Read this interesting interview with the founders of Nigeria’s leading online retail portal, Jumia.com

With professional backgrounds in investment banking, agricultural services, e-commerce and acquisitions, Raphael Afaedor and Tunde Kehinde, have also brought knowledge garnered at the Harvard Business School to bear in launching Nigeria’s leading online retail portal, Jumia.com. In this interview with ADENRELE NIYI and KUNLE AZEEZ, the co-founders reveal the practical business template which has got Jumia off to a flying start and share the bigger vision for the business. Excerpts:

How did the business merger happen between both of you?

(Tunde answers) We were at Harvard Business School, but our time didn’t overlap. As Raphael was leaving, I was coming in and therefore, he was a year ahead of me. He was also appointed number one at Jumia and after a couple of months before Jumia launched, he reached out to me through mutual friends explaining to me what we were going to do here. I bought into the vision, joined him in Lagos and we started working together.

Give us an overview of what Jumia as an online store does.

What we are trying to build is organised retail in Nigeria and you find out that if you organise retail, you generate a lot of employment, both directly and indirectly. You find out also that people have money in their pockets and they want to spend the money buying stuffs. Without organised retail here, they travel abroad and spend the money there. This is what we are trying to build in Jumia. It is a fundamental part of the economy and I think it is as big as fixing electricity or water; if we are able to organise retail, you generate work for a lot of people.

The mode we are trying to run is the organised retail offering a variety of products and services ranging from mobile devices, fashion, beauty items and books. I think we have about 15,000 books for sale online and aside that, we sell a lot of electronics and mobile phones. For us, the general idea is that when it comes to shopping in Nigeria, you think of Jumia first instead of travelling abroad.

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/were-ready-for-nigerian-retail-business/

Anything that brings progress in the economy of the country is a welcome development.