Africa's E-Commerce Giant Sets Sights on This Promising Market
- Jumia looking for unexpected help to grow Egypt business
- Safwat asks government to help bring unlicensed vendors online
A Jumia scooterman arranges product to be delivered to clients at the Ikeja warehouse of the company in lagos.
Photographer: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Africa’s leading online shopping platform, Jumia, wants to make Egypt its biggest market on the continent, and it’s turning to an unexpected corner for help: the country’s vast network of unlicensed vendors.
Often touted as Africa’s answer to online retail giant Amazon, Jumia wants 10-fold growth in revenue from Egypt and six-fold growth in the number of products offered on its platform to 12 million by 2021. To help achieve that, Jumia Egypt’s Chief Executive Officer Hesham Safwat says he’s urging the government to regulate informal retailers by offering them tax incentives and cheap loans that would allow them to market their goods online.