 show an even closer range with rural Kenya catching up fast in web traffic at 49% a shy 2% away to cannibalise urban traffic at 51% interestingly, rural deliveries maintained a previous 45% success rate.

Parinaz Firozi MD, Jumia Kenya said, “There is a high demand for online shopping with a high reliance on mobile from rural Kenya which is now a major focus area.”

Smartphones, mobile accessories, television sets, and computing rank as the fastest selling categories in low tier towns and rural Kenya while the same products with an addition to fashion emerged best sellers in urban Kenya here categorised as Nairobi, Thika, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret, and Kisumu.

While there is untapped potential in rural Kenya, Firozi notes that Jumia’s partnership with local courier service companies such as Posta Kenya, Aramex, G4S and Wells Fargo among others has been instrumental in boosting e-commerce uptake as the companies provide security for goods in transit to high risk areas besides serving as pick up centres for customers.

Geoffrey Mwove, Chairman Courier industry association and the Director of Courier at G4S Kenya notes, “Some customers will take time before pick-up due to impassable roads, unreachability due to fluctuating mobile network and lack of electricity among others in which case we extend their pick up period.”

Against the challenges, Firozi insists that the future of e-commerce is even brighter in the light of government efforts to increase broadband connectivity and mapped infrastructural development across the country.

Loan App Branch Raises $9.2m From Investors of Facebook, Prepares To Scale Across Africa in 2016

Nairobi and San Francisco-based mobile microfinance company Branch has secured $9.2 million in funding from Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to fund its expansion across Africa.

Nairobi, March 31, 2016 - Mobile-based financial services company Branch has raised a Series A equity funding round of $9.6 million, as it positions itself for further growth and expansion into new markets.

The funding will allow for the scaling of its operations, hiring talent in Kenya as well as expansion across East Africa in 2016.
The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) , a prestigious US-based VC firm that has previously backed top international technology companies such as Facebook and Airbnb.
Alex Rampell, the partner who invested on behalf of the fund, commented on the deal: “The combination of smartphones, digital money, and machine learning offers an opportunity to leapfrog old-fashioned credit infrastructure, and that’s precisely what Branch is doing”. Seed investors Khosla Impact and Formation 8 also participated in the Series A round.

“Over the last few months we’ve been growing rapidly”, Founder and CEO Matt Flannery said.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re able to expand further to meet the huge demand for our

credit product in Kenya and enter new markets.” Flannery founded Branch after a decade of

founding and running Kiva.org, the micro-lending website that today operates across 80

countries.

This week, the company disbursed its first loan in Tanzania, marking an important milestone towards its goal to expand to several African countries and disburse 1,000,000 additional loans to its customers. Already, around 150,000 people in Kenya are using the app and the Branch App enjoys a 5* rating on the Google Play Store. On average, each customer has taken out 3 loans each, ranging from KSh250 to KSh50,000.
The loans are typically approved within minutes, which makes the process smooth and stress-free for its customers.

The socially conscious technology company launched the Branch app in May 2015 to provide financial services to the rapidly expanding middle class in Kenya through its innovative Android phone application. It uses advanced data science to calculate a credit score for its customers by analysing the information on their phone such as call and SMS history. This enables Branch to meet the growing demand for credit among millions of Kenyans and disburse loans within minutes into customers’ mobile money wallets, while maintaining low default rates.

“Our product is simple. Forget about bank queues and month-long processes. Branch is like a

bank in your pocket, there for you at all times”, explained Daniel Szlapak, Africa Director. “The

proprietary technology we have developed means that we are able to charge lower interest

rates than our competition, and reward users who repay on time with lower fees, larger loan

amounts and more flexible repayment terms as they continue to use the app.”

Branch is currently available for download in the Google Play Store in Kenya and Tanzania.

Additional quotes from the Branch team:

So far most of its customers have found the app via social media and word of mouth. “We’ve

proven that our model works and know that there’s huge demand, so we’re looking forward to

our Series A funding enabling us to reach our next stage of growth”, adds Sofia Zab, Marketing

Director.

“User privacy is extremely important to us”, adds cofounder Daniel Jung. “We use world-class data encryption and never sell our user information to third parties.”
“This round of funding will enable us to scale our team along with our loan portfolio.”, adds Andrew Huelsenbeck, Expansion Director. “We are always looking to hire more smart, purpose-driven people who want to make a positive difference in the world through technology.”

About Branch

1. Branch is a for-profit socially conscious company providing financial services to the mobile generation. We are driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to fair and transparent financial services. Our first product is credit. Branch aims to be your financial partner that helps you plan for the future, grow a business, or find security when times get tough.

2. Branch is located in Westlands, Nairobi and San Francisco, USA and is backed by prominent investors including, Khosla Impact, Formation 8, and Andreessen Horowitz.To date, the company has raised $10.8 million in equity funding.
When did Branch Launch in Kenya?
Branch launched in Beta mode in April 2015.

 How does it work?

Branch is really simple. It’s like a bank branch in your pocket, only much faster!  Our first product is credit.  You just download the app from the Google Play Store, login with your Facebook account, and you get a loan.  We have a ‘robot’ in the cloud -- a machine learning algorithm -- which analyses data from your phone, Facebook, and other sources to determine how much to lend to you.

Branch will deposit the funds in your mobile money account in a matter of minutes.
Average Loan Size:
Our vision is to offer larger and larger loans to our most loyal users.  We currently offer loans up to KSh50,000 but start with much smaller loans to new users who need to prove their ability to repay.  Our average loan size is growing fast and is now around KSh4,000 because we have so many new users.

Interest rates: We want to be the fastest, cheapest source of credit in Kenya.  Kenyans deserve better banking.  The fees we charge for our loans vary depending on how new users are on the system.  As users prove themselves, loan sizes go up, loan length goes down, and APR goes
down as well.  Our current fees range from 6% to 16% on loans from 3 weeks to 1 year in length.
What proportion is non-performing loans: When we started, our default rate was around 25% because we had very little data.  Our “robot” learned very quickly how to manage risk and is improving each day.  Now, the default rate has dropped to under 5%.
Current loan book size: We have disbursed millions of USD in loans and are growing 50% month-over-month.

Matt Flannery, Founder, Branch: 

Content Courtesy Of Sofia Zab Marketing Director Branch. 

Graphic Done By Oscar Alochi