Let us rewind back to the year 2010, when there was no Jumia or Konga. The Nigerian eCommerce market was in its most elementary form. There was neither data nor serious pressure from any startup.

But this is 2017, Jumia is now celebrating its 5th year of its anniversary. Coincidentally, Konga, its arch-rival in the market will also be clocking five years in the next two weeks. While these two startups are worth celebrating, there are more stories, intrigues, and pointers that they are far from where they had planned to be.


In the early part of 2011, these two startups were not existing in their present shape or form which brings us to the question: How did we get here?

The misfortune of a tech giant
To put the record straight, the first attempt at floating a well-promoted eCommerce company was made by Naspers, Africa’s largest tech investor and most valuable company. Buoyed by its well-established payTV and enter business, the company mobilized some of its bright minds to Nigeria. Being the same company runing DSTV, Multichoice and Supersport, Naspers imported its eCommerce property to Nigeria starting with Kalahari Nigeria, an eCommerce company. At the same period, Naspers floated Dealfish, a daily deals site to mimic Groupon, which as at that time was the hottest global tech phenomenon threatening the existence of Amazon.

As fate will have it, Both Kalahari and Dealfish could not survive the brutal reality of Nigeria. Naspers shut them down. While not giving up, the company tried the idea of Mocality, a business listing site which was ‘hammered’ towards the tail-end of 2012 before it bites the dust. While it later went ahead to invest in Konga, Naspers held its peace concentrating on its payTV and advertising sales for the platform in Nigeria.


Read the full article here>>> https://pageone.ng/2017/06/23/five-years-jumia-konga-nigeria-ecommerce-eagles-strive/

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