₦airaland Forum

The Leadership of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Alumni Association (MAPALUM) has reassured students of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta of partnering with the school authorities, to ensure a hitch-free academic programmed.

The National President of the Alumni, Pastor Ezekiel Obasanya gave this indication at the maiden Breakfast Session with the representatives of the students.

“We are excited to be a major stakeholder within the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic community. It is cheering news that many of Nigeria’s leading professionals, boardroom gurus, technocrats and thought leaders were produced by this great school. To sustain the heritage of excellence that the school is reputed for, we are committed to being a bridge-builder between the school authorities and students. Because we have been here, we know that peaceful relationship between students and the school authorities will produce decorum and the hitch-free academic session”. Obasanya noted

The Alumni President while reassuring the students representative for continuous engagement, added that the interactive breakfast session will be a continuous exercise to ensure uninterrupted academic programmes and enviable track record for the school.

In his response, the Acting Rector of the institution, Dr. Adeoye Odedeji, who was represented by the Director of Student Affairs, Dr. Segun Aninkan expressed readiness for dialogue and constructive discussion for the good of the Polytechnic. He gave assurance to both the Alumni Association and the Students Union Government on readiness for further engagement and room for more productive discussion.

While commending the Alumni Association for initiating the stakeholder engagement event, which he described as “a brilliant initiative capable of fostering harmonious relationship among all the stakeholders”, thumbed up for the Ezekiel Obasanya led the alumni association in initiating a system that is capable of reducing confrontation between the school authorities and the student's body.



Dr, Odedeji gave kudos to the leadership of the Alumni for the proactive steps on the issue of hostel accommodation aimed at minimizing students’ hardship around the school. He noted that alumni associations of other institutions can take a cue from MAPALUM’s stakeholder strategy to engender peace management and students.

The President of the Students Union Government, Comrade Babatunde Adeola gave a standing ovation to the alumni association for the opportunity to meet with the students on their needs and for bringing programmes that will drive excellence in the students.



In his contribution, The National Secretary of the Alumni Association disclosed that most of the student's needs are already being addressed by the Dapo Abiodun led government, courtesy of efforts initiated by the Mapoly Alumni. He added that the alumni association has waded into the abandoned hostel project with the government, to make life more meaningful for the students.

The event was attended by Students Union Government executives, representatives of campus clubs and associations. Others who attended the event from the Alumni end are members of the Committee of Distinguished Alumni, and the Financial Secretary, Mr. Goke Ishola.

UNICEF and African e-commerce platform Jumia (NYSE: JMIA) announced today a partnership in support of Giga’s work to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.

Jumia’s data science capacity will offer Giga insights into the economic benefits of increased connectivity, helping to make the case for increased public and private investment in Africa. Jumia will also share anonymized data to help map school locations and connectivity across key Giga countries.

In Nigeria, Jumia and Giga will work on two prototypes for digital payment mechanisms that can be used to make school connectivity procurement more transparent and efficient.

“Jumia’s in-depth knowledge of markets across Africa will help Giga pinpoint both demand for connectivity and the economic benefits that it can bring,” said Thomas Davin, Director, Office of Innovation at UNICEF. “Partnerships with African companies like Jumia help UNICEF to tailor its approach to local circumstances, making our work on behalf of children and young people more effective.”

“We believe that technology can transform lives in Africa for the better. Through Jumia’s unique local expertise, we are happy to support UNICEF and Giga’s work by leveraging data across all our countries in the continent to enable learning institutions in Africa to have access to the internet”, said Juliet Anammah, Jumia Group Chief Sustainability Officer.

Around half of the world’s population still has no meaningful access to the

Internet. UNICEF and Jumia are committed to addressing this digital divide, which has widened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giga has already mapped over 1 million schools and their connectivity around the world and has connected over 3,000 schools.

Giga is part of UNICEF’s broader Reimagine Education initiative, which aims to connect all children and young people to world-class digital learning solutions by 2030. It has the potential to transform efforts to narrow the digital divide, providing a connectivity layer on which digital empowerment initiatives can build.

Africa’s leading eCommerce platform, Jumia, is embarking on a mega training engagement for existing and prospective JForce sales agents across three top Nigerian cities during Black Friday. The training will be held in Lagos, Abuja, and Ibadan.

The engagement will provide a window of job opportunity for Nigerian youths to acquire requisite skills needed for growing online shopping communities in their immediate environment and prepare them for the Jumia Black Friday and beyond.

The first training session will be held in Lagos on 9th November. Abuja training session will be held on 13th November, while Ibadan is slated for 11th November.

Commenting on the initiative, Head of Offline Sales Jumia Nigeria, Isedowo Tunde, said it will expose the agents to how they can tap into opportunities around them to earn an income from the e-commerce ecosystem. “Over the years, JForce has continued to serve as a source of income for thousands of Nigerian youth. However, becoming a JForce agent doesn’t automatically translate to earning the stipulated commission. So we will be training the agents on how to source for consumers and make sales in their neighborhood, and within their network.

“Jumia Black Friday is the biggest annual sales event for the eCommerce platform which enables consumers to make the most discounted purchases. We will prep and educate our Jforce agents on how they can leverage Black Friday for maximum sales and commission. Top performers during the training will be recruited and integrated into our JForce network,” she said.

The JForce initiative is a network of sales consultants with a profit-sharing scheme in which the agent, who is also a Jumia customer, earns a certain percentage as commission for successful orders placed for self or for others on Jumia’s retail chains. Jumia currently has more than 40,000 JForce agents spread across its African market.

Jumia Black Friday sales are already on, and the window is open till 30th November.

Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, Jumia, has published its first Africa e-commerce report, Jumia Africa e-Commerce Index 2021 with a Nigerian section, which leveraged data from the company’s platform to illustrate the importance of shopping online in a pandemic context.

The shift to everyday products during COVID-19, is part of a broader economic transformation led by the continent’s young, urban and tech savvy population.

The effects of the pandemic, combined with dedicated commercial and marketing efforts on the Jumia side, led to a shift in our product category mix with everyday product categories including Fashion, Beauty and FMCG categories accounting for c. 57% of GMV in 2020, up from 44% in 2019.

Jumia Nigeria CEO, Massimiliano Spalazzi said: “Since the COVID-19 outbreak, e-commerce has played an important role by supporting sellers, consumers and communities. Many businesses have joined Jumia to keep their business running and to grow. Consumers used Jumia for their daily needs and seeked convenience and competitive prices on the platform too.”

E-commerce played an important role during the pandemic by providing solutions for both businesses and the communities they serve. Jumia’s partnerships with various brands and organizations have enabled SMEs to connect with millions of consumers online.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), internet businesses in Africa, including e-commerce which sits at the heart of the digital economy, could add US $180 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2025. “COVID-19 led to a surge in the use of digital solutions, including e-commerce. This was particularly demonstrated with domestic sales rather than cross border e-commerce. Food delivery, essentials, and pharmaceutical goods were among the top performing online shopping categories,” said Torbjorn Fredriksson, Head of E-commerce and Digital Economy, UNCTAD.

Lagos city leads the list of cities with the most volume of orders on the Jumia logistics Network in Nigeria. Jumia Nigeria has more than 11,000 sellers, having achieved gender parity with 51% of sellers on the platform as women. 81% of Nigerians shop online with their smartphones, with 19% access the online platform through desktops.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi said; “E-Commerce is critical to any digital economy because when you consume a service, you need to make a payment and you can only do that through e-commerce."

Many consumers turned to JumiaPay, the payment platform for the first time during the pandemic, mainly for safety reasons and for the enhanced services on the app like bill payments.

The report was done in collaboration with UNCTAD, IFC, Mastercard and others partners, highlighting the impact of e-commerce on the African economy.

Members of the online shopping community will attest that Charting items and checking out is just one aspect of the service. What actually completes the whole experience is the final delivery of the shopped items at the preferred destination of the customer. This encompasses timeliness, attractive packaging and the charisma of the delivery agents.

The logistics machinery thus occupies a very crucial space for a successful e-commerce value chain. This explains why major online shopping platforms invest heavily in their logistics services to ensure their brand value is maintained till the goods are delivered at the doorsteps of the customers.

For these delivery agents, filling this important space requires more than possessing driving skills and knowledge of the road networks. A Jumia delivery agent in Benin City, Victor Osamudiamen provides insight into what goes into his daily delivery efforts: “For me it’s not all about the money, but the delivery satisfaction which is a core value for Jumia. In all we need to have that positive mental attitude to always deliver happiness because in delivering happiness is where you make your money, Jumia is happy and the customer is happy. For us all, it’s a win-win situation,” he said.

According to Victor, who makes his delivery with Jumia van, bad roads, and poor numbering are some of the obstacles delivery agents deal with daily in their quest to deliver the ease and seamless value proposition of online shopping to customers. “Down the line, there have been some challenges; bad roads, funny customers, poor numbering systems, and sometimes faulty vehicles.”

He also talked about his 6 years journey with the e-commerce brand which he said has left him with no regrets. “I joined Jumia in january 2015, and by the grace of God, it's been an amazing experience. I used to work as a sales executive with a production company but had to let go in order to join Jumia, and I’ve had no regrets.”

It will definitely take more devoted agents like Victor to bring more Nigerians into the online shopping space, but many will agree that African e-commerce brands are on the path to achieving this with continued sensitisation, partnerships and logistics investments.

Recent data showed that more than 22% of Jumia deliveries in 2020 were done in rural and secondary cities. This gives credence to the increasing rate of e-commerce adoption in rural settlements.

October 11th every year is earmarked as the International Day of the Girl Child. The Day of the Girl Child focuses on the need to address the challenges the Girl Child faces, and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfillment of their human rights.

To commemorate this year’s International Day of the Girl Child, Premiere Academy Lugbe, Abuja visited Anglican Girls Grammar School Gudu, Abuja. The visitation was borne out of her core value of adequately preparing students for the future so that, they can be relevant in society.

This year’s International Day of the Girl Child is focused on the digital revolution and the commitment to address the gender digital dichotomy experienced by today’s generation of girls if we must achieve meaningful and sustainable change in the digital space.

In line with the theme of this year’s International Day of the Girl Child — Digital Generation; Our Generation,’ the visit enlightened the Girl Child about career opportunities in the digital space.

The visitation was programmed with a talk to address the gender digital dichotomy in access to devices, skills and most importantly, encourage the Girl-Child to pursue skills in the digital space for relevance in the 21st-century workplace.

More so, as the sensitization continues, the interest of the female students was stimulated to take seriously STEM subjects just as their male counterparts.

As the activities earmarked for the day came to a close, the female students had an eye-opener with regards to digital realities and the skills they need to excel and be significant in the digital age.

Premiere Academy has been providing a conducive atmosphere for the Girl Child to excel in digital technology for the past sixteen years, by running programmes such as coding, robotics, electronics, technical drafting and more recently 3D-printing technology.

Premiere Academy believes that the current wide gap in the digital divide between male and female gender can be substantially bridged by creating awareness to as many young girls as possible.

Premiere Academy appreciates the Management, Principal, staff, and students of Anglican Girls Grammar School for making the day a success.

A Jumia partner, and CEO Topik M&F Kollection, Ekhomalomen Innocent, has described the recent move of the e-commerce firm to have pickup stations in locations close to customers, as ideal for promoting online shopping culture, especially in rural and secondary cities in the country.

Innocent explained that the initiative will improve confidence in online shopping in a settlement like his, which has many skeptics of online services.

“I am an investor and I partner with Jumia. I own Benin-Ugbor Pickup Station. This neighbourhood is actually dominated by artisan people and we also have other individuals that live here and a lot of them like to shop online. Having a pickup station close to people is 100% ideal because they will have the confidence, as some do not believe in online shopping,” he said.

On how he benefits from the partnership, Innocent said every package that gets to his station fetches him commission from Jumia. “I am sure of the commission on every package that drops in my pickup station, so with Jumia I make a lot of revenue,” he explained.

The initiative has seen Jumia embark on strategic partnerships with hundreds of SMEs across different regions of the country in recent months.

According to Innocent, his shop In the Ugbor community, which also serves as the pickup station, is currently treating residents to a new delivery experience. “We are about three months old, and I can say to you that every month an average of 150 packages are picked up by customers.”

Speaking further, the entrepreneur expressed optimism about the partnership. “I know the packages will increase rapidly because our presence has tremendously grown," he said.

The challenges against the advancement of online shopping culture in African states cannot be overemphasized. To get more consumers onboard, e-commerce players must continuously remain innovative. Such innovation must be that which encompasses proximity, ease, cost effectiveness, local content, and a blend of delivery culture that tolerates the touch and feel which the population is familiar with.

Over the years, Nigeria’s e-commerce market leader, Jumia, has deployed its JForce and logistics partnerships to reach rural and secondary cities across the country. And more recently, the company is taking it further by adding more pick-up stations at strategic locations which helps take delivery services closer to consumers in secondary and rural settlements.

Florence Omobude, Owner of Survey Innovations is one of the agents leading the initiative in Benin, Edo State. Explaining the impact and benefits of her pick-up station, Florence said it not only brings e-commerce services closer to customers, it also helps them save more.
“The fact that my pickup station is here at Oliyah makes it more convenient for consumers. They don't have to go to Ugbowo, Sapele road, Ekenwa Road to pick up their items anymore. They just have to walk in here at Oliyah to pick up their items. And for every item they pick up, Jumia pays me for it; and it saves consumers costs on delivery,” she explained.

Florence’ business story is one that tells both the market drive and empowerment impact of Jumia initiatives. Her journey with the company started as a JForce agent four years ago. “My journey with Jumia started as a JForce Agent in 2017. Here in Benin, I help people to place orders on the Jumia site and get paid at the end of the month,” she said.

In 2020, she got the opportunity to upscale and earn more from her relationship with Jumia. “So last year, when the opportunity came to partner with Jumia and own a pickup station using my office space, I was so excited and grabbed the opportunity. So this year in May, in Oliyah here, I opened my pick-up station with Jumia.”

Jumia had recently expanded its number of pick-up stations across the states of the federation in a bid to take e-commerce services closer to customers . The initiative, which covers rural and urban locations, thrives on partnership with SMEs to use their office space as pick-up stations. This allows customers to walk in and pick up their items, while the partners also have more income.

Low internet penetration, bad road network and infrastructure deficit were among the hindrances identified to forestall e-commerce success in its early days in Nigeria. This was largely due to the fact that the majority of the country's population lived in rural areas. This was - and still - the situation in major African markets. The only exceptions are North African countries, because they have over 70% urban population.

While internet penetration is fastly growing and driving online activities among the people in Nigeria, the road infrastructure needed to get items delivered at sub-hub locations are not growing at commensurate proportion. Though ecommerce brands like the market leader, Jumia deploy initiatives like Jforce, remote pickup stations and delivery hubs to take the services closer to the people, there are still mitigating factors such as extremely bad roads that make it impossible for delivery agents to access certain locations.

Irene Emede runs Fitfeett Collections Logistics in Benin. She is excited that residents, despite availability of local markets, are making use of online services for groceries and other daily needs. “The interesting thing that really amazes me is despite the local markets we have around here, we still have customers ordering groceries like Rice, Groundnut oil and Spaghetti. And you still see them going there to order for their clothes,” she stated.

Irene however lamented the negative impact the state of roads in the area is having on delivery of items to customers. “One of the major challenges we have is our bad road. For instance, the road that leads to Ugbiyoko to Ekenwa down to Barrack road is very bad and is not really helping us. Our delivery associates are not able to take their vehicles down there and for that reason, they go there for delivery by foot which is very stressful.

“So most of the items we deliver there are the little items that are easy to carry because they can't carry large items on their heads simply because they want to make delivery and the bus drivers make things worse by charging them.”

Another negative side to this is the danger it poses to delivery agents, and safety of goods, considering the current state of insecurity across the country. (Name) explained that the company takes precaution by ensuring that items going to such locations are small and not high earned. "Most of the items taken to that axis for delivery are not high-value items and they are very small. This is for them to be able to overcome the insecurity over there in case of any that may come up."

Interestingly, the deplorable state of roads has also created a market for electric car jack in the area, selling among female car owners. “We have this electric carjack that most of the females use simply because they don't really have the strength to jack their car whenever their car breaks down on their way out,” she explained.

As e-commerce brands put in efforts to drive market penetration in Nigeria, a lot more will be achieved if relevant authorities can help with road infrastructure. E-commerce and logistics are inseparable and both occupy crucial space in the growth of the digital economy, which is one of the major economic goals of Nigeria.

Since covid-19 entered the global equation in the early part of 2020, business operations and other human activities have been reshaped to embrace digitalization. The online community has thus continued to expand, as the majority of businesses strive for an online presence and customer reach. Online food delivery market witnessed a boom in the heat of lockdown and social restrictions, a trend which appears to be gaining more traction by the day.

This growing popularity of fast food, coupled with the growing trend for convenience and value for money have opened up opportunities in the Nigeria food market. Local producers and restaurants have indeed embraced this evolution and reached new customers. Online food delivery players like Jumia have also played a key role in shaping the supply chain and opening up the market to new entrants.

Country Manager Jumia Services, Adetunji Lanase explained that Jumia Food is reaching customers across nine states of the federation. "We currently deliver meals across nine cities in Nigeria: Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ilorin as well as key cities in the North: Kano Kaduna, and Minna. It is interesting to note that 95% of restaurants on Jumia Food are local brands. Nigerian meals and organic food are growing fast due to new demand for local and healthy food. But burger, pizza, chicken, African dishes and kebab are the most popular cuisines,” he said.

The most popular local food vendors on the Jumia Food platform in Nigeria are Chicken Republic, The Place, Sweet Sensation, Kilimanjaro and Drumstick. Also available on the Jumia platform is Sooya Bistro, owned by popular Nigerian pop singer, Bankole Wellington, better known as Banky W.

Speaking on how ecommerce has been supportive for business growth and reach, Head of Marketing The Place Restaurant, Ufuoma Ogeleka said “Our partnership with Jumia has consistently provided us with an opportunity to expand our existing customer base, attend to the dining needs of our customers at their convenience and in an efficient manner and reward our customers for continually trusting us.”

According to the year 2020 Jumia Food Index Report, customers order more from these platforms due to their affordable meals. “Chicken republic gives me an opportunity to use their Refuel Meal which is quite cheap when you look at the current market prices,” Said Sunkanmi Emmanuel, a Software Engineer who shops for food on the Jumia platform.

Online food delivery is fast becoming a lifestyle among the emerging middle class population, with many relying on having their hot meals and groceries delivered at their doorsteps, as against going out to offline retail stores to purchase. The online marketplace is no doubt an influencing factor, boosting local food sales for restaurants, as new generations of Nigerian middle-class consumers are spending more money on food and grocery products, thereby helping to fuel growth in the market.

When Africa's e-commerce market leader, Jumia released its 2021 Q2 result, one of the interesting revelations was the upward trend of orders on the platform. The e-tailing platform said "Orders reached 7.6 million, up 13% year-over-year." This, the report said, was the fastest volume growth of the past five numbers of quarterly orders, up almost 60% year-over-year and accounting for 22% of total orders.

As the orders increase, it rubs off on package delivery in the logistics arm of the sector. The latest report also showed a record 1.3 million packages delivered in the second quarter of 2021 compared to half a million packages in the full year 2020. The foregoing serve as pointers to the growing adoption of e-commerce on the African continent. Even the skeptics of the viability of e-commerce service in Nigeria must have at one time or the other benefited from the services in past years.

Interestingly, one of such staunch doubters of online retail services in Nigeria currently owns a logistics hub that is thriving on the wings of its partnership with Jumia. He is not only smiling to the bank, his company is also creating employment opportunities. "I was one of those who initially felt that e-commerce can never thrive in Nigeria. but as of today, the numbers are showing that things are different," said Segun Babs, Founder of Fairy Trips Limited.

Babs said his personal business experience shows a growing e-commerce trend in the country. In July, Fairy Trips delivered 14,000 packages. This was coming from a period of 40 packages that went even down to 14 packages at the early stage of the business. According to him, e-commerce gained more traction during the Covid-19 lockdown periods of 2020 and the culture is still being sustained in the emerging post Covid-19 era. "These numbers show the increasing rate of adoption of e-commerce space in Nigeria. I can't really say because I don't have the data, but I can say it’s either people are buying more or embracing the ecommerce space more.

Another thing to consider is that by the time Covid came last year, we had a lot of orders coming and they were everyday household items; groceries and others. The people who were isolated, we were giving them packages, sending them food and things to eat and other everyday items. It shows that there is a big adoption and it can only get better," he said.

The Fairy Trips boss is also looking forward to a business boom as the year runs out with festive sales activities. He said "If we had 14,000 packages for the month of July, I am waiting to see what we would do in November-December when there's a tier one event coming up. All these things show that e-commerce is here to stay and Jumia is a preferred partner to go with."

For Babs, his investment in the business is yielding profits. E-commerce is gaining more ground on the continent, and he's reaching out to friends and family to join the moving train, invest and make a decent living from the growing market. "Am I reaping the effort I have put into the company? definitely yes. Now I have family members, friends employed in the business. People that came for help and I ask them to join the 3PL to do deliveries and make money for themselves. I have friends I told to come sign up, have a hub, become a partner and make a decent living off the whole business. So for me, e-commerce is here to stay. Kudos to Jumia, they've done a really fantastic job."

The fact that e-commerce is becoming a part of daily life in Nigeria is becoming glaring to all. Even if you aren't yet on the train, you can see and feel its movement around you. The growth is reflected in the numbers of activities, and more importantly in the first hand testimonials of customers and partners who benefit from the impact of the services.

A logistics partner of ecommerce market leader, Jumia, Chidi Anyina, founder of ACOA Courier, has espoused the growing importance of logistics in the country saying the company which started in a corner of one room has grown to become one of the biggest employers of labour in Festac Town in Lagos.

The tale of ACOA Courier is one of many logistics SMEs in different regions of the country, who have been able to upscale their businesses by leveraging the partnership benefits of the likes of Jumia.

Speaking on the impact of the partnership on his firm, Anyina explained that the business which started with 3 staff, has not only expanded its footprint to other regions of the country, but has also been able to impact its immediate environment. “We have been with Jumia for the past 8 years. And we started off just in a boys quarters of about two rooms, with just a bike, a van and two other staff. And now we have graduated to having about 37 staff spread across 3 environments, two states; Lagos (Festac Town and Satellite) and then Aba.

“We started off doing about a hundred orders every other day. Now, we did 17,000 orders in June. That shows the scale that we’ve grown over the course of the years. We’ve seen ups and downs; we’ve lost and we’ve gained. But most importantly, we’ve impacted the community; we’re like the biggest employer of labour in Festac Town,” he said.

Touching on the impact of covid-19 on his logistics business, the ACOA boss said his firm had to think on their feet, upscale in order to meet demands, especially during the first wave of the virus. Covid-19 was a tough time. At that point, we were having volumes in spite of the lock down and the restrictions. We saw a surge for processing orders for nose masks, as well as hand sanitizers. That was the initial shock.

“And we graduated to having food items, noodles packs and stuff. That was how that season went. It was even a time when we realized we had a boom because many of the markets were shut down and many people had to fulfil orders outside of the market so they were coming to us. We had to scale our operations, and even moved from a duplex to a duplex and a boys quarters just to be able to absorb the volume of items that were coming up at that time,” he explained.

There are over 200 unique logistics companies (ranging from individual entrepreneurs to large companies) registered within the Jumia integrated network of logistics partners who provide support to Jumia in ensuring that packages are delivered to big cities, secondary cities and rural areas within the country.

Feeding off the growing online shopping trend offered by e-commerce, logistics services are now an integral part of everyday life in major cities across Nigeria. Delivery vans and bikes hit the roads, picking orders, delivering items, keeping businesses running and customers happy at different locations of the country.


But these activities fastly becoming a daily routine were scarce and far a few years ago. Investment in logistics was not this lucrative especially for startups. The logistics boom of today was a result of logistics network investment by major industry players like Jumia, which opened up the market for startups entrepreneurs in the industry.


As recalled by Segun Babs, Founder of Fairytrips Limited, turnover at his logistics hub in the early years left him doubting his decision to venture into the sector. "We started as a ticketing company; we were supposed to be a flight company till we moved into logistics. As of 2018, was the investment worth it? Absolutely no. We started and we had roughly about 400 packages being delivered in a month.


And time after time, I will question my decision to start a business like this. I remember vividly at a time, I could barely pay salaries. I had to ask my wife to join in the business to just manage things. But I kept on believing that one day this was going to pay off," he said.


Today, the investment by Babs has paid off. The partnership with Jumia, as one of the platform's delivery hubs has led to growth and expansion of the business. Benefiting from Jumia's sales reach and brand campaigns, Babs' company has also provided more employment opportunities directly and indirectly. "In 2018, I decided to give Jumia a try by opening a hub with Jumia. Has it paid off? Definitely yes. As of July this year, we did 14,000 packages. This was coming from a period of 40 packages that went even down to 14 packages.


"As regards staff strength, we've moved from two guys in 2018 to ten staff. There are times we have to bring in our 3PL partners to support during tier one events where we have to bring in five more guys to be able to push out items on time and deliver on time. We started with one hub in one corner. Today we have two hubs; one in Lagos and another in Ibadan. I have moved from one bike to ten bikes and we have two vans. As of last week, we moved to order more vans from America to support this expansion."


The story of Fairytrips Limited is one of many other enterprises benefiting from the reach of e-commerce players like Jumia and Konga in all the regions of the country.


In 2020, Jumia further deepened its impact in the industry by opening up its logistics network to third party businesses. The latest report by Jumia showed that the move is experiencing very strong momentum with a record 1.3 million packages delivered in the second quarter of 2021 compared to half a million packages in the full year 2020, on behalf of over 300 clients.

Online shopping is a bundle of ease, flexibility, comfort and convenience. And in the current global state of things, it offers more with safety, as everyone keeps cognisance of the deadly Covid-19 virus, especially its more potent variant known as Delta.


An avid online shopper, Sunkanmi Emmanuel is one who leverages internet services in different aspects of his daily activities. One of the many that meets his daily needs is the Jumia Food network that avails him of effective time management and accessibility. "I don't want to go to the restaurant because of the current third wave of Covid-19. I also prefer ordering online because I don't want to stay in a physical queue because that could take some of the time I'd rather use on my laptop for other things," he explained.


Emmanuel said he works basically on security for his company and most time administration duties. This leaves him with less time for personal things. So having a platform to take off some of his personal burdens is a welcome advantage. "I hardly have time for myself, and most of the time, I work virtually. I'm in a virtual meeting. I don't have time to go to a restaurant to book to get food. Rather, I prefer ordering online with Jumia Food so I can have accessibility, so I can concentrate on other important things, while they do that for me. So it's cost effective and time saving."


Jumia Food platform provides a network of food restaurants, both local and international, which gives customers choice options with their various offers. "Chicken Republic gives me an opportunity to use their refuel meal which is quite cheap if you look at current market prices. Some of the restaurants I use are Chicken Republic Opebi, The Place Alausa, Chicken Republic Alausa. Most times I order Fried rice, Jolof Rice and Chicken, Spaghetti and drinks," Emmanuel said.


His access to these services is powered with the Jumia app which he also deploys for utility bills payment and mobile top up. With cases of Covid-19 Delta variant in Nigeria by the day, more companies are beginning to revisit the remote work options, while others are reducing their work hours and days.


Whichever option is taken, one way of making employees safer is promoting the e-shopping culture and encouraging them to imbibe them. A good place to start is deploying available online platforms for food and groceries shopping. It saves work time, and helps maintain distancing protocols.