E-Business
Jumia’s Seed and Growth of Today’s Entrepreneurs
By Ayomide Oriade
Decades after the internet and its accompanying digital offerings redefined world information dissemination, business operation and transaction model, the comfort and ease of online shopping was on the exclusive list of Nigerians who have the privilege of visiting clime where Amazon, Ebay and the likes run their services. To other Nigerians, it was a figment of imagination.
Africa was a huge market up for the taking, but venturing into an uncharted territory always comes with severe threats and jeopardy.
So when Jumia came with the idea of replicating the online shopping experience on the continent of Africa in 2012, many saw it as a wild goose chase. Who dares run ecommerce services on a continent with less than 5% internet penetration? Jumia has since proven to be the answer.
Nine years on, the seed planted by Jumia has since given rise to a league of sophisticated African digital consumers, as well as a league of digital market entrepreneurs.
Since the launching of the online shopping experience, e-commerce is increasingly disrupting the retail industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. Konga, Payporte, Jiji, Kusnap and several other players, have since invested in the sector and are treating customers to e-tailing experience.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reported that the number of online shoppers in Africa surged annually by 18% since 2014.
The pillars needed for e-commerce are also beginning to fall in place. The International Telecommunication Union statistics revealed that the share of the population using the Internet increased from 2.1% in 2005 to 24.4% in 2018.
The ripple impact of this on SMEs has been enormous. Today, thousands of businesses thrive on online exposure and sales. In its nine years in Nigeria, Jumia being at the forefront of the market, has connected over 11,000 SMEs and brands to millions of consumers in Nigeria.
The company’s sales campaigns have become a major window for brands and sellers to reach wider audiences and experience record sales figures. For instance, Black Friday powered by e-commerce brands in Nigeria has a track record of being an assembly of brands and products.
In 2018, there were more than 10,000 small businesses on the Jumia platform for Black Friday. In 2019 this figure increased to more than 12,000 with over 10 million products on sale. More than 41,500 sellers participated in the 2020 edition and there were also commensurate figures of sales partnering brands, as top 20 sellers registered 141% growth in items sold.
Among the greatest beneficiaries of e-commerce on the continent is the fashion industry. Due to the borderless nature of online marketplace, several fashion entrepreneurs are emerging in Nigeria and Africa by the day, and are leveraging e-commerce platforms to project their products to a global audience. A cursory look shows that the Nigerian fashion industry has produced notable entrepreneurs who have leveraged online sales platforms to grow multi-million Naira businesses in the last nine years.
Thanks to e-commerce, African fashion industry is beginning to optimize its potential. According to Euromonitor, Sub-Saharan Africa’s clothing and footwear market is worth $31bn.
“The growth has prompted the expansion of foreign and local brands into the African clothing market. Companies are fulfilling increasing orders from the African diaspora, particularly in Europe and America, while sales of Ankara gowns and African print dresses are also popular among non-African consumers. This has led to the creation of African-based e-fashion platforms,” the report said.
Just like in developed economies, e-commerce has rubbed off positively on logistics in Nigeria, creating a win-win situation for investors in the sector and businesses alike.
For instance, Jumia’s investment in the logistics sector has boosted hundreds of independent logistics companies by incorporating them into the Jumia logistics network.
The impact of this on SMEs is obvious. During the last Black Friday window, Jumia Logistics handled 4.8 million packages. To further extend its impact on SMEs, the company opened its logistics network to businesses outside its marketplace.
During the pilot conducted in 2020, Jumia shipped almost half a million packages on behalf of more than 270 clients including large corporations such as banks, FMCG companies, mobile network operators as well as SMEs from a broad range of industries.
E-commerce activities have also created thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities. An instance of this is JForce initiative, a nationwide network of sales consultants with a profit-sharing scheme in which the agent, who is also a Jumia consumer, earns a certain percentage as commission for successful orders placed for self or for others on Jumia’s retail chains.
JForce has continued to serve as a source of income for thousands of Nigerian youth with basic online shopping skills, especially in rural communities. With over 5000 employees, Jumia and other ecommerce businesses are expected to generate over three million jobs in Africa by 2025.
Also key in its contribution is the huge empowerment tool e-commerce has become for the female gender. A report released by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed that women accounted for 41% ownership of micro businesses in Nigeria.
With apt knowledge of this crucial role of women in the SME subsector, Jumia has been empowering many women-owned businesses through various empowerment initiatives. The brand has been serving as a facilitator and enabler for women, especially fashion entrepreneurs. To achieve this, Jumia connects fashion entrepreneurs with acquisition managers who work with them to launch their fashion brands on Jumia platform, which is regarded as the foremost online fashion destination in Nigeria.
The Africa e-commerce unicorn is known for her partnership with Facebook for female owned SMEs by offering them a free master class on business growth accelerators, effective customer engagement strategy, and how to advertise their businesses and ultimately grow their businesses.
In addition to the brand’s initiative to bridge the unemployment gap, Jumia launched its ‘Women & Youth Empowerment’ pilot programme in Yaba, Lagos in June 2019. The programme is aimed at providing training and support to young women who are looking to expand their sources of income and also empower women through e-commerce.
Though e-commerce is still at its nascent stage in Nigeria and Africa with 1% penetration rate, it is already having a huge impact on entrepreneurs and businesses. It is thus safe to say that Nine years ago, Jumia planted the seed of growth for entrepreneurs and today, the seed is producing many crops.
Ayomide, a Public Relations Executive, writes from Lagos
Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, minister of Interior, has announced the launch of an Online Visa Approval Center to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks and reduce corruption in the visa application process.
Commissioned by the President in December, the new system ensures that applicants no longer need to visit a visa office, know anyone in the system, or lobby for approvals.
At a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on the implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) 2025, yesterday in Abuja, Dr. Tunji-Ojo said the visa is considered a very important document by the government because it is an instrument of migration management and an instrument of economic development.
The minister explained that Nigeria has to strike a delicate balance between national security and, of course, the ease of migration.
“And we think that it’s something that we can do and something we will do.
“We don’t have a physical Visa Approval Center. If you apply for a Nigerian visa anywhere in the world, you do so online. We process it here in Nigeria, and if approved, you receive your e-visa in your email,” he explained.
To enhance efficiency, the government has set a 48-hour deadline for processing e-visas.
“It is unprofessional and unacceptable for the Nigeria Immigration Service not to approve or provide feedback within 48 hours,” the minister stated.
“It breaks my heart that people need to lobby to even get visas to Nigeria. It shouldn’t be so. It shouldn’t be.
“For anybody that is qualified, for anybody that wants to do legitimate activities in Nigeria, such people should be able to come to Nigeria easily. And this is why we are opening our space. Mr. President is interested in foreign direct investments.”
Further, he said Nigeria is interested in partnering with the rest of the world to develop its economy but, “We can’t do that when we allow bottlenecks to hold us down. So these reforms, basically, are aimed at opening our space, enhancing national security, and we hope that the primary responsibilities of the visa scheme will be achieved.”
Kemi Nandap, controller general, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), said the NIS would fully digitize its e-visa platform and reduce visa classifications from 79 to 44 to enhance accessibility, transparency, and efficiency in the new visa policy.
She said, “At the core of this policy is the new e-visa platform—a fully digitized, centralized system that revolutionizes how foreign nationals interact with our country’s entry procedures. As part of this transformation, the Nigerian Visa Policy 2024 underwent a comprehensive review, resulting in a significant reduction in visa classifications from 79 to 44.
“These categories have been logically grouped to simplify procedures, reduce complexities, and greatly improve the user experience. Importantly, we have maintained the original purpose and intent of each visa class throughout this reform.”
Mr. Takao Shimokawa, director general, Economic Development Department at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has visited the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to discuss the forthcoming launch of the Nigeria-Japan Startup Hub Project.
Mr. Dejo Olawunmi, director of IT Infrastructure Solutions at NITDA and Mr. Takao Shimokawa, director general, Economic Development Department at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
This is in a strategic move to strengthen Nigeria’s startup ecosystem.
During his visit, Mr. Shimokawa was received by Mr. Dejo Olawunmi, director of IT Infrastructure Solutions at NITDA.
Their discussions focused on advancing technological innovation, fostering entrepreneurship, and enhancing venture capital development to support early-stage startups in Nigeria.
The Nigeria-Japan Startup Hub Project is designed to provide Nigerian startups with access to Japanese expertise, mentorship, and investment opportunities.
The initiative aims to create a collaborative environment where local entrepreneurs can scale their businesses by leveraging Japan’s advanced technology and business models.
By bridging Nigerian startups with Japanese investors and industry leaders, the project seeks to drive sustainable growth and innovation in Nigeria’s tech industry.
This partnership underscores the increasing economic and technological cooperation between the two nations, positioning Nigeria as a key player in the global startup landscape.
With the hub set to launch soon, stakeholders anticipate that it will provide critical resources for startups, enabling them to compete in the global market and contribute to Nigeria’s digital economy.
Kaspersky has identified and helped patch a sophisticated zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome (CVE-2025-2783) that allowed attackers to bypass the browser’s sandbox protection system.
The exploit, discovered by Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), required no user interaction beyond clicking a malicious link and demonstrated exceptional technical complexity. Kaspersky researchers have been acknowledged by Google for discovering and reporting this vulnerability.
In mid-March 2025, Kaspersky detected a wave of infections triggered when users clicked personalised phishing links delivered via email. After clicking, no additional action was needed to compromise their systems.
Once Kaspersky’s analysis confirmed that the exploit leveraged a previously unknown vulnerability in the latest version of Google Chrome, Kaspersky swiftly alerted Google’s security team. A security patch for the vulnerability was released on March 25, 2025.
Kaspersky researchers dubbed the campaign “Operation ForumTroll”, as attackers sent personalised phishing emails inviting recipients to the “Primakov Readings” forum. These lures targeted media outlets, educational institutions, and government organisations in Russia.
The malicious links were extremely short-lived to evade detection, and in most cases ultimately redirected to the legitimate website for “Primakov Readings” once the exploit was taken down.
The zero-day vulnerability in Chrome was only part of a chain that included at least two exploits: a still-unobtained remote code execution (RCE) exploit that apparently launched the attack, while the sandbox escape discovered by Kaspersky constituted the second stage. Analysis of the malware’s functionality suggests the operation was designed primarily for espionage. All evidence points to an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group.
“This vulnerability stands out among the dozens of zero-days we’ve discovered over the years,” said Boris Larin, principal security researcher at Kaspersky GReAT. “The exploit bypassed Chrome’s sandbox protection without performing any obviously malicious operations – it’s as if the security boundary simply didn’t exist.
The technical sophistication displayed here indicates development by highly skilled actors with substantial resources. We strongly advise all users to update their Google Chrome and any Chromium-based browser to the latest version to protect against this vulnerability.”
Google has credited Kaspersky for uncovering and reporting the issue, reflecting the company’s ongoing commitment to collaboration with the global cybersecurity community and ensuring user safety.
Kaspersky continues to investigate Operation ForumTroll. Further details, including a technical analysis of the exploits and malicious payload, will be released in a forthcoming report once Google Chrome user security is assured.
Meanwhile, all Kaspersky products detect and protect against this exploit chain and associated malware, ensuring users are shielded from the threat.
This discovery follows Kaspersky GReAT’s previous identification of another Chrome zero-day (CVE-2024-4947), which was exploited last year by the Lazarus APT group in a cryptocurrency theft campaign.
In that case, Kaspersky researchers found a type confusion bug in Google’s V8 JavaScript engine that enabled attackers to bypass security features through a fake cryptogame website.
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