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By Ayomide Oriade
It has been nine years of e-commerce service in Nigeria and Africa in general, with Jumia being the foremost player in the industry.
In his congratulatory message to Jumia in commemoration of her 9th anniversary, Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, commended the company for creating jobs for thousands of Nigerians through its operations in the digital economy ecosystem.
Abdullahi stated that Jumia has had an impressive nine years of e-commerce journey which has seen it expand to several African countries, creating employment opportunities and becoming a good reference for innovative startups on the continent.
He said: “for me honestly, it’s an impressive journey. Jumia started as a startup and in very little time you expanded your operations to many African countries and became the first unicorn company in Africa and you are still expanding.
These are the kind of startups we are encouraging to try and be an innovation driven enterprise. You look at the global market and huge capital investment and job creation. And also you are innovative and creating a lot of jobs in the ecosystem. Aside from the logistics, I think you have an ecosystem you are working on. So those are the kinds of innovation we encourage our startups with; innovation that creates jobs, wealth and prosperity for all. So I wish you more successful years ahead and congratulations for your 9th anniversary.”
Adbullahi also touched on the impact of e-commerce on everyday life and its crucial space in the digital economy. “The most profound impact for me is how it makes life more convenient and less disturbing. Before covid, a lot of people didn’t like using online services. When covid came, we were disrupted and the only way to keep going was these online services. E-commerce is critical to any online services or digital economy because when you consume a service, you need to make a payment and you can only do that through e-commerce,” he said.
In its nine years of operation, Jumia has also connected over 11,000 SMEs and brands to millions of consumers in Nigeria, boosted hundreds of independent logistics companies by incorporating them into the Jumia logistics network, and empowered many women-owned businesses through various empowerment initiatives.
*Ayomide Oriade is at Content & Media Management, PR Redline
