One of Rocket Internet’s startups, Jumia is upgrading its services in Uganda.
According to an interview with Reuters, Jumia co-founder Sacha Poignonnec said that Jumia Uganda had been relying on its Kenyan sister for most of its goods but it will now have its own. That means a warehouse has been set up on ground and stocked with goods and not just offices since its earlier launch.
Undeniably, Rocket Internet’s partnerships with high stake investors such as MTN , Millicom and Sweden’s Kinnevik have leveled ground for it to push as many startups as deemed fit — which is a great advantage it has. The funds are being used to fuel expansion in operations across Africa, Asia and the middle East. The most important bit is that the payments’ conundrum is figured out as both MTN and Millicom have mobile money networks in most of these emerging markets. Gigantic MTN Mobile Money and Tigo Pesa respectively in tandem several other partnerships that will aid in the payments and delivery processes.
Other equally sized competitors that Jumia has to take on, on the African continent are; Konga from Nigeria, an arch rival whose competition is so fierce, South Africa’s Takealot which is set to expand across Africa, Alibaba Group’s AliExpress among others.
In other news, the firm, which launched in 2012, just announced it had launched in Ghana and Cameroon, adding to 8, the number of countries it’s present in Africa namely; Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Uganda.
Image via Reuters: Online retailer Jumia’s warehouse in Lagos
