Broadcasting
Techpreneurs Must Avoid Jumia, Konga Strategies to Survive
By Prof. Evans Stevenson
E-commerce in Nigeria has often been touted as a difficult terrain and not for the faint-hearted.
This position is backed up by concrete facts and verifiable evidence, especially when one considers the well-documented struggles of several players in the sector. Despite the allure and glitter that the segment holds, one requires deep pockets and a strong dose of guts and bloody-mindedness to survive in e-commerce, especially in a very challenging market such as Nigeria.
Undoubtedly, the promise of e-commerce and its potential for investors to strike gold remains undeniable. The foregoing remains evident when you consider the predominantly youthful population that Nigeria possesses – arguably one of the most youthful in the world, the increasing exposure that education and the internet brings, growing data connectivity and teledensity rates as well as the burgeoning interest in the convenience and savvy that online commerce brings. Also worth mentioning is the rise in social commerce among youths in Nigeria, with many turning to entrepreneurs via trading on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, among others.
But despite these promising markers, a few weighty obstacles remain for potential new entrants into the market, especially from a strategy standpoint.
I was a lead panelist at a recent Consumer Trends Research/Analysis session in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital where the conversation naturally dovetailed into the prospects of e-commerce in Africa. Crucially, the Nairobi event, which witnessed attendance from key experts, opened the eyes of many to some of the pressing challenges that have deterred investors from reaping the undoubtedly immense benefits from their portfolio investments in e-commerce platforms on the continent.
One of the few take-aways from the session was the fact that the Nigerian e-commerce market is unmistakably one of the biggest in Africa. This is hardly divorced from the fact that Nigeria, despite its struggles, still remains Africa’s biggest economy. Also, unlike in other African countries where you would nominally have one big e-commerce player, Nigeria has two giants in Jumia and Konga, both of which are understandably the dominant actors in a segment which also has a few other competitors.
But in focusing on the strengths of the Nigerian e-commerce market which remains very attractive to budding techpreneurs and other young people driven by the lure of wealth and privilege that entrepreneurship holds, it is critical to sound a cautionary note of warning: copying the strategies deployed by current market leaders, Jumia and Konga, may be an exercise in failure.
In breaking down this caution to future entrants into the market, it is essential to begin by, first of all, establishing that the Jumia strategy is a very expensive one, a suicide strategy, so to speak, that is very hard to sustain but one which, if it comes good, would turn its proponents into overnight superstars. Founded in 2012, Jumia initially raised $26 million from Summit Partners in March 2013. At the time Jumia did not specify how it will spend the fresh capital – a subtle indication of an absence of a clear-cut strategy – but back then, Jeremy Hodara — co-CEO of Africa Internet Group (AIG), which owns Jumia — said the funding was a validation of the company’s progress.
“We are very pleased to have been given this show of confidence, which acknowledges Jumia’s success. We consider this a recognition of the huge potential of e-commerce in Africa and the strong momentum of Jumia across the continent,” Hodara had stated back then in 2013.
Flush with cash and with no apparent strategy or clarity on what to spend it on, Jumia had embarked on a massive marketing splurge to outspend and out-hire its competitor, Konga, which had also entered the market in 2012. A year later and now backed by Rocket Internet, Jumia announced it had raised €120 million ($150 million) in new funding. The company confirmed that the round values it at €445 million ($555 million), adding that the new funding would boost its continent-wide expansion. Active in nine African markets — Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania — and also the UK at the time, Jumia’s strategy hardly altered until its rival, Konga pioneered the online marketplace structure that has become so popular today. After initially thumbing their noses at this innovative strategy as something bound to fail, Jumia later followed suit and launched its own marketplace after Konga.
Subsequent fund raises which came from convincing its growing band of investors of the promise of investing in the potential e-commerce goldmine saw Jumia go public in 2019, listing its shares on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). A high point in the company’s history, Jumia would, however, fall from grace after being touted as Africa’s first unicorn. This came after it was discovered to have cooked its books and eventually being called out by a US-based firm, Citroen Research which described its shares as worthless. Also, it is important to cite the huge losses that have trailed Jumia from inception and which many experts see as a black hole it can never fill with the way the business is currently structured.
Till date, the Jumia strategy is one that has seen it refrain from building any form of infrastructure in Nigeria, its biggest market. Investigations reveal the same applies across the other countries in which it operates. Hardly can the company count on owning office spaces, retail stores, warehouses or core logistical or physical presence in Nigeria. For years, Jumia has run on a cash-intensive strategy which has seen it burn through investors’ funds at a fast rate and racking up monumental losses to boot. But while it can claim to have regularly grown Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) – described as total value of merchandise ordered over a given period of time – it can hardly gloss over the deficits in its books.
From a revenue standpoint, Jumia currently relies on three main areas: first party revenue from direct sales business of inventory owned by the business, revenue from its marketplace (which is currently its highest earner) and other revenue, which currently includes revenue from its logistics-as-a-service activity launched in 2020.
Its recently released 2022 Q1 results show that Jumia is currently valued at about $778m, a figure which falls way short of its all-time valuation of about $5.8 billion achieved in February 2021. Also, its shares are down 32%, despite being recently up by 44%. And while it claims GMV has risen by 27% per year boosting revenue by 44% year on year – a nine-quarter high – Jumia still reported a total comprehensive loss of $41 million and has a net asset of just $413 million after a massive accumulated loss of $1.7 billion.
Clearly, the biggest gainers were Jumia’s early-stage founders and investors who cashed out in time when other investors came calling. It is clear to global analysts that Africa is a tough continent and Jumia’s strategy may now be to find a buyer, but where it fails, it will be a disaster for investors.
It, therefore, came as a surprise when news recently made the rounds of a potential acquisition of Jumia by the Zinox Group, a technology conglomerate which I understand have acquired years of outstanding experience as a leading light on the continent. Such an acquisition would only make sense if the share price crashes to record lows, justifying such an investment as Jumia, today, is unarguably a loss-making venture that would require intense work to turn it around on the path of profitability. It could also be that Konga and its backers at the Zinox Group wants to use Jumia’s current network to expand to other African countries where Jumia is still recording losses.
But has its rival, Konga, fared any better?
Marginally, yes.
When it entered the Nigerian market in 2012, same year as Jumia did, Konga was also keen on raising money from investors as validation of their standing. The management of the company also burnt through a lot of cash to remain competitive in the face of Jumia’s bullish spending. So, the first few years witnessed both brands going head-to-head and racking up huge losses in the process. To its credit, Konga was a bit more conservative in its spending but that is not to say it recorded much more significant head-way than Jumia at the time.
The company, did, however, do much better in building essential infrastructure. It launched its own internally owned logistics vehicle – Konga Express – to overcome the thorny challenge of last mile deliveries, while also securing a license from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to float its own mobile money wallet known today as KongaPay. This is in addition to pioneering the marketplace structure known back then as the Konga Mall – a first in the African e-commerce market and beyond and which was later replicated by other local and international players. Konga also stood out for its investment in warehousing structures which helped it retain huge inventory.
Successive fund raises from perennial investors Swedish-based AB-Kinnevik and South African-headquartered Naspers, however, failed to save the company from almost running aground before its current owners, the Zinox Group, stepped in.
In assessing where both latter-day e-commerce pioneers went wrong in their strategies, it is easy to cite the absence of a core understanding of the local dynamics, an almost foolhardy ignorance of the complex interplay that defines the Nigerian market. Although I am not a Nigerian, I have spent enough years in the country to be able to identify the Nigerian market as a tricky customer. You need foresight, guts, experience borne out of years of navigating policy somersaults, keen awareness of the infrastructural deficiencies and influence of state actors, as well as other peculiarities that shape this market in order to make a success of e-commerce in Nigeria.
I think the Zinox Group’s experience of the Nigerian market and Konga’s strategies in investing in sustainable assets in Africa like warehouses, delivery trucks and more, instead of pouring all her money into marketing shows a commendable understanding of this tough market. It also shows that the new owners of Konga want to be in business for a long time and this could be why they have not yet hit the market to raise money.
Perhaps, that is why it hardly came as a surprise when Konga, which was almost comatose and on the verge of exiting the market at its point of acquisition, is today and under new ownership, the first e-commerce firm to achieve profitability in Africa.
The lesson for aspiring entrepreneurs in Africa here is simple.
Copying the strategies that made Jumia and Konga popular may seem like an easy deal but it may not be sustainable in the long run. Hype is good and necessary. However, it is very important to thoroughly understand your market, while situating your strategies within the context or existential realities of the society and not just relying on importing foreign concepts or business school models. In the same vein, you must put in the hard work to fill the content or deficiency gaps, while also making efforts to own your own infrastructure, especially considering the country’s challenges in this area.
Prof. Evans Stevenson, a Kenyan-born e-commerce researcher, writes from Abuja.
By Moliehi Molekoa, Managing Director of Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants and PRISA Board Member
The start of a new year often brings optimism, new strategies, and renewed ambition. However, for the public relations and reputation management industry, the past year ended not only with optimism but also with hard-earned clarity.
Moliehi Molekoa
2025 was more than a challenging year. It was a reckoning and a stress test for operating models, procurement practices, and, most importantly, the foundation of client–agency partnerships. For the C-suite, this is not solely an agency issue.
The year revealed a more fundamental challenge: a partnership problem that, if left unaddressed, can easily erode the very reputations, trust, and resilience agencies are hired to protect. What has emerged is not disillusionment, but the need for a clearer understanding of where established ways of working no longer reflect the reality they are meant to support.
The uncomfortable truth we keep avoiding
Public relations agencies are businesses, not cost centres or expandable resources. They are not informal extensions of internal teams, lacking the protection, stability, or benefits those teams receive. They are businesses.
Yet, across markets, agencies are often expected to operate under conditions that would raise immediate concerns in any boardroom:
Unclear and constantly shifting scope
Short-term contracts paired with long-term expectations
Sixty-, ninety-, even 120-day payment terms
Procurement-led pricing pressure divorced from delivery realities
Pitch processes that consume months of senior talent time, often with no feedback, timelines, or accountability
If these conditions would concern you within your own organisation, they should also concern you regarding the partner responsible for your reputation.
Growth on paper, pressure in practice
On the surface, the industry appears healthy. Global market valuations continue to rise. Demand for reputation management, stakeholder engagement, crisis preparedness, and strategic counsel has never been higher.
However, beneath this top-line growth lies the uncomfortable reality: fewer than half of agencies expect meaningful profit growth, even as workloads increase and expectations rise.
This disconnect is significant. It indicates an industry being asked to deliver more across additional platforms, at greater speed, with deeper insight, and with higher risk exposure, all while absorbing increased commercial uncertainty.
For African agencies in particular, this pressure is intensified by factors such as volatile currencies, rising talent costs, fragile data infrastructure, and procurement models adopted from economies with fundamentally different conditions. This is not a complaint. It is reality.
This pressure is not one-sided. Many clients face constraints ranging from procurement mandates and short-term cost controls to internal capacity gaps, which increasingly shift responsibility outward. But pressure transfer is not the same as partnership, and left unmanaged, it creates long-term risk for both parties.
The pitching problem no one wants to own
Agencies are not anti-competition. Pitches sharpen thinking and drive excellence. What agencies increasingly challenge is how pitching is done.
Across markets, agencies participate in dozens of pitches each year, with success rates well below 20%. Senior leaders frequently invest unpaid hours, often with limited information, tight timelines, and evaluation criteria that prioritise cost over value.
And then, too often, dead silence, no feedback, no communication about delays, and a lack of decency in providing detailed feedback on the decision drivers.
In any other supplier relationship, this would not meet basic governance standards. In a profession built on intellectual capital, it suggests that expertise is undervalued.
This is also where independent pitch consultants become increasingly important and valuable if clients choose this route to help facilitate their pitch process. Their role in the process is not to advocate for agencies but to act as neutral custodians of fairness, realism, and governance. When used well, they help clients align ambition with timelines, scope, and budget, and ensure transparency and feedback that ultimately lead to better decision-making.
“More for less” is not a strategy
A particularly damaging expectation is the belief that agencies can sustainably deliver enterprise-level outcomes on limited budgets, often while dedicating nearly full-time senior resources. This is not efficiency. It is misalignment.
No executive would expect a business unit to thrive while under-resourced, overexposed, and cash-constrained. Yet agencies are often required to operate under these conditions while remaining accountable for outcomes that affect market confidence, stakeholder trust, and brand equity.
Here is a friendly reminder: reputation management is not a commodity. It is risk management.
It is value creation. It also requires investment that matches its significance.
A necessary reset
As leadership teams plan for growth, resilience, and relevance, there is both an opportunity and a responsibility to reset how agency partnerships are structured.
That reset looks like:
Contracts that balance flexibility and sustainability
Payment terms that reflect mutual dependency
Pitch processes that respect time, talent, and transparency for all parties
Scopes that align ambition with available budgets
Relationships based on professional parity rather than power imbalance
This reset also requires discipline on the agency side – clearer articulation of value, sharper scoping, and greater transparency about how senior expertise is deployed. Partnership is not protectionism; it is mutual accountability.
The Leadership Question That Matters
The question for the C-suite is quite simple:
If your agency mirrored your internal standards of governance, fairness, and accountability, would you still be comfortable with how the relationship is structured?
If the answer is no, then change is not only necessary but also strategic. Because strong brands are built on strong partnerships. Strong partnerships endure only when both sides are recognised, respected, and resourced as businesses in their own right.
The agencies that succeed and the brands that truly thrive will be those that recognise this early and act deliberately.
The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to deepening inter-agency collaboration as he received the Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr Charles Ebuebu, on a courtesy visit aimed at exploring strategic partnerships in digital transformation and regulatory frameworks across Nigeria’s media and technology sectors.
Speaking during the meeting, Inuwa stated that digital transformation and regulation are inseparable in Nigeria’s rapidly evolving digital ecosystem. He also emphasised that digital transformation is not a one-off project but a continuous journey that requires constant improvement, periodic target-setting, and organisational adaptability to emerging realities.
According to the NITDA boss, the agency deliberately embarked on a transformational journey to reposition itself from a traditional civil service structure to a high-velocity, smart public sector organisation. He noted that when the agency began its transformation drive, a significant percentage of its workforce came from the mainstream civil service, bringing with it entrenched bureaucratic mindsets and rigid operational practices. This, he said, necessitated a conscious decision to change the narrative.
“More than 70 or 80% of our staff came from the mainstream public service, and we know the mindset of public servants, so we started changing that narrative by focusing on people, resetting mindsets, building capacity, and fostering a culture that supports innovation and accountability,” he noted.
Inuwa explained that NITDA’s approach to digital transformation was anchored on three core pillars: people, processes, and technology. He stressed that no matter how advanced technology may be, it cannot deliver value without the right people and efficient processes in place.
He further disclosed that the agency undertook a comprehensive cultural reorientation programme, supported by cultural audits and initiatives aimed at creating psychological safety within the organisation.
“This was critical to enabling staff at all levels to freely contribute ideas, challenge existing processes constructively, and engage in horizontal and vertical collaboration without fear of reprisal,” he stated.
He noted that culture remains the foundation upon which any successful strategy must stand, adding that “no matter how good a strategy is, without the right culture, execution will fail.”
Providing further insight into the transformation journey, he explained that NITDA adopted an integrated framework encompassing people, process, culture, content, and technology. Through this framework, the agency identified and addressed deeply rooted bureaucratic tendencies such as command-and-control structures, risk aversion, and excessive dependence on directives from senior leadership.
According to the DG, “these reforms paved the way for trust-based delegation, inter-departmental collaboration, and process optimisation”.
He further revealed that NITDA documented over 396 internal processes and subsequently streamlined them to eliminate inefficiencies and repetitive executive approvals. He cited examples where routine operational tasks that previously required multiple approvals at the Director General’s level were redesigned to empower departments as gatekeepers, allowing leadership to focus on strategic priorities.
This process optimisation, he said, also created the foundation for automation and the integration of digital tools.
On capacity building, the DG disclosed that all NITDA staff underwent mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) training, reinforcing the agency’s position that AI is a tool for enhancing productivity rather than replacing human capital.
He noted that staff across departments are now leveraging AI to improve workflows, generate ideas, and transition from manual administrative roles to AI-enabled system administration.
Inuwa added that technology deployment at NITDA is deliberately driven by business value rather than trend adoption, stressing that technology must support clearly defined processes and organisational objectives.
He announced that the agency has developed a comprehensive digital transformation playbook, capturing lessons learned from its journey, which it is willing to share with NBC and other government institutions.
To advance collaboration with NBC, Inuwa proposed concrete areas of partnership, including sharing the agency’s digital transformation playbook, delivering tailored training and capacity-building programmes, enrolling NBC staff in digital literacy initiatives developed with global technology partners such as Cisco, and providing technical support for modernising regulatory frameworks to align with the evolving digital and media ecosystem.
Earlier in this remark, Mr Ebuebu called for deeper collaboration between the NBC and NITDA, describing the partnership as long overdue in the face of rapid media and technology convergence.
He noted that although he has had several insightful interactions with the DG NITDA in the past, it was important to institutionalise cooperation between both agencies to address emerging developments in media, technology, data governance, and Nigeria’s digital future.
While calling for closer ties between the two agencies, he emphasised that a strategic partnership between NBC and NITDA is critical to effectively regulate the evolving media ecosystem, harness technology for content creation and distribution, promote the growth of local media, facilitate knowledge transfer, and protect Nigeria’s cultural and national interests.
Broadcasting
DG NCC Tasks University Dons on Research Commercialization, IP Management to Build Global Competitive Ecosystems
Dr. John Asein, director-general, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), has charged universities to leverage Intellectual Property (IP), innovation management and research commercialisation to build vibrant, sustainable and globally competitive ecosystems.
The DG stated this while delivering a paper on: ‘’Research Commercialisation, IP Policy and Innovation Management’’ at the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) organised Business Clinic themed: Unlocking University-Driven Business Ecosystems: Innovation, Partnerships and Sustainable Enterprise Models in Abuja.
The programme was targeted at engaging Vice-Chancellors, principal officers and other key officers in Nigerian Universities in a practical dialogue on how to transit their institutions into thriving business ecosystems through innovation, enterprise development and strategic partnerships.
In his presentation, Dr. Asein, disclosed that Universities are now recognised as engines of national development and innovation hubs that must connect scholarship to business.
He noted that with over 300 Universities in Nigeria, there is need for structured pathways to turn ideas into commercial outcomes while attention should be focused on IP assets in our universities in order to harness them in a safe, sustainable and satisfactory manner.
The DG NCC speaking further on leveraging resources from the creativity locked up within the university system, harped on the need to harness the soft power of our youth as Nigeria’s most valuable natural resources are its people.
Drawing demography from Nigeria youthful population, he observed that over 70 percent of Nigerians who are under the age of 30 are mostly in the university system studying. These youths, he noted, shape cultures, technology and innovation through creativity and digital skills.
He tasked universities to become innovation factories where young people can explore ideas, protect their IP and grow startups by integrating innovation culture, entrepreneurship training and IP awareness into its learning environment.
He equally urged Universities to look beyond the sciences to commercialize traditional knowledge-based innovations and harness the potentials in the creative arts disciplines like music, visual arts, theatre arts and others for commercial outcomes.
Dr. Asein, recommended that universities as centres of learning, should take the lead in using the IP system for promoting education and learning, wealth creation, revenue generation and institutional development.
Underscoring the need for all universities to have an IP Policy, he noted that the Model developed by the Nigerian Copyright Commission in partnership with the CVCNU is a good starting point.
The Secretary-General, CVCNU, Prof. Andrew Haruna, presented the welcome address at the event while the Director, Technology Innovation and Commercialisation, NOTAP, Mrs. Adah H.N. Mokolo-Oladunke represented the Director-General, NOTAP at the event.
The 2025 CVCNU Business Clinic witnessed attendance from representatives of Public and Private Universities across the 36 States in Nigeria.
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