Episodes
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Welcome to the first episode of Africa Built
In this two-part series, this episode explores the fascinating history of Jumia, Africa's first unicorn, from its inception, funding, fierce competition, to its IPO journey.
We uncover how strategic decisions, market dynamics, and industry behaviours shaped the rise and challenges of this pioneering e-commerce platform.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Episode Overview
01:46 The Origin of Jumia and Rocket Internet's Role
02:25 Zinox Group Foreshadowing
04:30 Nigeria in 2012: Market Conditions and Opportunities
06:56 Rocket Internet's Cloning Strategy and Market Entry
09:16 The Launch of Kasuwa and Sabunta: The Amazon of Africa
14:15 The Merger and Early Challenges of Jumia
17:54 Customer Acquisition and Market Education
20:19 Funding Milestones and Capital Infusions
24:05 Konga vs. Jumia: Competition and Industry Dynamics
30:56 Jumia's Corporate Structure and International Presence
33:29 Market Competition, Black Friday, and Price Wars
38:47 Konga's Decline and Acquisition
44:58 Jumia's IPO and Market Reception
52:08 Reflections on Jumia's Impact and Industry Lessons
55:11 Concluding Thoughts and Future Outlook
Resources
Rocket Internet - [Official Website](https://www.rocket-internet.com)
Sim Shagaya at Founder's Connect - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llYc3hbaCO4)
Is Jumia using Jazz - Jason Njoku - https://medium.com/@jasonnjoku/is-jumia-using-jazz-21511d1a854f
Jumia vs Konga - a response maybe even a rant - Ngozi Dozie - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jumia-vs-konga-response-maybe-even-rant-ngozi-dozie/
Oliver Samwer my African Hero - https://medium.com/@docolumide/oliver-samwer-my-african-hero-23cf0f2fc615
The Samwer Brothers: The Billion-Dollar “Clone Factory” That Built an Empire by Copying - https://thebigcollapse.medium.com/the-samwer-brothers-the-billion-dollar-clone-factory-that-built-an-empire-by-copying-03f3c767d0e7
15 startups built by Jumia’s first 50 employees - https://group.jumia.com/news/15-startups-built-by-jumias-first-50-employees
JUMIA (NYSE: JMIA) CELEBRATES THEIR IPO - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJQqLGFbcCw
Is Jumia an African Tech Company - https://businessday.ng/technology/article/is-jumia-an-african-tech-company/
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Hello and welcome to Africa Built
A podcast on the stories and history behind some of Africa's most important mature companies. Brought to you by Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega, writer of the Notadeepdive newsletter, and Nnanna Ijezie, writer of the Fintech is Easy newsletter.
Why does this existMost successful companies have a story they tell about themselves: the smooth, flattering version. Over time, that becomes corporate folklore, leaving out the parts that don't fit the narrative.
Africa's tech industry has produced billion-dollar companies, landmark IPOs, and bitter rivalries, but very few extensive, honest accounts of how any of it actually happened are in the public domain. These stories exist, scattered across old interviews, conference panels, news archives, and newsletters, waiting to be pieced together into one place.
Over the years, we've collaborated on multiple media projects and reports in various forms, and in the process identified the need to tell larger, more detailed stories of some of Africa's most successful companies. This is our attempt to finally step into the arena and plug a gap we have identified in African corporate storytelling.
By going deep on the companies that built Africa's tech and business landscape, from founding to IPO and beyond, we're telling a researched story of how these companies actually got built: the strategies, pivots, competition, successes, and failures along the way.
Occasionally, we'll have friends, guests, and insiders join us to add more detail to these stories.
African startups of today are standing on the shoulders of giants before them. It's time to tell their story.
We hope you enjoy this.
Cheers,
Muyiwa and Nnanna
Africabuilt.xyz
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